Need to Be in Two Places at Once? Use GoToMeeting!

I've got an hour-long meeting at my Houston office in a couple of minutes with a couple of users from The Netherlands and the product manager from Canada. We'll demonstrate features of the software, conduct a little one-on-one training, and follow up on some support questions - and not one of us ever has to leave his desk: we're doing a GoToMeeting.

You've never used GoToMeeting? It's a simple concept, really; sort of an on-line conference calls with streaming video. People sitting at computer screens (Mac or Windows) anywhere in the world all see the same screen and hear the same audio simultaneously. We use it for sales presentations, software demos, light training, and employee meetings. We display PowerPoint presentations, videos, or show live demonstrations of our proprietary software: no matter what software is showing, the screen contents are the same for everyone who's watching.

We have a corporate license for GoToMeeting, which allows up to twenty-five connections to a meeting - since any participant can be routed through a projector, way more than twenty-five people can be watching at any time. Corporate also licenses any of several "organizers," who can initiate a meeting. Smaller shops can buy an individual license, which allows up to fifteen participants but has a single organizer license. Citrix also licenses GoToWebinar for up to 1000 participants (way beyond our needs). Here's how things work:

Using GoToMeeting as an Organizer: Before a meeting can take place, the software must be downloaded from the Citrix website and the license registered. Organizer licenses are tied to specific email and password pairs. Once registered, you can create a meeting on the fly - you'll be prompted for the emails of attendees to join immediately - or schedule meetings in advance. Either way, invitees receive email notification of your meeting. For scheduled meetings, GoToMeeting's invitation converts the meeting time to local time (where local is defined by the receiving computer's operating system). Outlook users find the meeting added to their calendar automatically, including a copy of the unique URL assigned to the meeting.

At the scheduled time, participants - including organizer - join by clicking on the "Join my meeting" link. This fires off a browser session that connects to the Citrix server. Those on the same network need only click the link; for security purposes others have to enter a nine-digit access code. The audio portion can be carried as a VOIP signal, or attendees may dial in on a telephone; dialing in requires users to enter a PIN (shown in the invitation) for security. Dial-up service includes the ability to mute and un-mute. For small meetings, you can also just call the other attendee(s) directly.

Using GoToMeeting as an Attendee: The first time you join a GoToMeeting, you must install a small executable program - this is normal (WebEx requires a download, too). Then click on the link in the invitation or paste it into the internet browser address bar. You can either call the phone number (long-distance charges apply) or use a headset and microphone for the VOIP option. Then, sit back and "attend."

Useful Features:
•  Any member of the audience can become the presenter, at which time his or her screen becomes visible to all attendees. The organizer controls which audience member is presenter.
•  Regardless of who is presenting, any member may take control of the presenter's screen and cursor. This allows one person to run programs on another's desktop while everyone else watches. Any attendee can have control of the screen that's currently active. The organizer controls this function as well.
•  Each participant has mute and volume controls for the audio, and can switch between phone and VOIP as needed.
•  The interface includes a chat mode so attendees can type questions for the organizer or for the entire audience.
• Whoever is presenting can designate what view is broadcast such as a blank desktop, the entire desktop, or a specific application. This is great for invisibly taking notes or answering chats while others are watching your screen.
•  The audio and video can be recorded (audio can be recorded only when using the designated telephone lines and/or VOIP); the chat log as well

Costs: Individual GoToMeeting license fees are month-to-month basis or annual. Corporate license pricing is dependent on the number of seats used. There are no additional charges for meetings and no restrictions: as long as the license is current, meetings may be of any duration. The audio is included free, although normal phone charges - including long distance - apply if not using VOIP. There is not currently a toll-free option.

My Experience: My GoToMeeting experience has been very positive. The executable is small and downloads quickly, since the bulk of the processing is handled by the Citrix servers. You are at the mercy of the available bandwidth; so heavy traffic on your network can degrade the signal quality and very long-distance meetings (I've been on meetings to Asia and Africa) can sometimes be slow - especially if the presentation is very graphically intensive. In my meetings I've found that using a headset and microphone for the audio is vastly preferable to a telephone, especially a speakerphone (even full duplex); the invitations suggest this option. A USB headset seems to give much better results than a headset using pin plugs; not sure why. I've attended meetings from my office and from client offices, from my home, and even from hotel rooms: anywhere there's a broadband connection can become a remote office!

I've been on dozens, perhaps hundreds of GoToMeetings and have yet to see one fail: I'm sold. Though a web conference of this sort will never replace face to face meetings, there is no doubt that the technology has made long-distance collaboration much easier even while it's reduced the need for expensive travel. 

In fact, about the only thing I don't like about GoToMeeting is how slowly I accrue frequent-flyer mileage these days