It's been a while since I made an update about my experiences with online web seminars. Over the last 8 months I've hosted over fifty Internet broadcasts. And because the presentations are live, there are always unexpected challenges to overcome. Since I've had to deal with numerous customer service issues over that time, my knowledge of Citrix's GotoWebinar product has become quite extensive. I'd like to share my thoughts on the product, after having used it for this long. First of all, Citrix doesn't update their products very often, has weak customer support, and does little to keep their customers informed about the status of their systems. But I must admit, their software is well tested and runs without trouble on most computer systems.
As of this writing, GotoWebinar allows you to share application views running on your computer, along with a live audio narration. You can also have poll questions, chat, text questions, and manage everyone's microphone during a session. The biggest complaint I hear is that attendees wish they could see the speaker. Well, I have just created a viewer that will allow a speaker to share a web cam picture and a PowerPoint image using GotoWebinar. I have also found a way to broadcast recorded audio and video using GotoWebinar. Now the system isn't designed to handle this, and it's a lot like trying to force a cat to walk on a leash, but it does add some badly needed functionality to what is basically a general purpose web broadcasting tool. Eventually GotoWebinar will integrate webcam views, but for now, my webinar viewer is the only way to get live video on GtW.
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