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Webcast that wedding: new tools make nuptials more social than ever

Jeff John Roberts — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 17:45:25 +0000

It’s wasn’t long ago that beaming one’s wedding to the whole internet was reserved for those named Kate and William. Now, the practice has gone mainstream as companies spring up to help couples share their vows far and wide.

As the New York Times reports, live-streams and hashtags are joining rice and bouquets as wedding fixtures. For some couples, a live webcast is a way to expand the guest list and share the happy event with faraway loved-ones through a password-protected link. Others simply blast their wedding to all comers in yet another form of full-blown social sharing.

The companies in the space include MarryMeLive, Idostream and SeeMyMarriage. Prices range from $200 to $1,500 depending on whether it’s a professional or do-it-yourself production and on the location (weddings are being streamed everywhere from churches to cruise ships).

Wedding webcasts can also create a more participatory experience. In the Times story, for instance, a woman describes tweeting about her friend’s wedding from her Brooklyn apartment. But as with other rituals that move into a social sharing space, there is potential for mischief. One campus website lists a number of wedding-related Twitter hashtags to watch out for such as: #whitetrashwedding, #uglydress and #whoinvitedher.

(Image by Jeff Schultes via Shutterstock)

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ConnectSolutions’ Podium 2: Webcasting With Real-Time Collaboration

Thursday Bram — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:00:37 +0000

When collaborating, sharing information, holding conversations and generally connecting with the rest of your team can be the difficult part. When you’re working at the enterprise level, the situation gets more complex; you may need to get information out quickly to a large group of employees. In that sort of situation, it can seem like the best option is to call everyone into the office and hold a meeting. The right communication tools can help you avoid such throwback situations, however.

ConnectSolutions offers a number of products geared towards helping organizations collaborate, including ConnectYou.Me, which offers a real-time communications channel for customers as well as staff within your company.The company also offers Podium, a webcasting tool, to large companies and organizations, as well as government users. This week, the company unveiled Podium 2, which expands the software to the point that it can provide extensive communication options for meetings ranging from a few employees to thousands of audience members.

When you’re working with a dispersed team, you need the right tools to hold effective meetings. Podium 2 offers the flexibility to offer one-way announcements, moderated question-and-answer sessions and public chats with equal ease. That means that you can use the same tool for planning meetings with your teams and for making presentations to prospective clients.

Podium is a useful webcasting option due to the fact that it is both secure and based on Flash — there is no additional software your team must install and learn to navigate. Even better, you don’t have to worry about the hardware your team is using (assuming they aren’t relying on a mobile devices that don’t support Flash). It handles HD video and audio, and can be branded for your organization, creating a professional appearance for anyone attending your meetings.

The ability to record webcasts can offer an added bonus: If your team members are scattered through different time zones, they can catch up with meetings that happened while they were sleeping. Even better, if you don’t need a straight-up meeting, but rather an announcement or teaching tool, you can still use Podium 2 without having to bring in new software.

Podium 2 also has a new pricing model: customers can purchase an unlimited-use annual subscription, making it easy to roll out through an entire organization and encourage widespread adoption of the tool, rather than having it limited to use by few key individuals or departments. The features and pricing make Podium 2 worth investigating for an organization looking for a real-time communication solution.

Related GigaOM Pro content (sub. req.): Report: The Real-Time Enterprise

10 Distance Learning Opportunities Through Webinars

Aliza Sherman — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:00:14 +0000

I’m a firm believer in the adage “you get what you pay for.” However, I also can’t deny the incredible value being put out onto the Internet for free by some very talented people. With the decreasing costs of web conferencing software from the likes of Calliflower, DimDim, PalBee and Rondee, offering webinars has never been easier or more affordable. Webinars these days can include audio, video and slide presentations, some with audience participation, and be either live or on-demand.

In order to showcase their apps and services, many of these web conferencing companies offer free or affordable webinars on a variety of business topics to lure in new customers. Additionally, some companies hold free webinars to showcase their expertise. Either way, there are more and more free webinars offered every day. You can use them to gain knowledge from credible consultants, authors and other experts.

A caveat: When companies have something to sell, their webinars may tend to be skewed toward their products. Go for the webinars that include diverse topics and especially those where the experts are not from within the host company.

Here are some webinars on topics that can help you with your work.

Webinars on WebEx — free sessions hosted by experts using WebEx software. Upcoming webinars include a WebEx Q&A where you can ask a WebEx expert about holding large virtual events on December 8, 2009 and on December 15, “Reward & Recognition on a Limited Budget” led by Senior Consulting Partner Mark Paskowitz of The Ken Blanchard Companies.
New Marketing Labs — Coming up December 3 is “Measuring Success in Social Media” from the team at this reputable social media consulting firm led by Chris Brogan.
Radian6′s Twebinars — Sample topics include case studies of “engaged brands” like communications company Mullen and beverage company Molson Coors.
Sustainable Industries — This magazine holds free webinars about the issues of sustainability for anybody wanting to reduce their carbon footprint both (in both their personal and professional lives) as well as to learn about the latest trends in sustainability.
The IRS — Yes, even the IRS has gotten on the webinar bandwagon! Topics include tips on e-filing, tax updates (often based on specific states), and IRS Disaster Assistance.
Hubspot — While I do not endorse the Hubspot product, it does offer useful archived webinars like “5 Tips for Advanced B2B Business Blogging” and “How to Use Social Media to Manage Your Company Brand Online” There are also live webinars.
Awareness Networks — Watch archived videos of webinars with such industry leaders as Paul Gillin and Brian Solis.
Marketing Profs — For an annual membership fee, you can access archived webinars on topics ranging from “Monetizing the Long Tail of Search: Rethink Your Keyword Strategy” and “Love or Marketing? How Word-of-Mouth Will Save Your Brand.” Marketing Profs also holds live webinars including webinars on how to succeed with webinars.
Constant Contact — This email marketing company offers live webinars on email marketing, event marketing and online surveys. (Disclosure: I am a paying customer of Constant Contact).
Small Business Administration — The SBA has a series of small business training webinars covering finance and accounting, business planning and business startup, among other topics. You can also find webinars offered for free by local SBAs by state.

Virtual events company On24 takes webinars a huge leap further by sponsoring — and providing the platform for — virtual summits such as last month’s Social CRM Virtual Summit, essentially an all-day series of webinars and webcasting.

Webinars are a convenient way to learn best practices, hear case studies and hear from some of the world’s top experts in their field, all from the comfort of your office, your home or anywhere.

What webinars have you attended that you recommend?

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Upcoming Event: Free Twitter Power Tips Webcast

Simon Mackie — Thu, 14 May 2009 23:00:08 +0000

If you, like so many of us these days, are trying to get more out of Twitter, you may want to register for next week’s free, hour-long O’Reilly “Twitter Power Tips” webcast, being held Thursday, May 21 at 10 a.m. PDT.

Hosted by Tim O’Reilly and Sarah Milstein, co-authors of “The Twitter Book,” the webcast will feature key tips and real-life examples from power users. The presentation will be followed by an attendee Q&A session.

I’ve attended a couple of previous O’Reilly webcasts; they’re high-quality presentations with respected speakers that typically impart a good deal of useful information. There is an archive of previous webcasts on the O’Reilly web site if you’d like to check out past sessions, too.

Share your Twitter power tips in the comments.

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Thought of the Day: Perfection is the Enemy!

Carleen Hawn — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 22:35:41 +0000

Recently I had a conversation with a Found|READ contributor about common pitfalls founders face. (Hint: I found this image of the Perfection Monster on the web.) Sure, perfectionists are annoying, but he addressed the dangers of such aspirations in a way that is especially relevant to startups, and I think it bears repeating:

“One of the biggest mistakes founders make is thinking [they] can only launch once. Wrong! We aren’t launching a space shuttle here! You can unbake the pie…[recognize your mistakes and make amendments, he meant]. Movies can only premier once. But your product can prelaunch, relaunch and postlaunch.”

This amplifies a piece of advice I got not long ago from my own mentor, first penned by Voltaire …

Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien :
The perfect is the enemy of the good.

Nothing is perfect, ever. So don’t let your pursuit of ‘the perfect’ product, pitch or story be the enemy of the good. (Tesla Motors knows a thing or two about this: The Perfect Car, Enemy of the Good Car.)

Sure, you need to attend to the code, and the build, and your market research, and as we’ve written earlier, you do need to test thoroughly (The 4-Stages of Testing Your Web Product.)

But don’t let these things stall you from the ultimate achievement:
getting your product or service in front of your customers. (Go Ahead: Push the Red Button
.) The sooner you do this, the sooner you will have the opportunity to make your offering better… and take it to the next level.

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