WebConferencingTest.com compared five leading Web conference call services: Citrix GoToMeeting, Microsoft Office Live Meeting, WebEx MeetMeNow, Acrobat Connect Professional and Netviewer one2meet. Go here to see the Results Comparison Chart.

In this and in several upcoming posts we will take a closer look at these web conferencing providers. We’ll start with Citrix GoToMeeting. This service gives you access and allows interact with information and attendees in real time.

Survey of Online Meeting Tools says about Citrix GoToMeeting: ‘User-friendly solution with all key functions and transparent costs. Latest version enables Mac users to participate in – though not to organize - meetings.’

So what is good about GoToMeeting?

1. User-friendliness. GoToMeeting is an easy-to-use application. It offers a number of functions (see below) that make meeting arrangement and meeting conducting easy. It offers:

• a meeting calendar,
• Meet Now button,
• it also provides free access of the attendees to your meeting, which means that they do not have to be GoToMeeting members.

2. Large amount of attendees. It allows you to hold unlimited meetings for an unlimited duration with up to 10 attendees per meeting, which means that you can have as many online meetings as you want at no additional cost. Besides, if you want to expand the number of attendees up to 1,000 computers, you can try GoToWebinar.

3. High level of security. GoToMeeting ensures that your confidential meeting information remains private. It offers industry-standard security features, which include:

• a meeting ID for all attendees,
• a meeting ID plus a password for your attendees,
• the Inactivity Time-Out, which automatically stops screen sharing after a specified period of inactivity
• you can share just the application you choose, instead of your entire desktop

Features.

GoToMeeting has a wide range of features, though some useful ones are missing, e.g. that would be great if it allowed to expel attendees after the meeting started and included surveys and participants reporting. But on the whole, GoToMeet offers a full range of features necessary for web conferencing and even more. It allows you to

• Organize an instant meeting with a Meet Now button
• Use a Meeting calendar
• Organize an upcoming meeting
• Invite participants after meeting has started
• Transfer mouse and keyboard control
• Access to desktop and selected applicaions
• Clean screen (wallpapers, panels, etc.)
• Chat
• Instant messaging
• Audio conferencing
• Annotation and drawing tools
• Meeting recording

How much will it cost you?

It will have cost you nothing for the first 30 days, if you sign up for a free trial account which allows you to hold meeting with up to 10 attendees each. If you are satisfied with the service you can subscribe to GoToMeeting either on monthly or annual basis (the latter allows you to save 20%).

Manual basis - $49 per month, which will be $588 per year

Annual - $468 per year, which will mean $39 per month.

For more information visit GoToMeeting official website.

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