Whenever two or more people gather to share information, collaborate, brainstorm, argue, inform or train one another, that's called a conference. Conferences can be face-to-face affairs. A salesman attends a trade show to pitch his product to hundreds of potential clients. The accounting department and the CFO sit around a big table and review the fourth-quarter numbers. A consultant flies around the country to train employees on a new software application. Many of today's companies compete in a global marketplace with offices around the world and clients from Moscow to Moscow (Idaho and Russia, that is). Communication and technology advances have made it possible to recreate the impact and interactivity of real-world conferences without having to leave your desk. But what is teleconferencing? How does videoconferencing work? And, what are Web seminars? Read on to find out. When we talk about teleconferencing, we're referring to conference calls, where small to very large groups of people can participate in, or at least listen to, the same phone conversation.

There are two general types of conference calls. MeetMe conferencing requires participants to call a special phone number on a given day and time and enter an access code to join the teleconference. Ad-hoc conferencing requires a moderator to call each of the attendees individually and connect them together. Larger companies might own their own conference bridge, but it's also possible to subscribe to an outside company to host your conference calls on their bridge. The conference bridge then links to a private branch exchange (PBX) within the company. A PBX is a miniature switch that routes calls to all the different internal phone extensions in the company. This is especially important for in-house conference calls. A new teleconferencing option is VoIP conferencing, in which phone calls are made over the Internet rather than traditional phone lines. If a company already contracts with a VoIP service provider, it can usually upgrade to have teleconferencing capability.

VoIP phone calls are considerably cheaper than traditional calls and with the right Internet connection speed are similar in quality. There are many companies that host teleconferences and also offer helpful Web tools and in-call features. Teleconferencing has endless applications in the business world, from large corporate conference calls for shareholder earnings reports to four salesmen in four different cubicles discussing a new product. Teleconferencing's advantages are that the technology is familiar to anyone who uses a phone, it's easy to set up, and it offers good audio interactivity for small groups. Its disadvantages are that it greatly limits collaboration and interaction for larger groups, and that audio-only presentations are often less engaging to attendees. Read on to learn about Web conferences and Web seminars. The unique power of Web conferences and seminars is the ability to share desktops, documents and applications with all the attendees. The audio portion of Web conferences and seminars is either handled through a conference call or over the Internet through VoIP and special headsets.

The invitation includes a link to the conference and a password or access code to enter. If the invitation is accepted, a reminder is programmed into the attendee's calendar application. Once all the attendees log on to the conference or seminar, a single presenter controls the meeting. As presenter, you can share your desktop and other documents and applications. You can also hand control over to the other attendees and let them present. The difference between a Web conference and a Web seminar is the group size and the amount of interactivity in the meeting or presentation. Web conferences are for groups of 10 or fewer people where attendees all have the opportunity to speak and present in turn. Web seminars are for dozens or even thousands of attendees where only a few presenters or panelists have the power to speak and share documents. Using common applications like Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint and Adobe Flash Player, presenters can create dynamic graphic presentations enhanced by audio or even streaming video.

Has the ability to create e-mail invitations with easy-to-use templates. The software also has the ability to schedule event reminders and follow-up e-mails. Desktop sharing allows the presenter to display everything that's on his computer to attendees in real time. They see exactly what he sees. The presenter can also hand control of his desktop to any of the other attendees. Or, by changing presenters, any of the other attendees can now share his desktop with the rest of the group. Document sharing and application sharing work exactly the same way. Although it's more common in small Web conference settings, a presenter can hand control of an open document to one of the attendees, who can then edit or change the document remotely. It's also possible to share applications without even loading the software on each of the attendees' computers. File transfer allows you to post documents for download either before, during or after an online presentation.

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