Virtual meetings can be addictive. I’ve tripled the number of recent acquaintances and made several new business connections this last month—all by joining virtual meetings that didn’t exist before COVID-19.
Events in NYC, LA, and even Tacoma I couldn’t attend are suddenly at my fingertips virtually. Virtual meetings open up a way to collaborate and connect. Technical glitches and slow connections can hamper that communication, though.
What are the best options for meetings without glitches, meeting bombers, and frozen screens? Zoom is one of the highest-ranked platforms. The reviews cite high-quality audio and visual and easy to use.
Most of the virtual meetings I’ve taken part in used Zoom, and they came off with few hitches. Zoom handles up to 100 participants in the lower-priced plans, even the free version. The recommended option for small to medium businesses is Pro, which handles up to 300 participants at $19.99 per month per host.
Join.me is another well-rated virtual meeting platform specifically for small businesses. It offers one-click scheduling, presenter swapping, personal links, and interactive whiteboards. Pricing is based on the number of users per month, starting at $10 per user.
GoToMeeting stacks up well against Join.me but not quite as favored as Zoom. GoToMeeting receives kudos for its transcription feature, offering a custom URL, and integration with Outlook email. There’s a free version; otherwise, pricing begins at $12 per month for 150 participants.
There are other virtual meeting options if these three don’t fit. What I need is an app to handle my virtual meeting addiction.
Author: Kris Keppeler, a writer who finds technology fascinating and loves humor. She writes for Crossing Genres on Medium.com and Does This Happen to You? on Channillo. Award-winning podcast producer who enjoys telling stories. Follow her @KrisKKAria on Twitter or on LinkedIn.
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