As more companies enlist technology to help co-workers and outsiders collaborate around the world, webinars, videoconferencing, instant messaging and online meetings can make business communication easier - and cut travel costs as fuel prices soar. But, there can be some unintended and often embarrassing consequences.

Only a few keystrokes separate one’s private life from the virtual world. The wrong computer settings, an awkward web-camera angle, and even something as harmless as the “hold” button on the telephone can create lasting career memories. Unlike face-to-face blunders, virtual gaffes can be captured for posterity on web sites and ridiculed by viewers time and time again.

Webinar Success President, Ken Molay:

One solution, is for corporations to create guidelines for employees so that they can properly represent the company. Workers from staff assistants to the suits in the corner office need to be more tech-savvy, he says, from learning how to use equipment to presenting themselves professionally through different forms of technology. Otherwise, they might find themselves part of an office punchline.

There are some precautions you can take to prevent your embarrassing moments from appearing on youtube.com or other media sites. The first rule is to become as familiar as possible with the online meeting technology before using it live. When creating a webcast, in which a company broadcasts video and audio feed to an audience via the Internet, the presenter should be aware of the sound quality and camera angles.

Hold a practice session ahead of time and then analyze the way you sound as well as your posture and mannerisms. If you plan on incorporating technology tools regularly, it may be wise to invest in a training session with a consultant.

Finally, disable any potentially distracting applications, such as instant messaging, email notifications and telephone on-hold music, before engaging in a web conference. Companies often record and archive these online meetings to use as reference material.

ConferencePlus, Inc. a provider of web conferencing, and audio/video conferencing services, today announced the launch of Share Portal, a content management tool for online conferencing. Share Portal is the backbone of a suite of services that will allow ConferencePlus customers to store, publish, and share all their web conferencing content, including video conference recordings, and other media files and documents. These various files can then be shared with other users on a secure website.

ConferencePlus President and CEO Tom Reedy on SharePortal:

We’ve had a long track record of managing the highly customized and complex events of major companies.We realized there was an unmet need for an easy way to distribute their highly valuable content. Two years ago, we began proactively addressing this need. For these customers, we developed custom portals that contain not only content that has been generated from our services, but we’re taking their archived content and other files and adding that to their portal site as well.

Share Portal will be embedded into the ConferencePlus account dashboard giving customers an easy way to store, publish, and share the captured content from their video and web conferences. This enhancement to the dashboard interface adds a feature set that already includes the ability to schedule and edit automated audio and video conference calls, launch web conferences, and view service history and charges from previous meetings.

The launch of Share Portal is the first in a suite of offerings from ConferencePlus that will include the ability to store and publish presentation files, online web presentations, webcasts, videos, podcasts, and any other relevant content. Subsequent releases planned over the next year will give online conferencing users more content types to work with, more security options, enhanced branding capabilities, and other functionality to enhance ease of use.

Recognize that if you are an executive at your company, presenting at an online meeting will be far more effective at reaching out to your employees or customers than having the same online presentation made by an employee in a lower position. Different types of presentations will require varying presentation styles. An all hands style meeting with your employees may require a more laid-back, no tie, regular-guy approach, whereas presenting to prospective clients likely require the opposite. Before making an online presentation, ask these important questions of your staff:

• Who is the audience that I will be presenting to?
• How long do you want me to speak?
• What type of presentation do you want me to make?
• What types of presentations have worked in the past?
• Are there any particular subjects that I should avoid?

You may know the answers to most of these questions. The value in asking them is to initiate a dialog with your staff. If you disagree with your staff, then counter with offers to provide what you consider appropriate. The key here is to establish a mutual understanding of what you will say and how it contributes to the web conference or online presentation. This avoids surprises for you, other presenters, and the audience. It also avoids embarrassing mistakes.

Web conferencing companies strive to keep their software compatible with most user’s technology, however it is important to provide the specifications that are required to participate in your online meeting.

Your online web conference provider should be able to give you all of the specifications that are required to use their service. These specifications should be put in the invitation with the link to the web conference, and also on any registration page you might have. The system requirements should be particularly prominent if you are charging a fee to attend a web conference or webinar.

Today in the United States is Earth Day. Founded by US politician Gaylord Nelson in the late 1960s, Earth Day is celebrated in many countries each year on April 22 to promote awareness of critical environmental issues. Recent surveys have shown that video conferencing and other types of teleconferencing are among the most effective methods of reducing a company’s carbon footprint. Today is an important day in the conferencing industry.

As part of an ongoing effort to protect the environment and reduce carbon emissions, WebEx has partnered with Carbonfund.org and has announced a tree planting program. Just sign up for a free trial of the WebEx software, conduct 2 online meetings with at least 2 people each, and WebEx will plant a tree in your name. For every 100 trees that are planted in people’s names, they will plant an additional 100 trees.

WebEx and Carbonfund.org help companies work greener. Together we raise understanding of how business travel impacts the environment—and how to minimize this impact with web conferencing. We also plant trees to help offset existing carbon emissions from travel.

So how much carbon emissions can be saved by replacing teleconferencing with traditional traveling?

• Teleconference instead of flying from New York to London for a team meeting. Save 2,690 pounds of carbon dioxide.
• Enable two salespeople to give a presentation via teleconference rather than traveling from Chicago to Silicon Valley. Save 4,696 pounds of carbon dioxide.
• Train 12 employees using video conferencing instead of flying them to San Francisco from Dallas. Save 22,377 pounds of carbon dioxide.

The majority of web meetings today consist of a phone teleconference with a presenter scrolling through PowerPoint slides. While this usually gets the information across, it lacks the personal connection and audience engagement required for the buy-in. With small and medium businesses continually increasing their use of web conference technology, the focus needs to be on customer engagement.

Using live audio and video throughout your entire web conference will create a personal connection between you and your audience. Develop a lens presence. Presenting to a camera with no feedback is vastly different than presenting to a live audience. Look directly into the camera and speak naturally. Don’t over-script your presentation or read directly from the slides. Your confidence and familiarity with your presentation will do much more to sell your idea than mere PowerPoint slides alone.

Audience members of a webinar don’t have to worry about the embarrassment of looking bored or even dozing off during a presentation. As a presenter, you need to keep your energy level up if you expect your audience to do the same. Speak loudly and clearly and stay on topic. Keep your audience engaged. Studies show that audience retention drastically drops after 30-45 minutes unless the content is extremely interesting. Regularly take questions and conduct polls from your audience.

Webinars allow you to collaborate with customers more quickly, and over longer distances with huge cost savings on travel and travel expenses. As the technology grows however, so must your ability to appropriately use that technology for the maximum benefit for you and your audience.

Video based conferencing can save your company and your clients an untold amount of time and money. The convenience of being able to meet with your employees regardless of their location saves travel expenses and travel time… time that can more effectively be used completing other tasks. Webinars allow you to touch more clients than you would ever be able to gather in a single meeting place at a single time. More clients = more business. Video conferencing has become an essential tool in today’s business place.

While everyone realizes the benefits of interactive web conferencing and webinars, not all presenters realize the importance of being able to fluidly control their presentation. How many times have you been in an on-line conference where slide transition and controls are out of sync and the presenter spends half of the time blaming the software? More often than not, the software is function correctly, and the presenter is trying to misdirect his lack of preparation.

You wouldn’t make an important presentation without reading over your notes and making sure you’re familiar with the A/V equipment. The same goes for an on-line presentation. Spend some time running through your entire presentation, and read through the Help and FAQ pages of how to operate and navigate the software. If you have any questions that you can’t find an answer to on-line, contact your video conferencing provider and they will work with you to make sure that you understand the software and answer any questions you may have. If they aren’t so helpful, you should consider finding a new video conferencing software provider.

A PowerPoint Presentation is a great way to enhance an online presentation or web conference.

Follow these easy tips for your most effective online meetings.

• Use clear, large, easy to read fonts. Make sure the font is large enough for the reader and the style clear and easy to read. To make sure the font is large enough, print out the paper and put it on the floor. If you can read it while standing, your readers should be able to see it while viewing the presentation.
• Use a descriptive introductory slide. You may also use a welcome slide to display as the audience is logging on to the session. Include a title and any other pertinent information, such as the company name and contact information.
• Use clear titles throughout the PowerPoint presentation.
• Use the templates provided to develop a clear, organized presentation.
• Provide only key points on your slides, not your entire presentation.
• Use colors that work well together and be careful with dark colors on a dark background (ie. red text on a black background). They can be hard to read.
• Keep your effects to a minimum so that your audience can focus on your message.
• Use graphs, pictures and charts to enhance your PowerPoint presentation.
• Speak clearly and with enthusiasm.
• Keep your presentation organized. Practice through the PowerPoint presentation before presenting to make sure all the points are clear and organized.
• Invite questions at the end of your presentation. If appropriate, have a slide designating a time for a question and answer period at the end of your presentation. With the extra 15 minutes you are given at the end of your presentation, you can be sure to answer all your participants’ questions without feeling rushed.
• Close with your contact information or a survey.  Make sure there is a take away from your presentation.
• Practice, practice, practice. Make sure when the time comes to present, you’re ready!