Having an online meeting can help your team communicate and work better together. Because, let’s face it, we all love technology and we all spend a good amount of time using our computers to browse the web and do our daily tasks. So why not use that same tool for communicating with your team ?!
We got hold of the best team holding an online meeting.
Zoom
This platform has seen its business suddenly booming during this crisis. Zoom offers both free and paid versions, however, it has become the go-to platform for many small businesses. Up to 100 participants can join a single conference with a time limit of 40 minutes. For more advanced features such as meeting recording and multiple admins for additional controls, the Pro version costs $15 per month, per host. If you wish to use this for a larger gathering of around 300+ participants, one can upgrade to business or enterprise plan for $20 per month, per host.
Pros
- For short usage, the free plan is great as it comes with screen sharing option and allowing 100 participants
- Easy to set up meetings, link-based access to invitees to join a meeting
- With Paid plans you can access analytics reports, user management, and administrative controls, along with this, you also get cloud space to record and save your meetings
- Fun Fact: Say good riddance to dull backgrounds and uplift your look with a face filter called “Touch Up My Appearance” along with a virtual background
Cons
- Meeting feed will cut off at 40 minutes since the start of it with the free version
- In the news for privacy concerns which the company is currently addressing
- Multiple hosts and add-ons become expensive on the paid version
Zoom has become one of the most popular platforms for various businesses due to its various offering in the free version. However, choosing a paid version will cost you per host, so be mindful of who can have access to undertake a video meeting.
Cisco Webex
Similar to Google Hangouts Meet, currently the unpaid version allows up to 100 participants with no time limit. Webex provides three plans to choose from, depending on your needs. Small business owners or team might better be suited for the starter plan of $13.50 per host, per month. The other two plans are more focused on midsize and large businesses.
Pros
- Free plan is quite generous just by itself
Cons
- Every host is considered as a “license,” thus, every time someone sets up a meeting, it can become expensive
Overall, Cisco Webex is the best video platform for business training, online learning, and webinars. The free service has also become a great choice for smaller teams and businesses for video conferences.
join.me
Under the free version, only three participants are allowed for a video call, while the paid versions, ‘join.me Pro’ and ‘join.me Business’, allows up to 10 participants.
Pros
- Personalized and branded URL for meetings
- Easy screen-sharing option
Cons
- Video conferencing tool seems ad-hoc and not a strong suit
- Limited access: one can only join a meeting with an iOS mobile device or Google Chrome.
Join.me plays on vanity psychology with its circle-shaped video bubbles and personalised URL. Access is limited along with small participant limit. If you wish to host a meeting with over 10 people, this may not be the best bet.
GoToMeeting
Starting at $12 per month, per organizer, GoToMeeting can host up to 150 participants. The other feature is the business plan for $16 per month, for hosting up to 250 people. This platform also has advanced features like drawing tools and meeting transcripts. The annual subscription plan is more cost-effective for businesses of any type.
Pros
- Easy to join meetings with a single click from any device
- Personalized “meeting room”
Cons
- No free plan
Belonging to the same parent company as join.me, GoToMeeting is the better product of the two.
Skype
Skype has often been the go-to platform for making video calls as it allows free video calls for up to 50 people from any device – mobile, tablet, or computer. The only paid service is for making international calls via the Skype platform.
Pros
- Every participant can screen-share, not just the host
- Portrait mode, blurring the background and camera focus on you
Cons
- Limit of only 50 people for a video call
Skype has been around for a while and many are familiar with it and remain a strong choice for the occasional video meetings. However, it may not be a suitable choice to host a video conference involving a larger group of over 50 people.
BlueJeans
Similar to Skype, BlueJeans can host up to 50 participants. While prices are quite cheap, starting at $9.99 per host, per month, it can record up to five hours of meeting. You can upgrade to the $13.99 monthly plan which can host up to 75 people and provides more advanced tools such as analytics and integration with other business tools. Custom plans are also available for Enterprise levels.
Pros
- Cool features such as real-time chat, raise hands during meetings, and intelligent meeting recaps
- Powerful Dolby voice audio and background noise cancellation
- No downloads or installation needed
Cons
- Lacks a free plan
- Paid plan has member limit of 50 and 75 participants
BlueJeans caters to the professional aspect of video conferencing, brand agnostic and can easily integrate with Microsoft, Google, or Apple, for a seamless experience. However, there are other better resources available for both free and paid service to hosting a video conference.
QuizBreaker
- Participants: 3 – 1000+
- Duration: 2 to 10 minutes per round
Instructions
Forgive us for putting our own game as the #1 activity on this list. But, with thousands of teams all over the world playing QuizBreaker every day, we think it’s a good suggestion!
One of the best ways for a remote team to bond, even if they’re located thousands of miles away from each other, is to ask them fun ice breaker questions and have everyone guess each other’s answers in a quiz.
QuizBreaker makes this easy & automated with lots of gamification along the way.
There’s also a weekly leaderboard for those folks who love a bit of friendly competition.
Click here to try out QuizBreaker for free.
Virtual Escape Room
Online virtual escape rooms blew up in 2020 as it became impossible to visit the ones in the real world because of the pandemic.
One that we’ve tried and love ourselves is Black Noir.
In it, you and your team have to go through a series of rooms (it’s a browser based game) and solve the puzzles in order to solve a mysterious murder and escape in time.
It’s a good challenge, and took our team about 70 minutes to complete over Zoom.
Bonus: 18 Best Online Escape Rooms
Google Hangouts Meet
Not to be outdone by others, Google for a long time had come up with their own version of video call feature with your Google account called Hangouts. It’s free for personal Gmail users, supports up to 10 participants in its unpaid and G Suite Basic, and 25 people with the Business or Education accounts. Furthermore, Google’s paid video conferencing is Google Hangouts Meet which can allow up to 250 participants. Google Hangouts Meet is part of the G Suite features, pricing starts at $6 per user, per month.
Pros
- Suitable to those already inducted with G Suite, as meetings can be integrated with Google Calendar
- Easy access, participants can join from any device through browser link or app
Cons
- Compulsory sign up with G Suite to use Hangouts Meet
In this COVID-19 pandemic, Google has opened up its Hangout Meets access to schedule a meet for free, without having to sign-up to G Suite. However, this may not last for long and you will need to arrange for an account with Google.
Microsoft Teams
At the outset, Microsoft Teams does not provide any free version, but this software is more than a simple video hosting platform. As part of Office 365 Business Essentials, it allows for collaborative tools and full-access meeting service. Compared to other services in MS Office’s tools, this is a cost-effective tool starting at $5 per user, per month.
Pros
- Easy integration with other Office 365 apps such as Powerpoint and Excel
- Participants can access a meeting without having to install or create an account with Microsoft Teams
Cons
- Unless proven as an educational institution, there is no free version
- Linked with Microsoft, so if you’re an Apple or Mac user, a training session will be required
The video hosting tool is one part of Microsoft Teams. Unless you or your organisation already have an overall MS Office set up, the meeting service can be a bit costly for just hosting meetings and video calls with your team or clients, as there are other services for this purpose.
Conclusion
There has been a lot of buzz and activity lately about this new software called Microsoft Teams. I was recently searching online for the newest info on Teams and came across this article – 100 features Microsoft Teams – and thought it could be a valuable resource for you to refer to as well.