Reported by Joe Kraus, University of Denver, @jokrausdu

Lately, it seems like I have been attending many Internet-based conferences and seminars (sometimes called webinars) or I have been presenting information while using such software. Each of these pieces of technology has advantages and disadvantages.

Some of the variables are:

• Cost;
• Attendee limits;
• Recording features;
• Downloads needed for attendees or presenters;
• Video, audio and whiteboard settings,
• etc.

I do not plan on going into all of the details, since features can change from one day to the next. There are several websites where the features are covered for the main software packages (such as http://www.socialbrite.org/2011/01/19/comparison-top-web-conferencing-services/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_web_conferencing_software). The main software packages that I am familiar with are Adobe Connect, Blackboard Collaborate, Cisco WebEx, and Citrix GotoMeeting.

• SLA has an account for using Citrix GotoMeeting software, and I know many units use that software to provide wider access to presentations. If you are logged into your SLA account, you can learn more about the benefits and features in SLA’s Leadership Resources area. For example, SLA units can hold webinars with up to 500 people using the GotoWebinar service.

• On October 9, 2012, the Rocky Mountain Chapter of SLA held its fall Membership Meeting, and we used Adobe Connect for this meeting to allow members to attend from beyond the Denver area. This was possible because one of the attendees (me) volunteered to provide the laptop and a camera to record the presentation by Marcy Phelps. The University of Denver (where I work) has an account with Adobe Connect, so it was pretty easy for me to set up the software to provide the recording. The recorded segment of the meeting is available here.

• Recently, I also had the good fortune to present at the Library 2.012 Conference, which uses Blackboard Collaborate software. (Note: Blackboard is one of the sponsors of the conference.) This software is geared for the education market, so it may not be available to corporations. The software is pretty easy to use, and it nicely handles presentations with audio and video streaming.

• Many library vendors provide online training sessions. I have attended many WebEx training sessions over the years from Thomson Reuters (see its Web of Knowledge training site), the Chemical Abstracts Service (see its Scifinder training content), and several others. I have never had the opportunity to make a presentation using WebEx software, but I am pretty sure it has a full suite of presentation tools.

Web-based presentation software is still a young industry. I am sure that companies will continue adding in more features to make presentations even more engaging in the future.