GoToMeeting: redefining the web conferencing market

The handling of the shared window in the participant’s computers is very well developed in GoToMeeting. There are options to show the shared screen in its actual size, scaled to fit the participant’s GoToMeeting window, in full screen mode, in a window, and even zoomed (more than 100% of the actual size).

You can share the whole display of the host PC, or just selected windows. In contrast to most other products, GoToMeeting handles this setup very well. The hidden windows never appear on the participant’s screens, not even as outlines. You must still remember to manually switch to each new program you start. It’s a common problem that presenters switch into a new program to demonstrate something, without understanding that the new program’s window is invisible to the participant. As usual, we recommend sharing the whole screen, since this avoids the whole complexity of sharing specific application windows.

Sharing can be paused, e.g. if you need to setup a new application mix for a different demo, or if you just want the participant’s eyes to rest for a while.

GoToMeeting can be controlled by the presenter, by another participant or by all in the meeting that have been granted this right. We suggest that you use the latter function only in meetings with two or three participants, or you may run into trouble.

When required, the meeting host can request that another desktop is shared, e.g. to switch to a new presenter that is in a different location, or for a student to present a problem to all in the class.

Meeting participants can interact via a chat window. They can also freely annotate the presentation, or place an arrow on it. The organizer can grant or revoke these privileges separately for each participant. 

A true sports model

Unlike most of its competitors, GoToMeeting is very fast. It just takes a few seconds for a participant to see changes made in the host’s screen. GoToMeeting is so fast that it doesn’t even have a quality setting, it always provides exceptional image quality. The only competitor that we have tested that is consistently faster than GoToMeeting, and also produces an even better image quality, is MeetMeNow. However, MeetMeNow requires all participants to use Windows PCs – it doesn’t even support the Macintosh, which GoToMeeting does.

During testing we ran into a strange problem. When a presentation slide contained a particular animation, GoToMeeting lost synchronisation between the host PC and the participants. The host could scroll back and forth, while the participants either stayed at the same slide or ended up somewhere else. This error occurred in a long-distance connection across most of Europe, with both participants on ADSL connections behind firewalls. Your typical connection may be different. We are still waiting for a response from Citrix support.

Meetings can be initiated either from the GoToMeeting application or from the GoToMeeting website. Meetings can also be scheduled in advance.

There is a GoToMeeting toolbar for Microsoft Office and Outlook, for Skype, and for the most popular instant messaging products. The GoToMeeting toolbar allows you to schedule meetings and invite participants directly from other applications.

Free teleconferencing included

GoToMeeting is packaged with a conference call service at no extra cost. You can book the teleconference at the same time you book the web conference, and have the telephone number automatically included in the invitation.

You can record your web presentations directly in GoToMeeting. To include the audio from the teleconference you need a small converter that feeds the sound from your telephone into your computer’s input jack.

GoToMeeting is the common desktop sharing component of a family of web interaction products from Citrix. If you develop a need for attendee self-registration, polling, surveys and other upscale event tools, you may upgrade from GoToMeeting to GoToWebinar. To arrange online seminars with multiple organizers, you need GoToMeeting Corporate.

As a result of this tiered product structure, you may find some fairly simple features missing in GoToMeeting, but present in a more expensive version. As an example, you cannot have a permanent meeting link on your website with GoToMeeting. Also, the basic version of GoToMeeting does not provide an option for several presenters to share the same license, but the Corporate version does.

Summary

If you arrange online meetings for up to 10 people, you need to support Macintosh clients, but you never expect any participants with Unix, there is simply no alternative to GoToMeeting. Not only is the price right, all the necessary features are there as well. And GoToMeeting is much faster than almost all competitors.

If you arrange online events for up to 1,000 people or need features like attendee self-registration, participation logging, real-time questions and answers tracking, online polls and in-meeting surveys, you should instead try GoToWebinar.