GoToMeeting Rolls Out HDFaces Beta

GoToMeeting Rolls Out HDFaces Beta

GoToMeeting graphicCitrix Online today sent out a limited number of beta invitations to their newest enhancement to their market leading online collaboration tool – GoToMeeting. Called GoToMeeting HDFaces, you are now able to broadcast up to six high-resolution video conferencing streams while sharing your screen. Attendees without webcams can still join HDFaces meetings; however, they will need a webcam to share video from their end.

 

Some of the advantages of the HDFaces beta:

  • Experience the new Citrix Multistream HD technology.
  • Share your webcam video with up to 15 attendees.
  • Share up to six attendee webcams in the session.
  • Present video and desktop content together for more engaging presentations.
  • No specific hardware needed: any HD-capable webcam will support HDFaces.

Special Note: HDFaces beta is only available in your GoToMeeting account. GoToWebinar and GoToTraining will be coming in the future.

I have been testing video sharing with several other vendor solutions since the beginning of the year.  Some observations I have made with webcams visible in meetings are:

  1. Many of those that I am meeting with do not have a webcam on their work computer so not everyone will be able to share their camera view.
  2. Not everyone with a webcam is prepared to share their webcam view.  Picture bunny slippers and PJ’s.
  3. The presence of video does seem to cut way down on the distractions that would otherwise be in play including eMail and Twitter.
  4. Participants seem to listen more intently to each other when the webcams are live.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, you can now participate in a GoToMeeting with your iPad, and can now listen in to a GoToWebinar from your iPad as well.  I fully expect that at some point you will be able to share and view your webcam participants if using an iPad2.

If you are a GoToMeeting/Webinar/Training customer and haven’t received an invite to the beta, send them a request using the Contact Us Menu option within GoToMeeting.

I hope you will share how you are using this new feature in your sales efforts and what the impact is on your meetings.

 

Russ - 11 years ago

Any idea when GoToMeeting will support webcam sharing on an iPad? I have it on my PC’s and it works good. I just installed 4.8 on my iPad, and was disappointed I could not view or share webcams. Thanks!

Ayeen Benoza - 12 years ago

I appreciate that Miles! Thanks for sharing new updates, that’s why I really enjoy reading your blogs. Have a great week!

Miles Austin - 12 years ago

Great questions Ayeen, and I am wondering the same things myself. I have several meetings scheduled for the coming week in which I will be using the technology, so will provide an update on how they go.

Another function I want to explore is how it works on an iPad or other tablet. I have enjoyed using the GoToMeeting iPad app, and am interested in seeing how it looks on the iPad over cellular.

Ayeen Benoza - 12 years ago

Hi Miles, I haven’t tried this yet, but I was thinking about what you said “Share up to six attendee webcams in the session.” I was just thinking if there’s going to be a lag between the voice and video even if there are six people online, because the last thing that I want is to look less intelligent in front of my clients or colleagues when I’m speaking to them, and these audio delays has been a frequent problem in the other systems, before this GoToMeeting HDFaces technology. Another thought is, what if the person I’m having a meeting with has a slow system which usually is their internet service provider’s fault, will the audio get affected, is it going to be the same audio delay issue? – I hope they were able to address this common problem on webcam meetings. http://bit.ly/ayeen2

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