Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend two online meeting training webinars - one powered by Citrix GoToWebinar and the other powered by Web Ex MeetMeNow.  I’ll try to give you details of how each worked for me and which one I liked the best.

The webinar training that was hosted by Web Ex was a pre-recorded on-demand session.   In both instances I was alerted to the time and date of the webinar session by email.  The Citrix Webinar was live.

The email for the Citrix GoToWebinar required me to reply that I wanted to join the session with a click on a link.  I received a second email which listed a link to click for joining the session at a specific time and date.  A conference call toll number with an access code was listed in the email.  There was also a link to “Add to your Outlook calendar”.  The email was sent by SessionHost(GoToWebinar.Notification@citrixonline.com).  The “SessionHost” was actually the company giving the webinar.  Here is a screenshot of the email notification with the Session Host information deleted.

Citrix Online Email Notification

Citrix Viewer with Excel documents displayed

The Webinar was scheduled for one hour with the host presenting for 45 minutes and a Q&A session for the last 15 minutes.  I had to dial the toll conference number for audio.  I had previously downloaded the Citrix Viewer or I would have been required to do so before I would be able to view the session.  The host began the session with Power Point slides to add interest to what she was saying.  The training then moved to Excel documents and a web browser displaying a Google Adwords training session. As participants had questions they were able to enter them into a text Chat Box. At the last 15 minutes of the session the host read the questions and verbally answered them. The whole session went smoothly and worked very well.

WebEx Sign In

The Web Ex MeetMeNow session was quite different in how it worked. I received an email to alert me that there was a pre-recorded session at a specific address. Since it was not live I could download it at my discretion. Here is a screenshot of the sign in page where I had to enter my email address before I could get to the download session.

I have deleted the training host information because it is not available to the public.  After downloading the session to my hard drive I was able to view it with Windows Media Player.  It was a .wmv file.  The audio was integrated into the file.  No toll conference call was required.

I have attended live sessions from this same host which used Web Ex MeetMeNow.  The initial email alerted me that there was a scheduled session at a specific time and date.  I was required to  reply that I wanted to join the session by clicking the link.  A second email was sent to me containing a “join the session” link.  There was also a toll conference number listed.  However, I never used the toll conference number because the audio was integrated, and I used my speakers to hear the session.  The live Web Ex session required me to download a Web Ex Player to view the session.  Another helpful aspect was that the session was recorded as it occurred, and I can download and replay it as ofter as I want.  The host used Power Point slides along with a verbal presentation.  He used his browser to display different websites as visuals to his presentation. 

In conclusion it was a tie as to the best web meeting service; the Web Ex MeetMeNow-Free trial hosted software on-demand session or the Citrix GoToWebinar hosted software session.  I really like the integrated audio on the MeetMeNow session.  One drawback to the Web Ex pre-recorded session was that I was not able to ask questions at the time of the session.  The live Citrix session was that it was recorded.  If you missed the time and date, you can download and replay the whole event.