We’re excited to announce that we’ve release a very cool upgrade to our application branding feature. Now every InstantPresenter customer can apply a background to their meeting room! The background can be selected from our pre-designed backgrounds, or anything you’d like to upload. To get started with this feature, simply click on the “Branding Defaults” button from the Account Manager.

From the branding screen, click on the “Meeting Application” tab. This will allow you to upload a background, or “Select a Pre-Designed Background.”

Once you’ve uploaded your background, you can then re-size our meeting application and place it where ever you’d like on top of the background. This way, if you have a cool banner, or side panel that you’d like visible during your meeting, you can make sure that everyone can see it. Alternatively, you can set a background color for your meeting by simply clicking in the “Background Color” area of the tab.

To re-size the meeting application on top of your background, simply grab the corners of the image, and drag them until all the areas that you’d like to be exposed are in the gray area. The highlighted area represents where the meeting application will be located.

Finally, you can start your meeting and see your meeting application fully branded with your new background.

InstantPresenter Launches My Webinar Hub, a New Social Media Marketing Tool That Helps Customers Promote Webinars

My Webinar Hub allows you to easily harness the power of social media to promote your webinars. We are very excited about this new feature, because it is truly unique to anything offered by other web conferencing services.

My Webinar Hub Profile Page

Your Profile Page is a central place where you can promote your public webinars and build your follower base on social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter. Some of the features include:

• List your upcoming meetings- visitors can register for your webinar and post a comment via Facebook Connect
• List your past meetings – visitors can view the recording
• Post a link to your blog or website
• Display your LinkedIn profile
• Show your Facebook Like Box
• Use the Twitter widget to display your most recent tweets
• Visitors can easily share your Profile Page with friends & colleagues with the ShareThis widget
• Choose from different themes to customize the look of your Profile Page
• Insert keywords related to your business to get ranked on search engines such as Google

My Webinar Hub Social Integration

Automatically promote your webinars on your Facebook and Twitter accounts through the Social Integration aspect of My Webinar Hub. This allows you to connect your InstantPresenter account to your Facebook and Twitter accounts, which will automate the social media marketing of your public webinars for you. When you schedule a new online meeting and designate it as a “Public Meeting” InstantPresenter will post a Facebook and Twitter message on your behalf promoting your meeting. Reminder messages an hour prior to the meeting and at the start of the meeting will also automatically be posted, ensuring maximum attendance for your webinar.

My Webinar Hub Support Resources

Profile Page

• Set-up instructions
• How to make webinars public

Social Integration

• Facebook Connect
• Twitter Integration

On January 14, 2010, Search Engine Optimization expert Steve Wiideman posted a fantastic review of InstantPresenter s Web Conference service, titled Conversions and Great Webinar Software. Wiideman, praises InstantPresenter for great customer assistance and innovative tools, ultimately turning a first-time webinar into a success

It is InstantPresenter’s pleasure to serve customers of Wiideman’s caliber, he has been featured in a number of popular publications including; Response Magazine, CNNMoney.com, FranTrends Magazine and Entrepreneur Magazine. Not to mention, he has released a number of online publications and eBooks on the subject of Search Engine Optimization. His website, Top 10 SEO Tips is a popular destination for people wanting to learn more about SEO.

In the recent article Conversions and Great Webinar Software, Wiideman bulleted several features that made InstantPresenter most impressive, including: easy-to-use surveys, polls, and registration forms, no software installation, High Quality video capabilities, low cost, and excellent customer support. He describes the processes he underwent, including set-up, rehearsal, and execution, and credits InstantPresenter s helpful representatives for a great experience.

Wiideman’s post comments on InstantPresenter s affordability, opening his review with a comparison to Adobe Connect, Yugma Pro, and DimDim. He notes why each of those platforms do not fit his needs, stating nothing invoked the WOW as much as InstantPresenter. In fact, Wiideman graded our software with a firm A+, thanking InstantPresenter for being an unparalleled platform for mind-blowing, visually stimulating, and esthetically flawless webinar software.

On behalf of the InstantPresenter team, we would like to thank Steve Wiideman for choosing us (for life!) to be his Web Conferencing, Webinar, and Webcasting platform. In addition, would like to express our deepest gratitude to Mr. Wiideman for writing about his positive experience, and sharing it with the world. InstantPresenter will continue to provide a premiere turn-key solution, equipped with exceptional customer support and affordable pricing.

Improve your webinar presentations with these practical tips

1) Write an Outline and Script

This might sound like a commonly-practiced presentation tip, but many people prefer to wing it rather than outline and script their webinar. An outline is the number one step to guarantee focus. Make sure you know and outline what key points you want to cover, what you want to show the audience–as far as visuals, and what types of activities you will want to include (like guest speakers, polling, Q&A-style chat, etc.)

After a bulleted outline is created, development of a basic script is recommended. This will keep you on-track, focused, and perhaps more comfortable. Memorizing the entire script is not for everyone, but memorizing key bullet points will ensure a smooth and professional presentation.

2) Keep the Introduction Short

Introductions are important, and should always be part of your webinar presentation, but this tip suggests that you design your introduction to be brief in order to grab audience attention. Tailor your intro to be unique with a question, quote, statement, visual, or sound.

Go into the basics: who you are, why you are holding a webinar, why the attendee should listen/watch. Plan to provide your attendees a minute or two to join the meeting before executing your well-crafted introduction, beginning the webinar with music or visuals (like slides or photos.)

3) Practice and Hold a Full Run-Through

Once you have crafted your outline and/or script, be sure to run through the presentation out loud. Actors and public speakers suggest practicing speaking in front of a mirror, or even a camera, so you are able to get comfortable and observe your actions. InstantPresenter s platform affords you the opportunity for presentation rehearsal. It is highly recommended that you rehearse your webinar online.

This way, you are able to test lighting and sound. Your rehearsal should include all features of your presentation such as slide transitions, polling, questions, and so forth. Allow time for every feature in a realistic manner. You can set up an online practice room to hold a rehearsal that is visible to someone else. Ask a friend or colleague to log-on to that practice arena, so they can view the presentation and provide you with feedback. You can also record your rehearsal using the on-demand recording feature.

4) Dress Appropriately

The way you appear, will most likely provide a first impression to your audience, so be sure to look appropriate when presenting. In most cases, you can never go wrong with professional or business attire, and it is highly recommended. If your message, company, product, or webinar attendees are more on the casual side, you might want to dress in something comfortable and basic. No matter the style, dress in solid colors; stripes tend to transfer poorly through a webcam, creating blurring lines.

Grooming yourself is important, but there is no right or wrong way to look. If you want your facial features to stand out clearly, and not be washed-out by lighting, make-up is typically encouraged. It is also ideal to make sure that your hair is pulled back, so your face is seen, and there are no disturbances when you present.

5) Adjust Levels Prior to the Webinar

During your rehearsal, you have an opportunity to test volume levels and camera angles. InstantPresenter will prompt you to check the volume when you are ready to start your presentation, but it is always smart to know this type of information in advance. Make sure that your voice, sound, and music levels are not clipping (this is when your voice sounds sharp and abrupt when the volume hits a certain level.)

6) Relax

During rehearsal and when it comes time to present live, just relax. Remember to breathe, and stay in the moment. If you keep your objective in sight, you will present more effectively and comfortably. Whether you are presenting to many, or to a small audience, try to remain confident. Expect the unexpected, and remember to continue if you flub a line or click to your next slide too quickly. Your recovery will determine the success of your presentation.

7) Speak Loud, Clear, and Enunciate

Your voice may be one of the strongest elements in your presentation, and if you sound nervous or shy, no one will buy-in. You can eliminate such an issue by speaking loud, clear, and fully enunciate your words. Not to be overdone and silly, enunciation is vital in public speaking. Not every word will be reiterated by your slide presentation, so it is important that your attendees hear what you are trying to convey.

Vocal patterns can sometimes sound boring or too scripted, so be sure to change your vocal patterns from time to time. This will grab audience attention when an important or exciting point is conveyed. Try to read your audience, knowing the demographic ahead of time if possible, so you can adjust your enthusiasm level appropriately. You want to excite and motivate, but do not want to scare anyone.

Pace Yourself

Pacing the presentation appropriately is important, and can make or break an event. Try not to speed through the webinar out of nervousness, or speak and present too slowly. Practice a smooth pace, and time yourself. You will most likely indicate a presentation length ahead of time, so make sure you follow this time frame.

Of course, if audience participation calls for an extension, or the webinar is winding down for any reason, use your best judgment in when to stop broadcasting. Try not to start late, but as addressed earlier, it is a courtesy to give the attendees a minute or two to log-in and get adjusted. On the other hand, do not stall too long, or you may upset the audience members who have arrived on time.

9) Engage Your Audience and Maintain Attendee Interest

The most important tip I can offer is to engage and maintain your attendee interest during the presentation. InstantPresenter feels strongly about this, and continues to develop features that foster attendee engagement and participation. Questions can easily be asked or answered by attendees through a chat module during the presentation, and polls can be included for instant feedback.

You can engage your audience members with slide sharing, as well as sharing your own screen. There are annotation tools available for a whiteboard effect highlighting the key points. Additionally, InstantPresenter offers a High Quality Video feature, which is a great way to grab and maintain audience focus.

Read more about InstantPresenter web conferencing features that engage audience members here.

10) Call to Action

Lastly, your presentation needs to conclude with a clear call to action. What are your goals Make sure your objectives are known, and your audience members act immediately. You can design this key webinar component similarly to your introduction, so it is memorable, short, and concise. Start developing this statement when you create your outline, and write down what you are ultimately trying to achieve.

Make sure that this is in the form of short or long-term goals. Sort out the why and how for each goal, keeping your audience and demographic needs in mind. From there, you will be able to narrow your statement down, and form a catchy and effective call to action. Implement this statement at the end of your presentation, and make sure this is done with great emphasis.

Hi All! We’re very excited to announce that we’ve launched our brand new website re-design. The new site features much more engaging graphics, more up to date information and is clearer and more concise than ever before. Please check it out at www.instantpresenter.com.

We’ve also re-designed our support area, which can now be found at http://support.instantpresenter.com. More savvy visitors will recognize that we are now running the MediaWiki platform, which Wikipedia uses, which will allow us to keep the information more up to date and easier to find.

We’d love to hear your thoughts regarding our two new sites! Thanks!

That’s right! We know how time consuming and frustrating the long lines and hoards of people are. But thanks to online shopping and InstantPresenter’s Santa Webinar, you can avoid the mall altogether. On Saturday, Dec. 19, 2009 at 11 a.m. PST, Santa Claus will broadcast his Christmas message using the InstantPresenter platform. The Webinar includes our high-quality video feature and it’s being recorded and will be available on Santa’s InstantPresenter profile page for those that can t catch the message live. The event is completely free and anyone with access to an internet connection is invited to view the Webinar at www.instantpresenter.com/santa.

During the Webinar, Santa will be talking to the children, taking their wish lists and answering questions, all from the comfort of his home at the North Pole. Also, be sure to check out the online profile Santa created with InstantPresenter s social networking feature to learn even more about his favorite things (we bet milk and cookies are on the list).

In light of the holiday spirit of giving, and to ensure a spot on the good list, we are encouraging donations to Marine Toys for Tots Foundation. Instructions for donations will be provided at the end of the Webinar.

Make sure you and your kids don’t miss out on this fun and free opportunity! Registration for InstantPresenter’s Santa Webinar is available now, click here to sign up.

Our goal is to make using our Web conferencing platform as easy as having a conversation. Even so, we know you might have some questions on how best to deliver presentations, interact with diverse audiences worldwide and put your best personal brand forward. Here, for your ease, we’ve compiled some of the most frequently asked questions about our features.

Q: Is InstantPresenter compatible with Mac users to attend online events Absolutely! You can attend or present any meeting or event using a Mac-based computer and either Safari or Firefox browser.

Q: Can we present with PowerPoint slides on InstantPresenter What about PDF’s Yes, you can use PowerPoint 2003 and PowerPoint 2007 slides. You not only can load PowerPoint presentations, you also can load PDF documents, Word documents and Excel spreadsheets. You even can conduct screen sharing to show online collaborators and audiences documents from your desktop.

Q: How do I change an attendee to a presenter during the presentation It s as simple as two clicks. First, click on the attendee s name and then on Make a Presenter. To allow this person to be the current speaker, and be able to control the slides, screen share and more, click on the presenter and click on Set as Current Speaker.

Q: How can I enlarge the video of the presenters To adjust the video feed screen size, click and drag the icon in the lower right-hand corner and stretch toward the right.

Q: Can I collect payments from invited participants with InstantPresenter Yes. You can turn your online content into a money-generating tool! With the PayPal feature, you can collect payments from participants for events with your merchant PayPal account. You can charge for live as well as recorded Webinars meaning you can make money from your presentations long after you delivered them.

Q: Are URL links active within slides for attendees viewing the presentation with InstantPresenter You bet. Links are active within the text chat module and slides of presentation module! A new browser window will open once the link is clicked. Attendees are able to return to the presentation without any interruptions.

These are just a few of the features we offer to make your experience with InstantPresenter as easy and productive as possible. As you can tell we like to say yes to you so let us know what other features you d like to see added to our platform. For a complete list of our FAQs, please visit our FAQ page on the Web site.

We are pleased to announce a very exciting new social media feature now available to InstantPresenter users. With the newest feature update we have introduced a social networking tool set to our application that will allow you to easily share your upcoming and past meetings. Just some of the new features you can take advantage of are:

• Customizable profile page with the option to upload your photo and list information about yourself.
• Choose whether or not to make your profile page public.
• List only the meetings and/or recordings you want to make public.
• People can register for and join live meetings or watch recordings directly from your profile page.
• Share your profile page URL with your attendees and they can quickly and easily see all the scheduled meetings you have made public.
• Add keywords so people can find your profile page more easily through Google and other search engines.

To take advantage of your social networking profile, simply login to your account, click on the Profile tab, then click the Edit button next to Profile Information.

We’ve added some great updates to our Invitation and Registration System, including special invites for presenters, no re-login with meeting invites and pre-filled information. Here’s a breakdown on how we are working to make InstantPresenter as easy to use as possible:

• Meeting hosts can now invite attendees and presenters to a meeting. The presenter will receive a special invitation which grants them presenter rights as soon as they log into the meeting. If the meeting is PayPal integrated, the invited presenters don t need to pay in order to register.

• The invitation e-mail will contain a link that allows registered attendees to login to a meeting instantly, without having to provide their information again because it s retrieved from the registration information.

• If a meeting requires a password, Attendees and Presenters will still be required to enter the password they chose, however all other information will be pre-filled for them. This includes surveys, which will pre-fill information that was provided during registration, where applicable.

We hope that these changes will make it even easier to log into InstantPresenter online meetings, and will create a more seamless experience for the attendees. Log in and let us know what you think.

At InstantPresenter, we are continually working to provide our customers with the latest technology to ensure our platform delivers the highest quality audio and video. That s why we are thrilled to announce our latest upgrades, which include:

• An intuitive Presenter Module, which will re-size and change layout based on what is being broadcast.
  • If no presenters are broadcasting, the module will display the Presenter Picture as it was uploaded from the Account Manager.
  • If a presenter is broadcasting only audio, the module will display a smaller, more streamlined audio playback control, and will also display the Presenter Picture from the Account Manager right above it.
  • If a presenter is broadcasting Video and Audio, the module will display the presenter s video, and it will hide the static Presenter Picture.
  • When multiple presenters are broadcasting, the Video presenters will be stacked on top, and all Audio presenters will be stacked at the bottom of the module. In this case, the Presenter Picture stays hidden.

• An Echo Cancellation algorithm that reduces the amount of echo or feedback that arises when multiple presenters are talking and not all using headsets

In addition, we’ve added other features to ensure the best audio experience:

• Audio muting in the online meeting when a conference call is enabled. We do this so that there is no confusion about where the audio originated. If a conference call is used, all audio will be from the conference call, so be sure to dial in to the conference call to hear what s going on.
• Audio files recorded from Integrated Conference Calling will be streamed automatically in the recorded version of the archive.
• Recordings with multiple presenters broadcasting will play much smoother.

These changes will make it even easier and more intuitive to use InstantPresenter as a complete Web conferencing solution. We look forward to your feedback and hope you enjoy these updates as much as we do. Let us know what you think.