Skype for Business comes bundled with Office 365

Skype for Business comes bundled with Office 365, and can be a useful platform for hosting medium to large scale webinars. Skype for business allows you to have up to 10,000 viewers at a time by using Skype Meeting Broadcast.

Skype Meeting Broadcast is your starting point for setting up and scheduling your webinar. From here you can select recording options, add event team members, and send out invite links through Outlook. Skype Meeting Broadcast is designed to work with your other Microsoft programs.

iLinc is designed to have easy to use recording features.

iLinc is designed to have easy to use recording features. You have the option of having the webinar auto record. The recording option is done on the server-side so that the performance of your system isn’t affected during the webinar.
Centralized registration portal. A single link can be provided, or integrated into your website to allow people to sign up for your next event. You can utilize the iLinc registration portal, or work with them on creating a custom solution.
Integrated polls and surveys during and after the webinar. These can be questions that you prepare beforehand, or in the middle of the presentation to re engage with your audience and get feedback on your performance.
iLinc integrates the registration process with social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to direct people to sign up for your webinar. You also have more traditional options that include email templates.
Integration with salesforce.com. The system automatically updates your contact list when a participant registers for a seminar, and stores the information as a new lead.

If you need to host a webinar for a large audience

If you need to host a webinar for a large audience, iLinc For Webinars may be a good option. Many of the features and services offered are geared towards providing a large scale presentation. Not only can you host up to 1,000 participants, iLinc also provides session management services and tools so that others can help manage your webinar.

iLinc can also be useful if you want to manage all aspects of the webinar from a central location. There are tools available to help with registration, webinar/attendee management, and after session follow-up. You can also cast the webinar with others in a panel/multiple speaker style format.

This can be a good option if you have attendees that want to dial in using a phone

ReadyTalk is designed for webinars that don’t require live video. This can be a good option if you have attendees that want to dial in using a phone. When setting up a webinar, you can choose to allow VoIP audio, streaming, or toll audio by default. This will allow attendees to connect by either phone or computer.

One thing to consider with ReadyTalk is that it is Java-based, so you will want to make sure that the plug-in is installed prior to starting your webinar. Once you’ve opened the panel, you can add your Powerpoint, polls, and video so that its ready for your presentation.

ReadyTalk is designed for webinars that don’t require live video

ReadyTalk is designed for webinars that don’t require live video. This can be a good option if you have attendees that want to dial in using a phone. When setting up a webinar, you can choose to allow VoIP audio, streaming, or toll audio by default. This will allow attendees to connect by either phone or computer.

One thing to consider with ReadyTalk is that it is Java-based, so you will want to make sure that the plug-in is installed prior to starting your webinar. Once you’ve opened the panel, you can add your Powerpoint, polls, and video so that its ready for your presentation.

Free for 40 minute duration webinars with up to 100 participants.

Free for 40 minute duration webinars with up to 100 participants. Professional plans with no duration limits start at $12.99/ month for 100 participants and can be upgraded to up to 500 participants. There are discounted options available as well for yearly subscriptions.

Participants can join your webinar by phone

When sending out invites, the template will list a number that they can join by audio for instances where their data connection may not work as well. This was a recent addition added to the platform.
Your webinars can have up to 100 participants during a session. There are several paid options available if you need to increase the number of participants.
You can utilize multiple screens during a webinar. This can be useful if you’re doing a slide presentation during the webinar and need to prepare items off on a second screen.
Scheduling and calendar tools integrated into the mobile app. If you use your mobile device for scheduling meetings frequently, these tools in the app can be useful in managing your webinar schedule and make sure that everything is viewable on your calendar.
Unlimited number of webinars with 40 minute durations. ezTalks gives you the option of other package options that remove the duration limit if your webinars are longer than the time frame.
Invitation tools that integrate with your existing email client. The invite tools has a template built in that allows you to share information to your participants about joining the webinar. All you need to do is fill in their name and email address, along with anything else that you want to use to personalize the invite. You can also paste in email addresses to send out invites without leaving the software. There are also options for copying the link and info for social media or SMS options as well.

ezTalks can be a good platform option if your webinars have a shorter duration

ezTalks can be a good platform option if your webinars have a shorter duration. Currently the free option limits the duration of your webinar to 40 minutes which can be a good time slot for a half hour webinar. ezTalks doesn’t limit the number of webinars you can schedule, so you can run multiple webinars on a given day.

Another aspect of ezTalks is the integration of their mobile and desktop apps. Some features such as calendar syncing, and polling tools are only on the app version. Recording options on the other hand are only on the desktop side. In terms of the features, the developers placed them on the platforms where they could be used the most rather than trying to mirror the same experience on all platforms.

Free 30 day trial. Pricing available by contacting Blackboard.

AnyMeeting provides webinar services tailored for small businesses. If you’re leading a small webinar (up to four attendees), you can set up a free webinar account. Using this option allows you to do live presentations where you can share your screen, audio, and video. You can also utilize the chat function to field questions from your audience.

At the end of the webinar you can redirect your participants to a specific url once the stream has ended. This can be a helpful option for providing an exit survey or a redirect to a call to action page. With the free account option, you will need to upgrade your account to host more attendees, record webinars, and gain access to additional tools that can be helpful for your webinar.

Collaborate allows for session sizes of up to 250 participants

Collaborate allows for session sizes of up to 250 participants. Larger groups can be accommodated by contacting Blackboard. With larger groups, features such as breakout groups and participant settings are turned off.
You can also record webinar sessions that capture audio, video, and shared content. You can also set it up to that recordings can be downloaded by participants.
View attendance reports to see which webinars have attracted the most participants.
Integration with PowerPoint and Openoffice to help lead training sessions.
Breakout groups allow you to put participants together for group activities. This can be a useful tool for implementing participant interaction.