A List of Free Software for Virtual Business Meetings

It is now easier than ever before to hold business meetings with colleagues, clients or stakeholders who are far from your base. Costly flights and hotel stays will become a thing of the past if you hold your meetings online instead.

Through the use of freely available business software, you can hold effective and high quality meetings without leaving your desk. 

So, what are the best pieces of software you can use without spending a penny? Check them out here:

1. MeetingBurner

This is a simple and efficient online meeting/webinar application that caters up to a maximum of 10 attendees for free. It provides a way of sharing screens that comes in handy when you have complex information to pass on. MeetingBurner is easy to launch and can be used for running smooth meetings using the free version on a Mac or Windows system. It comes with a customisable dashboard that is nice and simple to work with.

After setting up your meeting, you get a special URL to share with the participants, while they also have the option of dialling in using a phone number. The meeting is run using a control window, which can be moved around to prevent it from getting in the way of the information being shared. One thing to bear in mind is that the free version doesn´t let you record your meetings. To do this, you need the pro version, which offers meeting facilities for up to 50 attendees, or the higher cost premier version, which works for a total of up to 1000 participants and comes with analytics. Here’s a full list of its features.

2. Google+ Hangouts

Another solid option for holding free online business meetings comes from Google. To run your meetings on this platform, you need a Google account. One of the great things about Hangouts is that Google keeps making improvements to it. Chief among the most recent of enhancements is the way you can share your screen and collaborate on Google documents, which goes a long way towards making it ideal for meetings where you need to review documents as a group. You can invite up to 10 people to a session. It also offers the option of making free and clear voice/video calls. It allows users to draw together using SketchUp when required. 

3. TeamViewer

TeamViewer is very popular for providing remote support/access to another system over the Internet. This application also offers a simple but effective way of holding meetings/presentations with distant colleagues. As with all of the other meeting software mentioned here, it is possible to share your screen with others, chat and work with them on documents. It is free to use and has a very nice feature for granting the role of host to another user so that they can share their screen whenever the need arises. It also has iOS and Android compatible TeamViewer apps, meaning that you and your team can get together no matter where everyone is. It is free for private use only.

4. Yugma

Another free meeting software worth considering is Yugma. As with other top services, it is easy to set up, share your screen and collaborate on documents. It comes with a 15-day free trial. The free version might work well for small teams and more modestly-sized projects though there are quite a number of paid plans that offer additional features.

It works on android devices.

5. Join.me

You can use a variety of devices to set up your meeting on Join.me. Typical meeting services such as communal editing of documents are available. Up to a healthy maximum of 250 users can join a meeting. While it is often seen more as a remote support tool to some people, it works extremely well when used as a free meeting service. In addition to the free version, there is also a pro option that costs some money and lets you share the hosting role with other attendees.

Other options you can explore are AnyMeeting & Mikogo.

If you know of others that can be added to this list, do leave a comment.

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