Virtual meetings are still happening, and companies need to use a great virtual meeting platform in order to execute a successful meeting. Virtual meetings, hosted by a great virtual platform, will help your employees succeed and they will become fully engaged with the meeting!

What Are The Features To Look For In A Virtual Meeting Platform?

Meetings can become mundane for the attendees, and you need to keep them engaged as well as informed! By finding a virtual meeting platform that helps to keep everyone engaged with the best features, people will be more than willing to participate.

<span class="mid-size-title">High-Resolution Visuals & Best Sound Quality</span>

What good is hosting a meeting if nobody can hear or they have poor image quality? In order for your attendees to be able to see and hear well, try a trial run before the meeting begins. Meeting hosts can test the audio and visual before the attendees sign into the meeting, to ensure that everyone will be able to see and hear. When you set your attendees up for success, they will want to participate more in the meeting!

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<span class="mid-size-title">Screen Sharing</span>

Within every meeting, there are going to be people who need to share information and data. The best way to share that information is to have access to screen sharing. When a screen is shared, all of the attendees will be able to see the information on the screen of whoever is presenting. The meeting may have more than one person that needs to present, so be sure that everyone within the meeting has access to screen sharing.

<span class="mid-size-title">Built In Recording</span>

When you host a meeting, there may be vital information that is being shared that can be used for any future meetings. Choosing a virtual meeting platform that has a recording feature can help meeting hosts keep this information. If there was a guest who RSVP’d but could not attend the meeting, the recorded meeting can be sent to them via email, that way they won’t miss out on any important information.

<span class="mid-size-title">Room Size Matters</span>

Meetings can be held with any certain number of attendees, but there are some virtual meeting platforms that will not support a large number of attendees. Be sure to do your research when you are selecting your meeting platform! If your meetings are typically small, with only a few attendees, you may not need to pay for a premium subscription on a virtual meeting platform. If you see that you have many attendees for your meeting, you may need to upgrade your virtual meeting platform to one that will hold all of your attendees, as you don’t want to turn anyone away because you couldn’t accommodate them!

<span class="mid-size-title">Engagement Features</span>

In order to keep your attendees engaged with the meeting, your virtual meeting platform should have some engagement features! These features can include a live chat window, polls or even emoji reactions. Meeting hosts, if they want the opinion of the attendees in a quick fashion, can ask the attendees to give an emoji reaction, such as a thumbs up or thumbs down! Hosts will be able to see how the attendees are feeling about the information being presented. If there are any questions from anyone, but someone is presenting, they can use the live chat feature so the questions are not lost or forgotten, and the meeting hosts can answer the questions at the end.

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<span class="mid-size-title">Analytics</span>

Analytics help meeting hosts see if the event was engaging and how much the attendees were engaging within the meeting. Analytics give meeting hosts a full spectrum of what was successful with the meeting and what wasn’t. They will also be able to see the aspects of the meeting that people really enjoyed, based on how much they were participating. If there was a part of the meeting that didn’t register well, try to avoid that for the next meeting, or even ask the attendees what they would have done differently.

Top 20 Virtual Meeting Platforms

If you’re not sure where to begin with planning a virtual meeting, these platforms can help! They will help you plan an engaging yet informative meeting. The use of features like analytics can show meeting hosts what worked and what didn’t work during the meeting. They can then use that data to help plan any future meetings.

1. Hubilo

Hubilo is a virtual event hosting platform that helps event hosts plan their events from the beginning to the end! From sending the invitations to sending the post-event surveys, they take all the guesswork out of planning events. Hubilo uses new technology, like gamification to help keep attendees engaged within the meeting. Live chats, polls and reactions allow event hosts to see how their attendees are enjoying the event, in real time. Hubilo also prides itself on providing value to their event sponsors and providing ROI to those sponsors. When sponsors feel important and are a part of the event, they will be more likely to return as a sponsor to any future events.

2. Livestorm

Livestorm is a virtual meeting platform that is both easy to use for the attendees and is easy to manage for the meeting hosts. Livestorm uses this virtual platform to host meetings and onboard new employees. If you choose to onboard your new employees with this platform, Livestorm has their meetings recorded, which can be used for quality assurance. Recorded meetings can be used as a reference point, or can be sent to anyone who missed the meeting! 

3. GoogleMeet

GoogleMeet is a popular virtual meeting platform, as the attendees don’t have to download any extra apps; the meeting is held right within their browser! There is also additional security to enter the meeting, with a two-step verification process. These meetings have a live chat portion, emoji reactions and screen recording. If you choose to upgrade your version of GoogleMeet to their enterprise version, you will receive noise cancellation, which will help block out any unwanted noise during the meetings. 

4. Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is a virtual meeting platform that is easy to use, as the scheduling of meetings is a flawless transition! You can host small breakout rooms, for guests to brainstorm ideas or discuss any work projects. Microsoft Teams also has a shared whiteboards feature, where attendees can write down their thoughts and ideas, then share the whiteboard with others. The whiteboards can be saved for any future meetings to use as a reference point!

5. Zoom

As we have all witnessed over the past 2 years, Zoom has seen a boom within the corporate world and is still going strong! Zoom provides all meetings with live polls, shared whiteboards and even virtual backgrounds. If you choose to upgrade your subscription to their enterprise plan, you can host up to as many as 300 attendees in a single meeting! 

6. WebEx

Much like the other virtual platforms we have talked about, WebEx has the option to record your meetings. For any attendees that can’t attend the meetings, the recording can be emailed to them. They can receive the information as if they were in attendance and not have to miss out on anything as well. Live polling allows your attendees to give their honest feedback about the meeting and what they liked or disliked about the meeting.

7. GoToMeeting

GoToMeeting has the ability to hold up to 250 guests, which is huge! The information presented can be passed on to everyone in your company, with a few easy clicks. This virtual meeting platform also has the option to create meeting transcripts, highlighting all of the main points of the meeting! There is also unlimited storage to this app, so all of your meetings, notes and recordings are stored and safe.

8. Adobe Connect

Adobe Connect, much like GoogleMeet, has the ability to be used right within the user’s browser, and they don’t need to download any extra apps. Breakout rooms can be held for any mini meetings or smaller chats, and those can be recorded to be presented to the larger group later. Adobe Connect also has the ability to share any media files with everyone within the group.

9. On24

On24 is a virtual meeting platform that has the ability to host interactive webinars! These webinars have the ability to be recorded, to use for any teachings in the future. Meeting hosts are able to monitor the engagement of the attendees, and see where the most and least engagement is happening within the meeting. You can also use analytics to determine if the event was a success, and use those analytics to host any future meetings.

10. ClickMeeting

ClickMeeting is a virtual meeting platform that hosts smaller, private meetings and chats, especially if the meeting subjects are more sensitive. These meetings can have translation in real time, especially if there are attendees that are joining from other countries. ClickMeeting also allows meeting hosts to send out automated invitations, reminders and even thank you notes and post-event surveys. This takes some of the work out of the planning process! 

11. Lifesize

Lifesize has video meetings that can be viewed in 4K, allowing the most clear video to be shown to the attendees. This meeting experience is secure and safe, as guests will have to go through a two-step verification process to enter. Keep in mind that this virtual meeting platform can only hold a maximum of 25 guests.

12. Toasty

Toasty helps bring all of your meetings and workshops to life! This platform uses icebreaker questions to allow attendees to get to know each other better, both personally and professionally. Meeting hosts can set an agenda before the meeting begins, and attendees can get a clear picture on what is going to be happening during the meeting.

13. Talky

Like GoogleMeet and Adobe Connect, Talky doesn’t need any extra downloads and can be used right within the browser! A unique URL is created for each meeting, and this URL can be shared with each attendee. The room is locked so no unwanted guests can join the meeting. Sharing your screen allows for all of the information to be shared to each guest. 

14. Whereby

Whereby is a small and intimate virtual meeting platform, hosting only 4 guests per meeting. There is nothing extra you need to download for these meetings; they are held right within your website browser! You can even play YouTube videos right within the meeting, if the situation calls for it.

15. Butter

Butter has a fantastic feature in which all of the tabs for meeting are contained in one place! No need to be switching back and forth between tabs- they are all in one centralized location. Breakout rooms can be held for smaller chats, and you can ask the attendees to give their feedback through live polls. Polls help meeting hosts get honest feedback from their guests, and use that feedback to help plan any future meetings!

16. Gatheround

Gatheround allows meeting hosts to choose the layout of their meeting! Meetings don’t necessarily have to be a bunch of faces on a computer screen. Gatheround gives meeting hosts 14 different templates to choose from, so they can customize their meetings to the way that works best for everyone! This will help with team bonding, which sometimes you may not get with a normal meeting setting.

17. Dialpad Meetings

Dialpad Meetings is an easy to join meeting platform that can be attended from your mobile device, laptop or desktop. With the help of AI, the meeting can have notes taken through the platform itself. There are no extra downloads for your guests, and you can share your ideas and thoughts all within the shared whiteboard.

18. Zoho Meeting

Zoho Meeting helps take your Google Calendar and easily transition your events into meetings. Zoho Meeting can also host webinars and training sessions for new employees. Meetings can host up to 100 people, which is a large number of people to attend! Screen sharing allows meeting hosts to present any information to the group, so everyone receives the same information at the same time. 

19. Pexip

Pexip is able to host meetings thanks to the use of cloud services! Video conferences need to be executed flawlessly, without the worry of a video not playing or the sound not working. Video collaborations help connect people from all over the world and you are able to control your data in a safe and secure space.

20. Intrado

Much like Pexip, Intrado uses their meeting platform within cloud based technology. Intrado hosts 40,000 virtual events yearly, and helps connect meeting hosts and their attendees securely! Intrado also helps drive business insight and you can communicate directly with your stakeholders. This platform can also send notifications directly to each attendee, so they can be kept aware of everything as it is happening.

<span class="mid-size-title">Conclusion</span>

Your virtual meeting may have many components, such as needing to break out into smaller groups or creating meeting transcripts! Whatever your event needs, you can be sure that by choosing one of these virtual meeting platforms, all of your needs will be met. Screen recording is an important part of hosting a virtual meeting, as you can record the meeting and send it to anybody that was not in attendance. They will still receive the information that was given. These recordings can be used for quality assurance, and can be used to help plan for any events in the future!