How To Use Lync For Webinar Hosting

42% marketers reveal that they are incredibly pleased with the results that webinars have got them. In fact, more and more marketers around the world are increasingly becoming aware of the benefits of webcasts or webinars. The purpose behind a webinar could be either customer retention or simply lead generation but, to make it a success one needs a rock-solid web conferencing platform and loads of publicity.

Content:

There are currently three names dominating the Web Conferencing providers list, namely:

Cisco with 58% of the market share
Citrix with 13% of the market share
Microsoft with 11% of the market share

The Microsoft’s ‘Microsoft Office Live Meeting’ was a huge hit in the market which made it come back with a new web conferencing software – Microsoft Lync.

What is Microsoft Lync?

Lync is a web conferencing software that can be accessed either through Microsoft Office 365 (online) or through the Lync Server (on-premise). Not simply yielding to the needs of being a Unified Communication Software, the Microsoft Lync is more, with web conferencing being just a part of it.

Hosting a Webinar using Microsoft Lync

Scheduling

It begins with getting the webinar organized which can be done either through the Online Meeting tab or the ‘Lync Online Web Scheduler’. The latter is recommended since the former usually takes default meeting settings.

This web scheduler is, in essence, an application that is browser based where one can create and manage online meetings. To create a New Meeting, the user needs to log in using his/ her Windows Live ID. Once done, the new meeting page will open up where you need to fix two parameters, namely

- Access (Who will bypass the lobby) – The Access field governs who gets to see your content or audio and the choices can be made from the drop down menu.

- Presenters (Who is a presenter) – This governs who can control the view of your meeting content, its presentation, view etc. Its best to choose ‘Organizer Only’ since it allows attendees to be presenters too.

On saving the selected settings a meeting link will be generated which will be active and uneditable till the meeting expires. Using this very link your attendees would be joining the meeting. The meeting can be reviewed as well, using the interface ‘Meeting Summary’.

You could well explore the Export as iCalendar’ tab which allows you to save the meeting details on your personal outlook and also serves as a reminder.

Hosting

The process of hosting a webinar is relatively simple. However, it may need the user to get well versed with the following:

-Lync Clients
-Content Sharing
-Access and Permissions
-Additional Features

To host the webinar,

- Log into your Webinar and remind your presenters and attendees to do the same.

- Ensure you are handy with your notes in case you wish to have a question answer session post the presentation. Also check for the availability of the presentation for after the webinar is over (you may have to share it).

- In case you wish to record the webinar, remember to click on the record button once the webinar starts.

- Once you're done with the webinar and you have stopped the recording, click to view the panel of‘Lync Recordings’. Select the current webinar and click on the Publish button to make it live!

Do you need help in understanding the ‘Microsoft Lync’ software better? Are you looking for Lync 2013 training course?  For more information, visit on Lync Server 2013 training at koenig-solutions.com. Don’t forget to post your thoughts on the articles above!