Powwownow

Powwownow

Overview

Powwownow (http://www.powwownow.com/) provides free conference call and web conference capability. There are four steps to setting up a conference call: 1) go to the website and generate a pin number by typing in your email address, 2) contact the participants, 3) send them the pin and dial-in number and time for voice conferencing, and 4) call in at the agreed upon time. Setting up a web conference requires similar steps as a conference call but users must also download free software that allows screen sharing.

Strengths

The only charge for using this tool is the cost of your call to the number Powwownow provides. The charges appear on your phone bill like any other call. Up to 50 participants can be on a call and during the call you can do a head count as people arrive on the call. Also available is a lock function that allows you to lock a call to prevent anyone else from joining. There are no time limits to calls. PIN numbers can be used for multiple calls. PIN numbers can be changed by deleting you account from the system and recreating an account. Web conferencing allows for other users to control the curser on your computer with the click of a button (on and off).

Weaknesses

Participants in conference calls must call in to a regular U.S. phone line instead of a toll free 800 or 888 number. Web conferencing requires users to download software.

Examples

The SEPIF Web Tech committee used Powwownow for conference calls during the creation of this document.

Tutorial

Web conference demo:  http://www.powwownow.com/Web-Conferencing/

This publication is dynamic in that it will continue to be improved, updated, and expanded over time. Suggestions for improving the content, organization, and scope of this publication are encouraged and can be contributed here (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NP3Y772).