Business and Professional Communication
Macromedia Breeze Meeting Information
Macromedia Breeze Meeting (the latest version is now known as Adobe Connect Professional) is an online software program that allows individuals in different locations to meet virtually online and conduct meetings. Groups can use whiteboard for drawings and discussions, upload documents and PowerPoints for meetings and presentations, communicate with each other through audio and video connections, chat, and leave notes for other team members. Breeze Meeting is similar to comparable products used in the business world.
There are two types of group or team meeting software programs: software that is purchased and downloaded to individual corporate computers, and software that is run from the software manufacturer’s website on the Internet (web-based conferencing). Macromedia Breeze is the first type. It is similar to HyperOffice (http://www.hyperoffice.com/hypermain/online_collaboration_solutions.cfm), who provides team meeting software for clients such as PriceWaterhouseCooper, the Fox network channel, GMAC, Prudential Financial, ReMax, National City Mortgage, and Siemens. Some popular web conferencing sites include iVisit (http://www.ivisit.com), GoToMeeting (http://www.gotomeeting.com), Microsoft NetMeeting (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/netmeeting) and WebEx (http://www.webex.com).
This type of software is not cheap: for example, Facilitate Pro (http://www.facilitate.com), a web-based conferencing vendor, charges a minimum of $18,000 USD for their standard package of five work groups and close to $36,000 USD for their “Volume Package” which allows up to 20 different groups to virtually work together. Coupled with yearly site licenses, training, and technical support, the use of online group software can be come expensive. But for many companies who have employees working globally, online group software is a cheaper alternative to the traditional meeting format of face-to-face which typically requires travel, overnight visits, and so on.
This course will use Macromedia Breeze Meeting to help you become more familiar with group and team group software programs. You will be allowed to use it for your own team meetings and will be doing several graded projects using it as well. Click on the “Getting Started with Macromedia Breeze Meeting” hyperlink in the pull-down menu to start learning more about its features and how to start using it.