What’s new with Office Live Meeting 2007

Office Live Meeting 2007 has been re-designed and updated to make online meetings easier and more productive. It delivers an increased focus on content, simplified common tasks, removal of unnecessary elements and provides a consistent user experience across multiple platforms.

It also delivers audio and video integration to create an enhanced virtual meeting experience.

New and improved features:

Redesigned interface. The user interface has been redesigned and simplified to help participants remain focused on core content, by removing all functions to be seen in the main viewing screen.

Start menu. From the Start menu, you can open the Live Meeting client in pre-meeting mode to initiate a Meet Now meeting, change your Meet Now meeting options, or join a scheduled meeting.

Audio and video options. Enhancements to both computer audio and phone conferencing let you use one or both during a meeting. You can use webcams to show video of one or multiple presenters. In meetings that use computer audio, the video actively switches to the current speaker. You can also use the Microsoft RoundTable™ communications and archival system to show a panoramic video of a conference room to remote participants, or you can connect two conference rooms for meetings between workgroups at different locations.*

Handouts. As the presenter, you can distribute content that attendees can download either before or during the meeting. Files are automatically scanned for viruses when they are added to the meeting.

Breakout rooms. Breakout rooms are a new feature of the Live Meeting service. You can create breakout rooms to allow subgroups of attendees to meet separately.**

Shared Notes. You can create and save notes that all attendees can see.

Recording to your computer locally. Meeting organisers and presenters can record their Live Meetings and have the choice to either save the recording to their PC or to the Live Meeting server.

Dynamic audio and video. Multimedia files such as movie clips, flash animations, and audio files can now be added to meetings. Presenters can now easily upload media files and all media clips are virus scanned by Microsoft Forefront before distribution to meeting attendees.

Information capture tools. Presenters can now use simple-to-create tests using a range of question styles, such as fill in the blanks, true-false, single-select, and multi-select, to collect participant information or feedback. With the option to score results automatically and provide scores to participants individually.

Improved web-based client. The Web-based Office Live Meeting client is an alternative for users of the Office Live Meeting service who cannot install or run the Windows-based meeting client.

The Web-based meeting client does not require installation of any files; it runs as a Java applet in the user’s Web browser which also allows non-Windows operating systems such as Linux and Macs to now be able to access and use Live Meeting.

* The computer audio feature is internet reliant and has no audio support helpdesk. To assure a superior audio experience BT Conferencing provisions all users with a BT MeetMe audio conference service with every Live Meeting account, supported by a 24/7 helpdesk.

** Computer audio and audio conferencing is currently not available for virtual breakout rooms. Attendees can use the non-verbal communication tools to com municate with each other for example online chat, Q&A, white board, text screens and content sharing.