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David Boloker -IBM at Web 2.0 presentation

Calliflower Conference Calls

I started using a new conferencing service in the last couple of weeks.

Conference calls used to be nothing more than virtual conversations, where people could "attend" meetings without leaving their desks. Now, with more businesses looking for collaboration tools and ways to make sure that those long, boring conference calls actually yield productive results, many companies are looking for alternatives to traditional conference calling. Enter CalliFlower, a web-service that allows users to create their own conference lines, invite participants to meetings, integrate with corporate calendars, send reminders, and even keep track of who's on the call and who gets to speak when everyone's on the line.

Calliflower is perfect for corporate managers who don't just want to host a conference call, but want to have a bona fide virtual meeting. The service is free to use, and once you've signed up, you can use the system like any regular conference line, where you dial a number and enter a PIN code to join a meeting, or you can take advantage of Calliflower's meeting management tools.

If your company has a Voice-over-IP system that allows you to dial from your computer, you'll get the most benefit from Calliflower. I called in using my Skype-Out account. Meeting hosts can log in to the service, schedule a meeting by choosing a time and subject, and sending invitations to anyone they want to attend. Those attendees can then join by dialing in the old-fashioned way, or clicking the link in the invitation to dial in and join at the correct time.

Calliflower allows meeting schedulers to send calendar appointments along with meeting invites, so they can send appointment updates and manage responses from their attendees, and send reminders as the date and time of the meeting approach. If you have a meeting agenda or a plan for the call, you can share that with all of the participants prior to the call. If users join via the invitiation link, a meeting host can watch as people join the call and see who's joining at what time. Calliflower also allows you to monitor attendance, so you can see who's skipping your meeting as well as who's on the call.

Once the meeting is off and away, the meeting manager can mute all of the other lines so they can speak or go into "lecture mode," where anyone who wishes to talk has to click a "raise hand" button on Calliflower's call interface to ask to speak.

Additionally, the service allows meeting managers to record their conference calls as mp3 files to share later, and set up chat sessions on the Web for members to communicate with one another without interrupting the call.

Microsoft's New Ad Featuring Jerry S. and Bill G.

I just want you opinion of this one. I kind of liked it.