GoToWebinar

Pros

1. Our company uses GotoWebinar for hosting quarterly update calls and all hands meetings
2. It is a slick application that has useful features such as muting or unmuting all or few.
3. Attendees can virtually raise hands in the app by pressing a button when they are muted by organizer and when they want to speak.
4. Users can send private messages to one another or can send group messages or broadcast messages to everyone.
5. It has screen sharing and Video camera option too.
6. It has lot of toll free and local numbers from almost all of the countries to dial in
7. Phone app is equally great to dial in and has a calling ability as well.
8. No need of hosting this software in local premises. It is available as a software service.

Cons

I have no complaints about this software.

Pros

All organizer controls are readily accessible when you host your event. Everything is located on the right hand column so you can toggle between boxes for whatever function is required. The newly designed dashboard makes it easier to see at a glance upcoming events. Creating an event is simple and integration with our email management system was seamless. The automatic confirmation emails that are sent to registrants are also one less thing we have to worry about during our webinar registration process.

Cons

When you first host your event, the controls can be intimidating. The boxes are piled on one another and it's not straightforward as to what each control does unless you've had prior experience running an event or reviewed their resources to understand how to operate everything. While the labels of the function provide some context, it would be helpful if a "?" hover option was available so users know what each feature does while you're in an event. Chatting during an event is also a concern. You'll have to be very careful to select who you want your message to go to.

Pros

user friendly, like the analytics and reporting

Cons

GoToWebinar has let us down time and time again when calling into the customer service line. We receive information that ends up being incorrect. Previous experiences include video recordings lot playing and recordings disappearing. The most recent and most upsetting, particularly in the times we are in, is with a webinar we hosted on the CARES Act yesterday (Wed). We had almost 1,500 registrants. My team called in on Monday to verify our package and limit we have available to specifically avoid people not being able to get into such an important webinar. We were told we had a limit of 5,000 attendees. That was specifically asked. We reassured our Board and Executive team with this info, which we trusted since it came straight from the source. Day of the webinar, we had a max of 501 and several hundred people were unable to join. Finally speaking with a friendly rep today I learned that we were misinformed by the GoToWebinar representative on Monday and that since it shows the max attendee number on the general pricing page online GoToWebinar chooses not to take responsibility. This is so disappointing how little care is shown, as mentioned, particularly in these times. Folks livelihoods are in the mix and all GoToWebinar can say is "Sorry, info is on our website". Where is customer service and trying to mitigate a situation? We will have to look elsewhere for another product as we cannot continue to support a company with so little regard for people in need of help.

Pros

GoToWebinar is easy to use from the get-go, the learning curve is very short. It makes setting up a webinar very simple and you can share events in a variety of ways. That makes it easy to get the word out about your events and it integrates nicely with other products, like Pardot and website platforms.

Cons

Sometimes it’s confusing to know what level of service you have, and it’s not always clear if a feature is included in your subscription or not. It would be nice if they took excluded features out (based on your service agreement) or made it clear what’s included in you subscription and what’s not when you’re setting up an event. We also have multiple people using a corporate account and the notifications get out of control sometimes.

Pros

The software was easy to learn and the user interface is intuitive. Features were easily accessible and icons were self explanatory to any person who grew up in the age of smart phones and the internet. I was able to launch the webinar without any prior training and hosted my very first webinar ever without a hitch. GoTo Webinar has the ability to keep track of attendees' engagement, record presentations, poll the audience, generate analytics, switch between presenters and speakers/ panelists seamlessly. The platform is also nice because attendees can join the webinar without downloading software, they just simply click on a link that can be emailed through an automated system or a traditional URL. We had attendees on mobile devices, tablets (ipads), etc. so it's a pretty versatile platform.

Cons

Some features can only be unlocked by increasing the membership tier. The basic subscription is already pretty pricey and does not have access to many of the "premium" features such as embedded videos and maximum number of attendees and available registration slots.