Foresight is a wonderful thing, and if I knew ages ago what’s happening with the world now, I would have sidled up to Eric Yuan and invested in a ton of shares in Zoom.
But, I’m not that blessed so I’m just getting on with my life etching out a living with my company Point and Stare.

Fast forward to the situation we’re all finding ourselves in and we’re having to move a lot of our work online.
Face to face client meetings are out the window, on-site yoga sessions are being stretched and company Town Halls have been made redundant.

The word on the street is to spend some time with the new kid on the block, Zoom.
Everyone is at it, from members of parliament, to global corporations, to the coffee mums, we’re all Zooming around in cyberspace.

No matter what platform you choose, ultimately ease of use needs to be key as well as the option to broadcast directly to Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and other platforms, add your company logo, custom backgrounds and more.

Zoom is a super platform to work with but, it’s nice to have choice so, here are three alternatives that I think you’ll like equally:

StreamYard labels itself as the easiest way to create professional live streams.
A debatable claim in comparison to all the others, Zoom included, but nonetheless it’s easy to get started.

StreamYard is a live streaming studio in your browser which means no apps to download, no complicated settings to fiddle with – just login with an email and away you go.

StreamYard

MeetFromHome is your online events venue
Using the MeetFromHome system you can move around the pixel room and chat with whoever you like just like being in an 8bit world.
It doesn’t get more fun than this.

MeetFromHome

For years we used Google Hangouts as our go to vidcomms platform but, as ususal with Google they’ve moved into getting everyone onto their new platform, Google Meet. Meet was specifically only available as part of your paid for GSuite but they’ve made it free for everyone and is touted to replace the old Hangouts so we can still have the top quality production, safety and versatility of Hangouts, but in the wrapper of Meet.

Google Meet

No matter what platform you choose, Zoom, StreamYard, MeetFromHome or even Google Meet, the key is to treat each other with the respect we want to be treated ourselves, add value to the conversation and enjoy your time online.

If you’re needing any help getting yourself online or need help with any of these platforms, feel free to get in touch.

BONUS:
Another platform I’ve just found is 8×8 which labels itself as a ‘secure, fully featured and free video conferencing’.
I quickly used it, and can confirm it looks promising with some useful features.

SECOND BONUS!
Here’s another quick and easy platform I’ve just discovered – Spike.

FINAL BONUS!
And I found another quick and easy platform – Callaba.