There are many conference choices; Webinar, Videoconference, Podcast, Streaming, how to decipher their meaning and determine which one best suits your needs? Today we are squeezed by too much work, too little time, smaller budgets, higher productivity demands and the need to be in a hundred places at once. To facilitate this overwhelming effort, technology has been developed across multiple platforms for use in conference sessions. For many users, the differences between types of conferencing technologies are very vague. This can cause the mere mention of one type of technology to create expectations among users based on understanding an entirely different technology. Part of this confusion is caused by the fact that all of these technologies pursue the same goal; Allowing you to interact with others without actually being physically present. Another part of this confusion is caused by blurring the lines or using the same word to describe different characteristics. Having an audio component is not necessarily VoIP (Voice over IP) enabled and having a video component is not necessarily video conferencing. This document will attempt to identify the differences and give you some simple guidelines to help you determine which technology is best for your session. One of the major problems in dealing with this topic is the ambiguity of the terms and technologies associated with communication. In this document, we limit the types to four broad categories: video streaming, podcasting, web conferencing, and video conferencing. We also do not include social media forms of conferencing (Facebook, instant messaging, chat, etc.), as they further muddy the waters and are generally not used as the primary means of...... middle of paper... ...resolution (close to true computer image quality), it is still just an image sent to remote locations. I might be able to show you a PowerPoint slide, but you can't manipulate it or interact in any way. Within each technology, there are additional version-specific features and limitations. A feature you need in a Cisco release may not be available in the Adobe release. Likewise, someone with only Windows Media Player would not be able to watch a Flash stream. Identifying what you want to present and how you want it to be received is the first step. Then talk to the professionals who manage the systems to describe their specifics. Knowing the capabilities of the methods available to you, combined with how you want them to be presented and received, will ensure you choose the right technology with the best chance of delivering a successful session..