SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SlideShare, a presentation-sharing community of more than 45 million users, today announced the availability of Zipcast, its fast, simple, and social web conferencing service that enables users to meet on the web with just one click. The only requirement for Zipcast is a modern browser — there are no downloads, and there is no wait time before meetings start. More information about SlideShare and Zipcast is available at www.slideshare.net/zipcast/.
“Web conferencing is becoming an increasingly popular way to share information, yet most of today’s existing products don’t reflect the way we work or the way the web works,” said Rashmi Sinha, co-founder and chief executive officer at SlideShare. “Zipcast enables inexpensive, secure private meetings and free, limitless public meetings, integrated into a professional presentation-sharing community of more than 45 million users.”
Get started in minutes
New SlideShare users can sign up through a quick and simple online form or through Facebook Connect. Hosts set up an online meeting room and can upload presentations up to 300 MB in size. Each SlideShare member is given a unique Zipcast meeting room URL -- e.g., www.slideshare.net/NAME/meeting -- that can be easily shared. There is no limit to the number of people who can join a public or private meeting, and the service scales automatically as meetings grow. And no screen takeover is required; Zipcasts take place entirely within a browser window.
Deep integration with social networks enables viral meetings
Inviting a friend or colleague is as simple as sharing the meeting room link via IM, email, Facebook, or Twitter. Once in a meeting, chats occurring in the meeting can be made public on Twitter or Facebook, extending the meeting beyond its original participants to draw others in. In addition, the SlideShare homepage displays an activity feed of the current public meetings, so the site’s existing user base can easily connect to them. Users can start a Zipcast using a presentation they’ve uploaded, or any one of the tens of thousands of public presentations uploaded to SlideShare every day.
Free teleconferencing and streaming video
SlideShare is partnering with FreeConference.com to offer free teleconferencing for Pro Zipcasts, including options for one-to-one or one-to-many conference calls. Zipcast features one-to-many streaming video and audio and group chat for all users.
Private meetings available with SlideShare Pro
There is no cost for a basic SlideShare account, and all SlideShare users will have free, unlimited access to Zipcast for conducting public and private meetings. SlideShare Pro, starting at $19/month, offers additional functionality like password-protected meetings accessible only to people invited by the host. More information about SlideShare Pro is available at http://www.slideshare.net/business/premium/plans.
At 10:00 a.m. PT on Wednesday, Feb. 16, SlideShare will host an introductory Zipcast meeting at http://slideshare.net/rashmi/meeting. The meeting is free and open to the public.
About SlideShare
SlideShare is a presentation-sharing community that connects professionals through content. The site’s 45 million users upload tens of thousands professional presentations every day. SlideShare’s fast, easy-to-use Zipcast service enables limitless, viral public meetings and inexpensive, secure private meetings. The company is based in San Francisco, Calif., and is backed by investors including Jonathan Abrams, Mark Cuban, Dave McClure, and Venrock. More information about SlideShare is available at www.slideshare.net.