It’s not news to anyone: eLearning is revolutionizing the way we train, comprehend, and collaborate globally. But did you know that this nearly $56.2 billion industry is likely to double in size by 2015? With that kind of industry growth rate, you should seriously evaluate your 2014 training strategy to make sure you’re getting the most from your virtual classroom solution. It’s pretty hard to argue with the numbers when it comes to eLearning. In fact, roughly 77% of American corporations currently use online learning, and studies show that organizations with strong learning cultures significantly outperform their peers. A few of the other benefits that virtual training provides include: Cutting costs for on-site training Allowing audiences to learn at their own pace Producing and providing eLearning courses consumes significantly less energy and produces fewer CO2 emissions per student Increasing the retention of knowledge up to 60% So, in order to help you increase your reach, engage audiences and provide a more enriching online training experience, here are three things we recommend incorporating into your 2014 virtual classroom. Turn on your webcam via video conferencing. By simply turning on your webcam, you are creating a more personalized, face-to-face connection with your audience. Adding to the visual environment will not only foster familiarity between student and instructor, but it may also encourage students to participate and collaborate with you and the group when it comes to live Q&A sessions or group discussions. If your group is small enough (6 people or under), ask your students to turn on their cameras as well - it works wonders for reading facial cues and gauging their comprehension Press record at the start of class. Add to your on-demand content library by recording and editing your sessions then posting them online, giving students the chance to re-visit the material and share the content. You can even create customized playlists that include courses and other on-demand content to help students find additional resources that support the content. Use social to your advantage. Keep track of student comments and questions with social hashtag campaigns integrated across the platforms that make sense for your 2014 educational strategy. Asking students to use a hashtag for posts that relate to the class will help you track what questions are being asked outside of class and establish your role as a real-time source. For more tips and recommendations to give your 2014 a makeover, check out our white paper on 5 things to do in your next online training. We also found this infographic detailing the Top 10 eLearning Stats for 2014 to be quite handy. Photo Credit: Kyota via Compfight cc

Let’s make a 2014 resolution together: We’ll host more and better online events and conferences with confidence and ease. If you can identify with this resolution, please allow us to introduce ourselves. We are Citrix Consulting and Onboarding Services, and our job is to help you make your presentations via GoToMeeting, GoToWebinar and GoToTraining better and easier. How does that sound? Whether you’re just starting to hold your meetings online with GoToMeeting or moving your online events to a bigger platform with GoToWebinar and GoToTraining, our team’s whole purpose is to coach you on how to take your events to the next level. Not convinced that we should know each other yet? Maybe it’s time to break down a few of the things we can do for you. We help you get better (and faster) ROI on your Citrix product. We offer group training or one-on-one consulting for your event-planning needs, and users that take advantage of these services experience are more comfortable and proficient with their Citrix products. We get your team up to speed faster, too. Using Citrix tools with comfort and proficiency helps you see great results faster. We deliver coaching specific to your use case - that gets your team going with Citrix services faster to meet your expectations quicker. We make change easy. Whether you’re providing new Citrix services to your users or giving them new and higher expectations in their work, we help ease the change. Our services provide customized training on specific topics you want addressed. Phew. I hope you’re interested in getting acquainted now. We’ll be waiting for your call or email and look forward to helping you put on more engaging events this year. Download the Consulting and Onboarding Service’s ebook to learn more about the services available to Citrix customers. You can also learn more about Citrix Consulting and Onboarding Services online, or contact us at 1 888 536 0582 or professionalservices@citrixonline.com.   Photo credit: bearfaced

Today we have a guest post from Gihan Perera. Gihan is a consultant, speaker and author who helps professional speakers, trainers, thought leaders and other business professionals to leverage their products, services and business practices - particularly with their online strategy. He is also the author of the books Secrets of Internet Business Success and Webinar Smarts, among many others. Find out more at www.WebinarSmarts.com. Most meetings are polite and orderly, but occasionally you might be chairing a meeting with hostile participants, conflicting agendas or a controversial topic. Learn how to manage these meetings so you can achieve the meeting’s objectives without losing your cool. Before the meeting With careful preparation and planning, you can prevent hostility in your meeting (or at least minimize it): Strategically invite people: Sometimes inviting an important person - such as a senior manager, important client or external observer - can be a good strategic move to keep participants on their best behavior. Exclude the wrong people: Look at the purpose of the meeting and choose your attendees carefully. Some people need to be there, so you have no choice but to include them. But others don’t, so exclude them if they are likely to be difficult or hostile. Choose the environment: Choose the place, time and setting to minimize power plays and potential complaints. Meet in a neutral place if necessary, choose a time that suits all participants (especially if this is an online meeting with people in different time zones) and use video for online meetings (so people are less anonymous and, hence, more restrained). Head them off at the pass: If you know of potential hostilities, talk to the people involved before the meeting to discuss issues, negotiate a deal or even just listen to their concerns. Even if you can’t resolve the issues, you’ll be better prepared for the meeting. Circulate the agenda: It’s even more important than ever to send around the agenda for the meeting, clearly stating its purpose, attendees, expected outcome, order of business and any rules for how you will conduct it. Starting the meeting You set the tone of the meeting by the way you start it. With a hostile meeting, it’s especially important to show that you’re in charge: Start confidently: Be confident, direct and assured so you demonstrate your professionalism and competence. If it’s an online meeting, log in early to prevent any technology glitches. Remind them why they are here: Clearly state the agenda, goals, scope and duration for the meeting, and explain any ground rules (voting, consensus, order of speaking, etc.). Take notes: Make it clear you’re taking notes so participants know their comments are being put on the record. During the meeting Your job is to conduct the business of the meeting, so don’t be distracted by participants playing personal games or trying to bully or intimidate the group. Be firm but fair: Treat participants firmly but fairly if they start misbehaving. Refer to your notes where possible and quickly but firmly bring the meeting back on track. Don’t play favorites: Treat everybody equally, even if you would behave differently to them elsewhere. Don’t grant somebody a favor unless you’re willing to do the same for everybody else in the meeting. Don’t lose your cool: It’s OK to outwardly express emotion, but always be logical and rational under the surface. If you need to be sharp or firm, do so. Change your tone, but don’t lose your cool. Above all, don’t let your emotions get in the way of achieving your outcome. Ignore the power plays, put-downs and pettiness and focus on what you want. If you can keep your head when all about are losing theirs, everybody wins! Photo Credit: bobsfever via Compfight cc

Many LogMeIn users woke up today to an email announcing that LogMeIn Free is being shut down. Helpful as always, many of our customers spoke up and recommended GoToMyPC as an alternative. We know how hard it is to go without remote access to your work when you need it, so we’d like to help those displaced by offering new customers 6 months of free remote access for GoToMyPC. And you can lock in the annual plan at $69 for up to 3 computers. Just use the promo code Welcome at www.gotomypc.com. You can upgrade or cancel anytime. We’re dedicated to keeping our remote access simple and powerful. GoToMyPC has many of the same features that LogMeIn Pro does - remote printing, mobile apps, file transfer - so your switch will be seamless. And if you used LogMeIn for tech support, we’re also offering 6 months free of GoToAssist Remote Support. This is ideal for those who need to deliver live attended and unattended support from a single product (includes up to 100 unattended computers). It features remote control, screen sharing, chat, support of mobile devices, recording and free technician-based mobile apps for Android or iOS. And it also has integrated Service Desk and Monitoring modules as options. You’ll then have the opportunity to buy the remote support service for $29 a month (58 percent off the regular price). Simply sign up for GoToAssist with the same promo code: Welcome. Give GoToMyPC and GoToAssist a try. We think you’ll like them.

Today, we have a guest post from Whitney Durbin, VP of Product Development at Retrofit. Whitney is motivated by the joy she sees when people adopt healthy, active lifestyles. Before bringing her extraordinary powers of organization and guidance to Retrofit clients, Whitney began her career in corporate finance at Merrill Lynch and then transitioned to a recruitment startup called Strong Suit. She honed her project management and operations management skills at Allstate and MPC Group, respectively. She holds a BA in English from the University of Iowa. She loves to travel, dance and eat at new places. If you happen to see her wandering the city streets, don’t worry. She likes to get lost on purpose. I’m proud to work at Retrofit, the personalized weight-loss program where more than 90% of our clients are losing weight. But to win the war against the obesity epidemic - nearly 66% of the American population is overweight - we must take the fight to a larger front. A good place to start is the American workplace. There are studies that show how a basic, everyday activity like sitting can negatively impact your health. Yet a sedentary corporate culture dominates. And overweight employees aren’t just putting themselves at risk. Obesity results in lowered workplace productivity as well as higher healthcare costs. In fact, a Duke University study shows that obese employees cost nearly $1,500 each per year in additional healthcare costs. And according to the American Heart Association, the total excess costs related to obesity in the U.S. for 2013 were estimated to be $254 billion in lost productivity and direct medical costs. If obesity levels continue to rise, total healthcare costs attributable to obesity will reach between $861 billion and $957 billion by 2030. But there is hope. A recent Harvard University study proved that for every dollar invested in corporate wellness, employee medical costs fall about $3.27 and absenteeism costs fall by about $2.73. That means companies can save an average of $6.00 for every $1.00 spent on corporate wellness programs. That’s why we’re springing into action. Our CEO Jeff Hyman recently appeared on Bloomberg Television to discuss how 2014 is the "year of participation" for corporate weight loss. Then we launched Retrofit Group, the first weight-loss program offering online group meetings conducted by wellness experts. By utilizing Citrix products in this venture, Retrofit has further enabled technology to reshape the landscape of American weight loss. We’ve been using GoToMeeting for internal communication purposes since launching in 2011. Given how easy it was to use, we figured we could rely on other intuitive technology from Citrix. We tried GoToTraining, and it turns out we figured right. Most weight-loss programs don’t address the main feature corporations need: flexibility. GoToTraining allows us to host multiple meetings at various times over a week so all employees can participate. Corporations want customizable options as well as quantifiable data on membership, attendance, and outcomes. With GoToTraining, the Retrofit team can now fill such market demands. GoToTraining has all the necessary features Retrofit needs to optimize program personalization and client engagement. Frankly, it’s the most effective and effortless way for our wellness experts to communicate the Retrofit philosophy. For instance, GoToTraining’s polling function is essential to the personalization process. It allows instructors to gauge each client’s needs. GoToTraining also gives Group members the ability to decide which features and settings to share online. This kind of security gives members the confidence to lose weight at their own discretion, while at the same time keeping them accountable to their fellow Group members - a key component to losing weight efficiently. Learn more about Retrofit Group at RetrofitMe.com, or learn more about other unique ways Citrix tools are helping people improve their lives. Photo Credit: CherryPoint via Compfight cc

As the landscape of work continues to change and become even more dispersed, more than ever it is becoming commonplace to freelance and telecommute, but with freelancing comes a whole new set of professional responsibilities. You are the keeper of your own timelines, you have to wrangle invoices, and of course you need to be in consistent contact with your clients and teams no matter your location. We feel your pain! That’s why we’ve put together this helpful list of tips on how to use GoToMeeting to manage some of the biggest freelance grumbles that we have seen over the years. I work from the road. Mobile work isn’t just a hot topic; it’s a way of life for many professionals these days. Fortunately, GoToMeeting has mobile apps for iOS, Android and Windows, which means you can attend (and host) meetings from wherever suits your fancy. My clients have a firewall. Firewalls are an effective security option designed to block unauthorized outgoing and incoming communications with your computer, so they’re a good thing to that end. The downside of firewalls is needing to tell the firewall about benign communication tools like GoToMeeting so it doesn’t prevent these programs from launching. Fortunately, we’ve laid it out step by step so you and your clients can easily get started with GoToMeeting I need to communicate detailed design changes to my clients. Screensharing is pretty commonplace across web conferencing tools these days since so many teams and groups meet online to get work done. But drawing tools built in to the GoToMeeting platform take the online collaboration game up a notch, allowing you to circle, highlight and point to exactly what you’re talking about on screen for everyone to see. I have a lot of last minute meeting requests with clients. We know you’re busy, and the last thing you want to do is set up and send out meeting information. So just do a one-time setup of GoToMeet.Me - a new mobile-friendly and seamless way of inviting people to GoToMeeting sessions. Designed specifically for on-the-fly meetings, GoToMeet.Me frees you from setting up individual meeting invites and provides a custom link to share with attendees whenever and however you need. My clients aren’t "technical people." Joining a GoToMeeting session from any device is easy. First-time users will see an automatic download of the software pop up on their screen, but all meetings after the first one only take one click to get into the meeting. I need a way to time meetings because I am hourly. The Record button in GoToMeeting can double as a meeting timer. Just hit record at the start of your meeting to capture exactly how long you’re spending on the phone with your clients. That way you also have a backlog of information for account auditing purposes as well. I don’t like taking notes. The Record feature of GoToMeeting also doubles as automatic note-taker. Track everything that was said and shown in your meetings by simply recording your sessions. You can either play back for taking notes at another time or post the audio securely online for you and your clients to access and reference when needed. Or you can look into automatic note taking tools that can transcribe the audio portion of your meeting recording into a word-for-word transcript. It can be daunting trying to successfully facilitate collaboration while keeping track of important client information and working remotely. GoToMeeting can’t keep you from encountering nightmare clients (like the company you’ve sent 10 invoices to), but it certainly can help make communication clearer and your freelance business more organized.

With UK economic growth expected to hit its highest rate in 3 years, recent research from Taylor Wessing shows British small business owners are optimistic about their company’s growth in 2014.  Equally encouraging, the start-up rate in Britain reached record levels in 2013 and a survey polling 250 small business owners revealed that four out of five are either "confident" or "somewhat confident" about their strategy for growth in 2014. On Monday the government launched a £30 million Growth Vouchers scheme giving small businesses in England subsidised advice from thousands of experts on key topics such as financial management, recruitment, leadership skills, sales and marketing, and digital technology. The government has appointed regional delivery partners to deliver the programme alongside Enterprise Nation who have developed a new online marketplace which will form a key part of the programme. The performance of participating companies will be monitored over the coming years in order to assess the impact that the advice has had. The government anticipates that up to 20,000 small businesses will receive Growth Vouchers for access to advice over the next 15 months, making it the largest business research project ever initiated by government and one that will gather comprehensive evidence on which to build future policy. As a proud sponsor of the online marketplace, Citrix is a passionate supporter of small businesses, providing easy to use tools and advice to help them work smarter and be more successful. "Small businesses are in a chicken-and-egg situation," says Ben Jesson, CEO of the web consultancy Conversion Rate Experts, whose clients include Google, Facebook and Apple. "Companies most need help when they have little time or money, but help costs money, and finding it takes time. The Growth Vouchers scheme alleviates both of these obstacles." Businesses that have been running for a year, with fewer than 50 employees are now able to apply for Growth Vouchers and those successful will be directed to the online marketplace. Find out more about Growth Vouchers by visiting http://marketplace.enterprisenation.com/about Follow us on Twitter to find out more about our role in the Growth Vouchers scheme and follow #GrowthVouchers and #BusinessisGREAT to be a part of the conversation. Photo Credit: f2point8 via Compfightcc

With the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos set to duke it out in Super Bowl XLVII this weekend, there’s no doubt about what the teams’ quarterbacks are up to this week. They’re preparing - mentally, strategically and physically. Last week we started our Better Meetings series, and we’re continuing the series today by evaluating how to put the quarterback’s leadership skillset to use in sales meetings. Quarterbacks are the head of the team. They’re leaders. They survey the field and call the shots. They’re required on nearly every play of the game. Salespeople are charged with similar responsibilities, from establishing yourself as the leader of the client relationship to strategically planning how to close the deal. Before your next sales meeting, use the tips below to channel your inner quarterback and close the deal like a champ.    Review the tape. Quarterbacks spend a lot of their prep time sizing up their competitors and their own performance on the field via video. Every good salesperson is prepared to counter their competitor’s strengths when asked, but great salespeople also review their own performance from past sales meetings. Whether it’s reviewing a sales plan that went wrong or actually watching your last online meeting recording, analyze your presentation performance for places to improve. Run the play on your practice field. No quarterback, especially good ones like Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson, would go to a game without having pinpointed and practiced the plays that will help out-perform its competitors. So before your first pitch to the client, gather your team and make your plan for closing the deal. Ask yourself: what will it take to win this game account? And go in ready to run a no-huddle offense. Get the right people on the field. There is no "I" in "team" or in "sales," so talk with your version of Marshawn Lynch or Knowshon Moreno - the people who will run with the presentation when you hand it to them. Your running back may be the technical lead or a business analyst, but no matter who it is, make sure they’re prepared for game time. Call and complete the play. When your game plan is settled, it’s time to set the meeting and deliver. Quarterbacks go into the game prepared to win at all costs, and so should salespeople. So, when you fire up the online meeting, turn on your webcam and help your client get theirs on to. Sales meetings with video conferencing close more deals, and two-way video conferencing lets you gauge reactions from facial expressions. Nods and smiles say, "Keep going. I like this," while looks of confusion or boredom may be grounds for calling an audible. Thank your offensive line. As hard as it to admit sometimes, rare is the deal that was planned, presented and closed by a single person. More often it’s a team of people who researched the client, built the presentations, planned the meetings and stepped in for support before the salesperson closed the deal. So, after your sales meeting, be sure to thank the people that gave you the opportunity to close. What is a quarterback without his offensive line, and a salesperson without her sales enablement team? Any head coach would applaud the leader that studied the competition, practiced the game plan and rallied the team. But they’d give a raise to the one who brought that extra skill that led to victory, so use video conferencing in your sales meetings to close deals faster. Get started by reviewing these body language tips before your next sales meeting. Photo Credit: BabyBare11 via Compfight cc

Thank you to those who joined our "GoToMeeting 101: The Basics" webinar on January 16, 2014 and for sending in your questions on best practices and how-tos for GoToMeeting. We are going to answer some of the most popular questions we received during the webinar here today, but first, if you missed the event, you can watch the recording. And if you were one of the people who asked about similar events for GoToWebinar and GoToTraining, you can sign up for those upcoming events now. GoToWebinar 101 will take place on January 29, 2014, and GoToTraining 101 will follow on February 11, 2014. Now, onto your top questions about GoToMeeting! Once I change presenters, can I do it again? Can I do it two ways? Yes, you can change presenters as much as you want, and once someone becomes a presenter they gain control to pass presenter control to someone else. Organizers always have the ability to pass presenter control whether they are the presenter or not. What’s the difference between giving keyboard and mouse control and giving presenter control? Presenter control is given to the person who wants to share their computer screen. Keyboard and mouse control is given to the person who is not the presenter but wants to click and navigate around the programs or pages open on the presenter’s screen. What is the difference between the Schedule a Meeting and Host a Meeting options? Select Schedule a Meeting when you want to put a future meeting on the books. To start a meeting that is not already scheduled, you have two options: navigate to www.gotomeeting.com and select Host a Meeting at the top or open GoToMeeting on your computer and select Meet Now. Join a Meeting is the option that meeting attendees should select if they don’t have the link to the meeting but they do have the meeting ID number. Do attendees need to have a GoToMeeting account? No. Meeting attendees only need the link to the meeting (or the meeting ID or phone number) and password, if there is one, to join the meeting. They don’t need their own GoToMeeting license. Do attendees without GoToMeeting accounts have the same functionality as other users? Yes. All meeting attendees, no matter if they have a GoToMeeting account or not, can be made organizer and presenter and receive keyboard and mouse control in GoToMeeting. Why do some people have a different name in the attendee panel when they log in? This happens when someone logs into GoToMeeting on a shared computer (or logs into GoToMeeting on someone else’s computer) and the password gets saved. To ensure that you are logged in to the right account, go to www.gotomeeting.com and enter your account details. You can also double check that your name is entered correctly on your account under GoToMeeting Preferences. To edit your name as it appears in the attendee list while in a GoToMeeting session, click File and Edit your name and email. Can I join a GoToMeeting session with just audio? Yes. Dialing in by phone is an option unless the meeting organizer chooses not to offer a phone number. Check the meeting invite to see if a phone number was offered. If an attendee doesn’t enter the audio PIN, can the organizer still mute them? No. When a phone caller dials in, they need to enter their audio PIN in order for the organizer to gain mute control of their line. Read our audio troubleshooting tips. A few of you also asked what the difference is between GoToMeeting, GoToWebinar and GoToTraining, and the short answer is that they are designed for different purposes. GoToMeeting has features most valuable for smaller, interactive groups meeting online. GoToWebinar is designed to host presentations to large groups, and GoToTraining has specific features for hosting classes and training sessions online. To learn more about which service is right for you, join our webinar on February 20, 2014. Photo credit: Marcus Ramberg via Flickr

What do you like most about GoToMyPC? We’ve asked small businesses time and time again, and their responses are just as varied as the businesses they run. To give you a good picture of just how remote access has helped these business professionals, we’ve pooled some of our favorite responses from the past year. Take a look and see what our customers had to say about GoToMyPC for small businesses. Running my business with GoToMyPC - Jack Rein Freedom from the office "We have been using it over two years without a hiccup. A key benefit - GoToMyPC offers a secure and easy connection to work for transferring files across multiple operating systems and multiple platforms (PC, Mac, mobile). For the reliability, price and flexibility, there is nothing that beats it on the market. As a business owner, I have been able to take advantage of getting away from the office without concern that I won’t be able to support and respond to clients remotely, even if I’m armed only with my phone." - Jay Roberts I can work from home! "I have a busy practice, and during most of the work week, I cannot just simply go to my office and do my accounting, banking, bills, payroll or statistics. When I am home, especially on weekends, I can send my husband on errands, log in to the office and reconcile my accounts. I can see how the clinic did during the week and send reports to my accountant. I can even pay my bills, taxes or any other function I wish that I could do during my busy work week IN MY PAJAMAS! I love it, and my husband loves that I do not have to go in to the office during the weekend or stay after hours at the office to get this done. My dog loves it too, since he can be by my side when I work." - Celine Lemieux It’s simple to use! "Running our growing business with two locations has been made infinitely simpler by using GoToMyPC. I have our key management people using GoToMyPC on a regular basis, too, and the increased connectivity has directly resulted in increased productivity." - John Crawford Best of breed in my book - Jim Simmons Indispensable tool for busy travel agent "As a travel agent, I sometimes need to work from literally anywhere in the world. GoToMyPC allows me to leave sensitive client information on my home computer yet still take care of client needs regardless of where I might be. I protect my business and my clients at the same time." - Amber Blecker Work from home. Serve my clients well. Save the environment! "I’m able to work from PC to Mac or PC when it’s convenient for me and my clients, while allowing me to be present with my child. Rarely do I have any problems with GoToMyPC. This software is very reliable, allows cross-platform usage, helps save the environment and enables me to provide excellent customer service. Speaking of, I’ve also received excellent customer service from GoToMyPC tech support. I’m so glad this software is available." - Laurie Wherever our iPad goes, the whole office goes. - Kaydee Peterson Want to share your own experience? Visit our video gallery where you can record a short snippet about you, your business and how you’re using GoToMyPC. Recording is easy and can be done in less than 2 minutes - all you need is your webcam or mobile device. We’ll then post your video to our web and social channels, and our favorites will be featured in our Small Business Stories series here on the GoTo Blog. Photo Credit: Daniel*1977 via Compfight cc