Dimdim, the open source web conferencing software company backed by $8.4 million in venture capital, today launched Dimdim Webinar, which allows SMBs and individuals to host an unlimited amount of completely web-based webinars with up to 1,000 people using nothing but a web browser.
Dimdim has arranged to provide free Dimdim Webinar accounts to up to 300 TechCrunch readers by signing up right here. The winners will be notified by e-mail.
In addition to its new product, the startup announced a partnership with Eventbrite, a provider of online event management and ticketing services, to enable webinars organizers to make money with web-based meeting and events.
Dimdim Webinar builds on the Dimdim 5.1 platform, which is said to be used by more than three million people and businesses today, and doesn’t require users to install any software whether they want to watch or participate in webinars, presentations, etc. The company is also debuting a customizable widget today that allows for webinar organizers to easier distribute one-click registration forms and links to detailed information web pages.
Dimdim Webinar is accompanied by a couple of helpful resources that guide organizers through the necessary steps to monetize and analyze the performance of their webinars, including an affiliate program that pays up to $150 for each webinar signup, help videos and guides and this dedicated microsite, a free eBook and the ability to schedule and provide tickets to webinars for free or for a fee through its exclusive partnership with Eventbrite.
Pricing for Dimdim Webinar starts at $75 per month, but there’s a free 30-day trial available and if the number of attendees you want to accommodate doesn’t exceed 20 than you can use the limited, free version. Or you could go back to the top of this post and see if you can get that free premium account.
Similar offerings include GoToMeeting and WebEx, which both offer more features at higher prices.
very nice looking product. This company should be acquired by Skypes new owners.
Dumdum will go no where until it changes its website so that it doesn’t ripoff Apple.com. For god sakes, how can anyone take this company seriously right now?
I don’t think that the home page resembles Apple will have a negative impact on the overall business.
Why do you think so? We use it and most of the things are rather better in DimDim. Site may have similar layout like Apple!
I agree that the nav bar needs to go, but the rest of the site is fine.
For those who want to run paid online webinars. You might also want to take a look at http://www.conferendum.com
You can set the price for your conference and Conferendum takes care of collecting the money from the participants. No software installation at all.
Wolfgang
Conferendum GmbH, Munich
how do you apply for free account? i followed the link and got the normal signup screen?
It’s a drawing that will happen later. The article says: “The winners will be notified by e-mail.”
Drawing for what? You already get a free account when you sign-up… without using TechCrunch’s link, so what does the winner get?
@Robin: Well?
Am I missing something
Dimdim has arranged to provide free Dimdim Webinar accounts to up to 300 TechCrunch readers by signing up right here. The winners will be notified by e-mail.
I have been using dimdim . I like their service
They also provide integration into your site
Tested this service against some of the other news ones and it did not work for us (tons of our salespeople had problems with it). Hopefully they will solve all the bugs and it has worked sporadically for some people so at least there is a little light there.
Michael-
Let me know what you experience, kevin@dimdim.com.
Thanks!
-k
Kevin Micalizzi, Community Manager
Dimdim Web Conferencing
e: kevin@dimdim.com
twitter: @dimdim
facebook: dimdim.com/facebook
Dimdim! Sounds Dumdum!
Hmm, hope there’s still available for that free account..
I’ve used this service and it works great.
Dimdim, GoToMeeting and WebEx are all MISSING the second most important feature in webinars (voice bridge being the 1st) – the ability of all participants to watch long videos together, in sync ,without the need to upload it for hours in advance!!
These days, most sales, training and support webinars include videos and require interactive tools such as pause, move forward/backward and annotate on it.
GotoMeeting (can’t speak for the others) does in fact offer a voice bridge.
I would imagine watching video is hard because you would need to upload/share every frame of the video to all participants, and the compression they use to share the screen likely only broadcasts regions of the screen that change (like MPEG codec does).
Check out http://www.seetoo.com! It’s the only webinar companion tool that allows to share videos of any size and format, with many viewers immediately – directly from the PC or DVD, without the need to upload it. Moreover, all viewers are watching it synchronously as if on the same screen!
We just used dimdim for our annual conference and it worked out fantastically. Almost no problems with several hundred people all connected for a week. I realize it’s hard to write a good testimonial without sounding like I work for the company, so I won’t get all preachy with it
Hi Ryan,
I’d like to talk to you about your experience with Dimdim. Please Tweet or email me if you are open to it.
Thanks,
Andrea
Robin-
Thanks for covering our Dimdim Webinar release. I always love seeing Dimdim mentioned on TechCrunch!
Launching Dimdim Webinar continues our mission to make web conferencing and webinars available to everyone. Large scale events are now more affordable and anyone can give it a spin with a free 30-day trial.
Things just keep getting better!
Thanks!
-k
Kevin Micalizzi, Community Manager
Dimdim Web Conferencing
e: kevin@dimdim.com
twitter: @dimdim
facebook: dimdim.com/facebook
Experience the Dimdim Live Webinar! Register at:
http://www.dimd...tus/events.html
Kevin, Could not resists when I saw your name, after I posted. check out my comment on our Board Meeting using Dim Dim.
Tom Townsend
President
Virtual Interactive Systems
http://www.visin.com/about
Board Member – Operation Hug-A-Hero
http://www.oper...ionhugahero.org
Gartner says 75% of Corporate America will have access to web conferencing / webinars tools by 2011.
The ability to charge for online events is becoming more common.
At WebinarHero, we provide FREE tools to webinar organizers allowing them to PROMOTE their online events.
Our motto is: “If a webinar is presented in cyberspace but no one is there to hear it, does it still make a sound?”
WebinarHero:
Our motto is: “Why waste money on advertising when you can spam comments on TechCrunch!”
FAIL!
This is great news for SMB’s, of course we have been followers of DIM DIM since Beta Truly we are impressed and with this latest announcement, Virtual Interactive Systems will be taking on an active role as an Affiliate Partner since most of our clients are in the SMB realm, it can only save them money and improve their communications.
I also work with a Nonprofit, OPERATION Hug-A-Hero.org and we recently conducted our 1st Board Meeting using Dim Dim, (7) members scattered all across the United States and one of the BM out of the Country. All of the BM were highly impressed. The cost vs. the features just cannot be beat. As a NP concerned with costs, the big dogs at WebEx will loose some ground to Dim Dim. They keep improving the product every month. Wow I sound like a fan boy now.!
The sign up link just takes me to a small seat, regular account sign up…?
Interesting, i will read more about it. Curently, the company im working at is using WebEx and i must say that it’s pretty easy to use.
yeah, DimDim is nice, we have used it couple of times and helps to meet our guys across globe. Very little setup time when compared to WebEx!
Mr Townsend is correct – we used DimDim for our first Board Meeting and we were all very happy with it. Thank you DimDim for helping out our non-profit, Operation Hug-A-Hero! Keep up the good work.
Call ‘em cool, but don’t call ‘em open. DimDim has gone the proprietary SaaS route.
The last source code published (v4.5) was nine months ago, which effectively shut out potential contributors and user/promoters. They’re now touting v5.1. Why would anyone contribute bug patches or new features to an old version?