Posted by Steve Chazin on Thu, Oct 29, 2009 @ 12:50 PM
One the best kept secrets of Dimdim is that recording is available for free for all users, without anything installed on your computer (we do all the magic in our Synchrolive Cloud) and send you a URL to your recording and an embed code. Often people ask us how to get the best video recording possible with Dimdim. Here are the secret ingredients:
1. Get Dimdim Pro or Dimdim Webinar. These products include a mode where you can resize the video up to 4 times larger. Once you do, the Dimdim video looks like this to your attendees:
2. Now if you are not sharing any other resource, just click the record button and we'll record a much higher resolution video file. After about 5 seconds of the following video you will be able to easily see the difference between normal and hirez video recording:
Finally, here is a Dimdim Knowledgebase article on all the different Dimdim recording modes. Enjoy!
Posted by Steve Chazin on Thu, Aug 13, 2009 @ 03:03 PM
I was talking to my cousin Mike this week and he gave me a great idea. Then I heard from my friend at FanDraft, a fantasy football live draft tool. Because so many people draft their Fantasy Football teams in person or via the phone, Dimdim is a great solution to save them time, money and travel. After all, fantasy football is about making some money and winning...so let Dimdim save you some money and help you win!
Here is how to use Dimdim to draft your team:
1. Sign up for Dimdim for free. You'll be able to host draft sessions with up to 20 people on your fantasy football team. (if you need bigger rooms you can easily upgrade at any time.)
2. Schedule a Dimdim meeting for draft day and enter the email addresses of your draft partners - an invitation will be sent automatically. Or grab our instant Webinar Widget and post it on your site or blog or tweet it to your partners & teammates.
3. Start your Dimdim meeting on draft day and share your desktop or web browser. Your partners all join via the link in the email and instantly see your computer screen while everyone talks to each other via the telephone conference bridge that comes with Dimdim for free.
4. Now collaborate in real time and pick that great team together! And don't worry, none of your draft partners need to install anything to help you pick the best players.
Ready... Set... Dimdim!
P.S. If you sign up for Dimdim or follow or RT @Dimdim or tweet #DimdimFantasy between now and Sept 13 you can win Madden 10 with a PS3, XBox or Wii system and FanDraft software! We're celebrating Dimdim, Madden and Fantasy Football!
Here is Kevin and Lou with the stuff you can win!
Here is the video description of the aforementioned Webinar Widget:
Posted by D D Ganguly on Tue, Jul 07, 2009 @ 03:22 PM
If our hiring process was the same as rest of our industry then we would build an organization like the rest of the industry. We aspire to do better. We want to attract exceptional players and build a great team. And I can guarantee you that Dimdimmers are exceptional not only in terms of skills but also in terms of being a team.
It is my belief that organizations fail not because they lack vision. Look around you and you will find that for each successful company that had a great vision there are dozens of failures with the same vision. Organizations fail because they cannot execute. And organizations cannot execute not because of the lack of talented individuals but because these individuals are not able to play as a team. The main reason for great players not playing as a cohesive force is culture. So the cultural fit between the individual and the existing team is of utmost importance.
When it comes to interviewing there are two different philosophies for determining cultural-fit between the candidate and the company. The first is called the behavioral method. In this method the candidate is asked a series of insightful questions, such as - “Are you a team player?”; What does the interviewer expect to hear? “No, I am not a team player?”; Some interviewers get sophisticated by asking, “Give me an example from your past experience when you played as a team player.”; Again, what’s the expectation here? Does the interviewer expect the candidate to say, “I am sorry I am drawing a complete blank on that one?”; If the candidate does say that then the interviewer can see that there isn’t an alignment between the company’s goals and the candidate’s goals. But a smart candidate knows what the interviewer wants to hear. And so the interviewer is faced with a dilemma - “I am being told this answer because the candidate knows that this is what I want to hear? Or is this really true?”; The interviewer can never make a positive decision based on the answer - unless he’s a trained psychoanalyst and most of us are not.
The second method is a task oriented approach. This is what we use at Dimdim. In the first conversation, the candidate is not asked any questions. He’s urged to ask us questions with the second conversation in mind. In the second conversation, the candidate delivers a presentation on a certain topic. For example, a potential VP of Sales might be asked to present a sales plan for the first six months. An engineer might be asked to learn and present on a topic that he knows nothing about.
We have seen that candidate’s questions tell us much more about her than the answers to those insightful behavioral questions. Which should not be surprising because questions are more interesting than answers - aren’t they?
During the presentation (which of course, is done using the candidate’s Dimdim Free web conference account) we look for 3 abilities. 1. Communication ability 2. Ability to learn 3. Ability to execute. We are usually able to decide within the first few minutes whether we have a hire or not.
This is the process we have followed for every hire. We know it works and btw, we are looking for a great VP of Sales.
Posted by Kevin Micalizzi on Fri, Jun 12, 2009 @ 01:32 PM
This week we officially moved into our new offices in the Cross Point Towers, Lowell, MA. As we're settling in I'll add more pictures. For now, here are some shots of how the space was transformed for us.
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.dimdim.com/aboutus/events.html
Posted by Steve Chazin on Tue, Apr 28, 2009 @ 12:14 PM
OK, so it's not a remedy but it WILL prevent the spread of the virus while ensuring you can still meet freely. Tell everyone you know: don't cancel your business because you have to cancel your trip. Use Dimdim via any web browser and you can still meet - and breathe - freely from the comfort of your home or office.
Remember, meetings up to 20 participants are FREE (sign up for Dimdim Free and start using it within 30 seconds) and a full year of unlimited Dimdim Pro meetings with 100 participants is less than the cost of one round-trip flight: $468 for the year (that's only $39/month). Sign up for Dimdim Pro today.
Posted by Kevin Micalizzi on Thu, Dec 18, 2008 @ 01:39 PM
Since I started with Dimdim, I've been asked a few times why we include an conference call number with Dimdim Free if we can deliver audio and video via the web. My feeling is, sometimes you don't have internet access but still need to join the meeting. I've been living this experience for a week now.
I live in NH in the US and own one of the 320,000+ homes that lost power seven days ago. We had a terrible ice storm that caused more damage to the power grid than any other in our history. To give an idea of the extent of the restoration efforts, the utility company has crews in from Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Quebec assisting. So far today they are saying there are still about 44,000 of us without power.
Every Monday morning we start with a company meeting via Dimdim and the phone conference. (actually using a
Dimdim Free account with a free conference call number.) This Monday I was able to run to a local Starbucks and get on the Starbucks AT&T Wifi. I dialed-in to the conference call from my cell phone and was able to follow the meeting via Dimdim and even shared a slide deck. The shop was packed, so I doubt I'd have done well with video, but it still worked out well.
So for most of the week I've been bouncing between coffee shops and home. I call it my "local" Starbucks, but it's actually 30 minutes away. So my pattern has been to run down and work for a few hours in the morning, run home to tend the woodstoves, then run back to work some more.
Yesterday morning I had a meeting at 8am, but snow was falling and the roads were potentially dangerous--I was stuck at home. I ended up having to sit in my car and dial-in with my cell phone (picture at right was taken during this meeting). If we had relied on online audio only, I would not have been able to participate at all. I've also seen this happen with less extreme situations, like people stuck at the airport or traveling and in a hotel with spotty internet service.
They're now saying power in our town should be restored by Saturday, though there is a snowstorm coming tomorrow. I may have a few more days of calls (or driving) before I can enjoy the benefits of seeing the visuals again. For now, I get to enjoy the wonders of winter and squeeze in my work where I can.
Thanks.
-k
p.s. If you have a chance, stop by and say 'hi' on Twitter or Facebook.
Posted by Steve Chazin on Wed, Dec 10, 2008 @ 12:23 PM
Talk about eating our own dog food - we just held our board meeting on Dimdim. There was 1 attendee from California, 1 from New York, 2 from Massachusetts, 2 more from London, 1 from Mumbai, and 1 from Hyderabad. If we had flown to California, then we would have spent at least $4,000 per person in airline, hotel and car rental costs. By avoiding the travel of 7 people, we saved about $28,000 by conducting the meeting over Dimdim.
This year we have had about 8 such board meetings over Dimdim. So we have saved about $224,000 this year.
On top of that I have another Dimdim meeting with a potential partner in 30 minutes. If I had a face to face board meeting then I would never be able to make it to this next meeting. And so my productivity increases too. Bye, gotta run to the next meeting.
Warm regards,
ddg
CEO
Posted by Steve Chazin on Sun, Nov 30, 2008 @ 12:46 PM
Saurav wrote to the entire company yesterday with this story that we'd like to share:
Today while talking on the phone with me from India, my parents wished to see Adya, my 10 month old. Now my father is not exactly tech savvy in the field of bits and bytes, so when I asked him to launch Skype or Yahoo messenger, he sheepishly acknowledged that it was beyond him. He knows how to check his gmail and open word docs though.
So I created a Dimdim meeting and mailed him the link. He clicked and joined the meeting and we spent an hour video chatting (we used a phone for audio since my father's computer has a faulty audio card, I know this because that used to be my computer in 2007 :)). Long story short, I believe Dimdim has passed the ultimate test of usability, it's so simple my father can use it.
We had a little hold up because he wanted to see a larger video picture, so I asked him to "Chazinize" the presenter video image (for those who don't know, it involves right clicking and selecting Zoom in to blow the video image up.) The problem came because my father had no idea what a "Right Click" was. Once said mechanism was explained to him, he continued on exploring other features (like whiteboard) and asking questions about stuff. Note: Dimdim Pro users are now able to show 4x larger video with one click.
So I just felt we deserve a pat in the back for making a product even my dad can use.
Saurav
We'd love to hear some of the unique ways people are using Dimdim to get closer together.
Posted by Steve Chazin on Tue, Oct 21, 2008 @ 08:53 AM
Folks, today at 2PM ET, Leading entrepreneur and strategy consultant Sramana Mitra partners with ReadWriteWeb to bring you a Web 3.0 product strategy roundtable online, using our web conferencing platform. To attend, simply click this link at 2PM or dial-in to hear Sramana give live feedback to 8 entrepreneurs. If there is time, she will take your questions submitted live using Dimdim. This is going to be fun. We'll see you there!
Dial in: 1-419-400-0203
Conf ID: 918878
Here is the replay!
Posted by Steve Chazin on Fri, Oct 03, 2008 @ 08:37 AM
At 2 PM EDT today we passed a huge milestone. More than 100,000 people have signed up for Dimdim while in our beta phase. And because attendees don't need to be registered to attend a Dimdim web conference, it is even more exciting to report that nearly one million people have attended Dimdim meetings, accounting for more than 500 trillion minutes in Dimdim meeting rooms. That's 100,000 person-years of productive work or play - all while eliminating expensive travel, software downloads and harmful CO2 emissions.
While we pat ourselves on the back for achieving this important milestone we extend our gratitude to all of you for helping us make Dimdim the easiest, most open, and most affordable web conferencing solution on the planet.
And lest you think we're resting on our laurels, stay tuned for an exciting announcement from us in less than three weeks. We want to give you even more ways to love Dimdim.
All of us at Dimdim thank you for your patronage and continued support. We're making good on our promise that with Dimdim now the world can meet freely.