Virtually There?

1. PlaceWare's "Question Manager" feature (www.placeware.com): Most online-meeting programs allow you to "raise your hand" by clicking an icon, signifying a question for the entire online group. Most software also allows you to instant-message a question or comment directly to the meeting host. But only PlaceWare has the panel-of-experts feature -- a direct instant-messaging capability that allows users to ask spontaneous questions of a designated group of experts throughout a meeting session. By directing on-the-spot queries to the panel, meeting attendees don't have to confess ignorance to the whole group. Nor do they bother everyone else in the middle of a presentation. The panel can also keep a record of issues raised throughout the session -- and the questioners actually learn what they need to know when they need to know it.

2. WebEx's desktop control-sharing capability (www.webex.com): This feature is the reason why WebEx isn't just an online meeting facilitator -- it's the way teams work together across vast distances. By allowing someone other than the meeting host to take control of the desktop and annotate a document, this feature makes it possible for engineers, designers, or anyone else to virtually grab the document at hand and say, "No, wait! I've got it! What if we tried it this way?"

3. Centra's flexible configurations (www.centra.com): Big group conference? Individual workspace? Centra is remarkably flexible. Unlike many collaboration tools that have a single mode of operation (presentation mode), Centra's service allows users to customize their views for group meetings, for one-on-one work sessions -- even for individual learning environments. Quick links to the different views mean that users can even change modes midsession. During a CEO presentation to the entire company, for example, a Centra user can switch over midsession for a quick breakout meeting with her department and still rejoin the larger session with her group's questions and ideas before the presentation ends.

4. The Tandberg 1000 wireless videoconferencing unit (www.tandberg.net): In a field of high-tech gadgetry sexy enough to make any geek swoon, this device is in a class by itself (and not just because of its $5,490 price tag). The Tandberg 1000 is the first videoconferencing product capable of running on a wireless LAN, which means that the executive boardroom is no longer the only place equipped for a videoconference. Wherever you are is where your next videoconference will be. No wires. No permanent hardware installations. No hassle. Unless, of course, your colleagues grab it first.