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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/282
142 MacDirectory
CLOSER LOOK
VIRTUAL SOLUTIONS > A CONVERSATION WITH ON24
To quote from ON24's Web site, the firm
is "committed to providing industry-
leading webcasting, lead generation, and
virtual event solutions that are designed to
meet performance, value and reliability
requirements for businesses of all types
and sizes."
MacDirectory had the opportunity to
speak with Tom Masotto, president of
business development for ON24.
MacDirectory >
Tom, tell me something
about your role with ON24.
Tom Masotto > My role with ON24 is
primarily made up of two key functions –
one is the product manager managing the
delivery of the product for the company
and the other side is business develop-
ment, identifying new projects for
development by the organization that will
allow us to continue our growth. We are in
the business of virtual events and
webcasting. Those are the two main
product lines that we have.
MD >
What is a 'virtual event'?
TM > We are the leading provider today
for business-focused webcasting. I am sure
you have been in webinars before. We
have provided a little over 25,000 webcasts
this year, which are business oriented by
companies that are interested in selling
their products and services or talking about
a trend that is ultimately leading to a sale
of products or services, and to ultimately
identify a source of leads for those sales.
We've been in this particular area of our
business for about eight years now and we
are not only the largest with regards to the
number of events but we have also been
very successful in partnerships with
technology publishers.
Webcasts are the key or core part of our
business. In July of this year, we launched a
new product called 'virtual show.' A good
analogy would be that virtual show is a
virtual trade show where you have a virtual
environment someone can virtually walk
through – all Flash based – where it would
be like a physical trade show with halls,
exhibits, auditoriums for breakout sessions
– all virtual. Where the core business has
been, and will be for the foreseeable future
- webcasts, we see a lot of interest in the
virtual show or virtual trade show which is
the new venture area for the company.
MD >
Curtis Sparrer of CPCOMM said,
"One story that remains to be told is how
ON24 is positioning its wealth of business
webinar for the Mac user. The company
has rolled out a new Flash-enabled
console for webinars, giving them a polish
of many interactive video games." What
can you tell me about this?
TM > One area of our business was from
the console perspective. It's the interface
that the audience of the webinar has. It
does not involve any downloads – it's
HTML – it's Flash. We have been doing
HTML for years but now the Flash
technology has come to the point where
we can now provide a Flash console. It's a
separate window, a HTML window that
includes an audio and video stream so
that the participants are all viewing the
webcast from their computer.
MD >
You were originally a Windows-
based operation. Are you seeing more
demand from Mac users and are you
increasing your Mac support?
TM > We look at Mac support in three
ways and some of this will line up with our
Mac support pipeline. One recent step was
the console perspective giving the Mac
user expanded value and improved
interface that the Mac audience has. The
other side, from the backend, we provide
Mac support for the presenter within the
webcast. No matter which platform (OS)
the presenter is using, the Mac user will be
able to participate. And, on the virtual
show side, we want to be sure that the
Flash console supports all audiences.
If you look at this type of business and
currently these economic times, the use of
these technologies is extremely cost
effective and a very advantageous solution
to look toward for lead generation or from
an internal communications perspective.
More information about ON24 can be
found at