Web conferencing tools simplified
Last updated:
There are several web conferencing tools available to UW–Madison faculty, staff, and students. This document can help you determine which conferencing tool is best for you.
Which tool do we suggest?
Different events require different tools. Use these tips to choose the best one for your event.
Some things to consider
How would you like your audience to interact with the main speaker and with each other—or not?
Examples: It’s a very large audience attending a presentation. It’s a small group of people having a discussion, everyone can talk with one another. There is a presenter people can communicate with via chat, etc.
What will the meeting look like?
Examples: There is a single presentation. There are multiple presentations. Participants will engage in discussion. People will share their screens. There will be breakout groups, etc.
How much control do you want attendees and participants to have over their settings?
Examples: Camera, audio, screen sharing, muting others, taking over the screen sharing, etc.
What pre- and post-event capabilities you would like to take advantage of?
Examples: Event registration tools, post-event surveys, email reminders, recordings, etc.
How will you ensure the meeting is accessible to all participants?
Examples: Live captioning, broadcasting on platforms like YouTube, etc.
If you are
For a student organizing a study group or discussion for up to 250 participants, we suggest:
For a student organizing a large gathering for up to 1,000 participants, we suggest:
For UW–Madison staff organizing a meeting for up to 250 participants, we suggest Microsoft Teams or Webex.
For UW–Madison staff organizing a meeting for up to 1,000 participants, we suggest Webex.
For faculty organizing classes or discussions and need Canvas integration, we suggest:
Still looking for the right option?
View this guide for more details.
Follow federal regulations
The UW–Madison web conferencing technology use policy restricts the use of any conferencing tool that is NOT supported by campus when discussing sensitive, restricted or internal data. Please use the campus-supported web conferencing tools: Webex Meetings (See Getting started with Webex meetings ) and Microsoft Teams (See Office 365 – Getting started with Microsoft Teams).
If you belong to the UW–Madison Health Care Component, contact your HIPAA privacy or security coordinator with questions about the tools approved for creating, storing, and sharing Protected Health Information. A list of currently approved tools for use with PHI is available at compliance.wisc.edu/hipaa.Paragraph text.
Disability-related accommodations
The McBurney Disability Resource Center provides accommodations and help for UW–Madison students.