Perfecting Collaboration: Mikogo Launches Free Screen Sharing Skype Extra

Mikogo and Skype: Creating seamless Web conferences with screen sharing, voice, instant chat, and video – without paying a cent!

At times it is impossible to be in the right place at the right time. However with Mikogo you are now able to meet freely on the Internet at any time and from any place. A hassle-free easy-to-use screen sharing application, Mikogo allows users to organize and join free online meetings from any PC over the Internet and share each others’ screens. Sounds simple, and it is.

Thanks to the Skype Partnership, Mikogo provides a way for users to incorporate free screen sharing within a Skype conference call. Together, Mikogo and Skype provide the perfect Web conferencing solution, complete with Internet calls, screen sharing, instant chat, and video. And at no cost!

What is Mikogo?

Developed as a free tool with the private user in mind, Mikogo provides an easy-to-use online meeting tool, equipped with valuable features to ensure the perfect desktop sharing experience. During a meeting, users are able to:

1. Share each others’ screens.
2. Switch presenter – let a meeting participant share their own screen.
3. Access remote keyboard and mouse control – the current presenter may grant control of their screen to another user at any time.
4. Transfer files – the organizer and guests can send files of up to 200MB to each other
5. Select applications - Got an open application which is not required for the meeting? Select to hide it.
6. Pause transmission – take a meeting break and suspend the transfer of screen data.

You can invite up to 10 participants to any Mikogo free online meeting under a secure connection. Mikogo employs the superior 256-bit AES end-to-end encryption, ensuring the safety of all data.

When to use Mikogo

Mikogo is the ideal solution for online meetings, Web presentations, product demonstrations, sales pitches, remote support, e-learning, webinars, and much more. Take charge of those online team meetings with this reliable professional solution. Provide efficient tech support by remotely controlling another’s desktop. Or simply get some friends together online and show them a few of your recent happy snaps!

At times when we wish to meet with a colleague, customer, friend, or family member, it can simply be impossible and sometimes unnecessary to meet face-to-face. With the rise and ease of Internet access, it comes as no surprise that people are seeking meeting solutions from the Web.

We all know that a picture tells a thousand words, but can we bring some life to those words...?

Welcome the new Skype Extra: Mikogo Free Online Meetings

Mikogo’s new Skype Extra provides the perfect Web conferencing solution with free screen sharing and phone calls together for no cost. With the Mikogo Skype Extra you can invite up to 10 participants to any Mikogo screen sharing session directly from your Skype UI. Now all Skype users have access to high quality screen sharing in real time and in true color quality.

The Mikogo features provide endless possibilities. You can switch the presenter, to allow one of your Skype contacts to host the meeting. By accessing the remote control feature, you or another Skype contact can control the presenter’s keyboard and mouse remotely. In fact all of the Mikogo features are available for free when using the Skype Extra.

Also there are no configurations or network/firewall changes, making it very easy to get started and to use.

Is it really free?

Yes. There is no reason why screen sharing should be limited to those with deep pockets. With Mikogo and Skype, you can forget about the financial element and leave that part to us. Both Mikogo and the Mikogo Skype Extra are 100% free for all users with no hidden catches, allowing you to focus on hosting a great online meeting.

How to start free screen sharing with the Mikogo Skype Extra

Getting the Mikogo Skype Extra

As the meeting organizer, you can start a Mikogo free online meeting from your Skype User Interface with the Mikogo Skype Extra. For the Extra, you can “Get it now” at https://extras.skype.com/1672. Open the download to have Mikogo placed permanently within your Skype Extras Manager.

For a detailed step-by-step tutorial take a look at the video below, titled “Getting the Mikogo Skype Extra”:

Does my Skype contact need the Extra to join a Skype Mikogo meeting?

Yes. Both you and your invited contact will require the Mikogo Extra. This only requires a quick download, with no registrations and no costs involved.

How can my Skype contact get the Extra?

Say for instance, you wish to invite a Skype contact who has previously never participated in an online meeting. There are two possible ways for your Skype contacts to receive the Extra. They could visit the Skype website and follow the same procedure as above. Or alternatively, you can send them the Extra via your Skype User Interface: Right-click on the selected contact’s name > “Do More” > “Mikogo - Free Online Meetings”

When you send your contact the Mikogo Extra, a window will appear on your screen informing you that your contact is about to accept the invitation:

Your invited Skype contact will instantly receive the following message requesting their acceptance.

By accepting the invitation, a download will begin placing the Mikogo Extra within the Skype Extras Manager. Upon completion of the download, your invited Skype contact can join the meeting as usual.

And that’s it - your invited Skype contact now has the Extra and is ready to join your free Mikogo meeting.

Authorizing Mikogo to Access Skype

If this is the first time you have used the Mikogo Extra, sending your Skype contact an invitation will activate a notification window in the lower right corner of your screen:

To allow the Mikogo Extra, click on “Click here to accept/deny”, followed by the “Plugin authorization” in the Skype User Interface:

In order to allow Mikogo to access Skype, please select “Allow this program to use Skype” and click OK, as shown in the following screenshot:

Please note, that the “Plugin authorization” and the “API Access Control” are only required for the first meeting. Once you have allowed Mikogo to use Skype, you can start your Mikogo Skype meetings without completing the authorization steps.

For further detail on sending the Extra to your contacts and authorizing the Mikogo Extra, take a look at this video tutorial: “Sending the Mikogo Skype Extra”.

Starting a Meeting and Inviting Your Contacts

To start a screen sharing Skype meeting takes just a couple of mouse clicks. Right-click the name of the Skype contact who you wish to invite to the meeting, followed by “Do More” > “Mikogo – Free Online Meetings”

Similar to when sending the Extra to your Skype contact, when you send an invitation to start a meeting the following window will automatically appear:

Upon sending a meeting invitation, your invited Skype contact, will instantly receive the following message. To join, the invitee simply needs to click “Accept”.

If this is the first online meeting for the invited contact, they will be prompted to authorize Mikogo’s access to Skype, as described above.

The Mikogo Skype meeting will then start and a viewer window will appear on the screen of the invited Skype contact, giving them a clear real-time view of the meeting organizer’s desktop.

“Here is the current view of John’s, the meeting organizer, desktop after starting a Mikogo Skype Meeting.”

“And here is Lisa’s desktop with a viewer window giving a real-time look at John’s screen.”

Now the meeting organizer can open any application on their PC, which will be viewed live on the screen of the participants, including Internet browsers, PDFs, Office documents, presentations, etc...

For further insight, check out this video tutorial on starting a Mikogo Skype meeting.

Inviting Multiple Skype Contacts

The meeting organizer may invite up to 10 of their Skype contacts to the free screen sharing meeting by inviting contacts separately and repeating the invitation procedure described above.

I invite my Skype contact, but they do not respond

If for some reason, the invited contact does not respond to the meeting invitation, a notice will automatically appear after a few seconds on the meeting organizer’s screen, in the bottom of the “Sending Invitation” window.

As the meeting organizer, you can send a Skype Chat message to your invited Skype contact which will include a link to the Mikogo Skype Extra. Your Skype contact will then see the following Skype Chat window:

The invited Skype contact can then join your meeting by clicking on the link.

We hope this has provided you with a clear guide on starting and joining Mikogo Skype free online meetings. In the case that you are after further information, please feel free to contact us at skype-extra@mikogo.com.