I had the opportunity to chat and share dinner with Lou Guercia, President and Ceo of WebDialogs, at the ITExpo a few weeks ago. I was very impressed with what WebDialogs is doing with WebInterpoint and  unyte, and wrote some comments here. I see huge potential for success ahead for WebDialogs. It seems to me they're getting so many things right where the event tools from Microsoft and Cisco just miss the mark.

Here's a press release for today on what they're doing to simplify event management. And if you've ever hosted an online event, you know how badly simplification of the process is needed.

WebDialogs Announces Event Central for Hassle-Free Online Events
New service adds event-management tools to WebDialogs stable of online products

Billerica, Mass., Nov. 1, 2006—WebDialogs today announced the availability of WebDialogs Event Central, a new end-to-end event-management tool for online events.

In just minutes, event managers can create a web event, handling all the details from registration to invitations to post-event follow-up. In addition Event Central includes toll-free voice and Web conferencing services, with all the conferencing features needed to execute marketing seminars, update presentations or conduct training sessions.

Key features of Event Central include registration management; promotional e-mails; event execution and management, such as audio conferencing, “hand-raising,” polling, roster controls, moderating the question-and-answer period; and post-event follow-up and e-mail.

Event Central builds on WebDialogs WebInterpoint™, the most widely deployed private label web conferencing solution, used by thousands of business professionals to communicate with their customers, clients and contacts.

“WebDialogs Event Central is the perfect web seminar complement to the company’s very popular online meeting service,” said Andy Nilssen, senior analyst and partner at Wainhouse Research, which tracks the conferencing and collaboration marketplace. “Event Central will compete well in the growing market for turnkey online event services by letting event managers and presenters focus on their content without having to worry about the technology.”

The computers used by hosts and participants must meet only basic system requirements to join an event. Participants simply click a URL to join a session; no software downloads, special hardware requirements or other steps are necessary. If a participant or event manager should experience a problem, WebDialogs support is a quick phone call away.

Not only is Event Central easy to use, it is a fraction of the cost of similar full- featured event conferencing services. At just 20 cents per minute per participant, Event Central delivers administrative tools, web conferencing and toll-free voice conferencing in an integrated package.

Among the many possible uses of WebDialogs Event Central are new-product launches, company-wide briefings, information sessions, product demonstrations, training and press events.

For more information, visit www.WebDialogs.com/eventcentral or call the WebDialogs sales team at 1-800-647-2815.

About WebDialogs
WebDialogs, Inc., delivers reliable, high quality web collaboration services to increase the productivity, effectiveness and value of online interactions. WebDialogs is the top provider of private-label web-conferencing services to service providers and equipment makers. In addition, WebDialogs provides integrated voice and web conferencing services for enterprises and collaborative tools for instant messaging (IM), customer relationship management (CRM) and other interactive applications.

WebDialogs delivers its WebInterpoint™, Meeting Central, Event Central and Unyte™ products and services to enterprises, service providers, equipment makers, portals and application vendors worldwide. Founded in 1998, WebDialogs is a privately held company based in Billerica, Mass.