In a meeting, we usually use a TV and a HDMI cable to share our screen. When we need to draw or write notes, we use a whiteboard to help the discussion. No matter how efficient the team is, equipment like HDMI cable or whiteboard could be the barrier which slows down the team’s workflow. Imagine yourself in this situation:

The project manager(PM) found some problems in the product development but the deadline is approaching. Therefore, the PM has called an emergency meeting and asked you to help with the meeting setup and meeting minutes. To ensure a smooth meeting, you go to the meeting room 10 minutes earlier to set up everything and check the internet connection. Then team members bring their laptops and notebooks to the meeting room. The PM shares his laptop’s screen to let members know the issues. Members pass the HDMI cable, take turns sharing the screen and discuss what to do next. You help take notes and take photos of things on the whiteboard to make the to-do list. You notice that there’s someone who wants to share the idea, but he sits too far from the HDMI cable and he gives up.

This must sound familiar to you. Using a HDMI cable to start a meeting seems to be convenient, it actually takes up much meeting time. The moderator needs to set up the meeting room for at least five minutes. Only one person can share the screen during the session. If someone is far from the cable, he might give up sharing the idea. A physical whiteboard is also a barrier for the productive workflow. It’s not easy to record what’s written or drawn on the whiteboard. Therefore, it’s not easy to follow up. All these problems can be resolved if we use the online whiteboard and ASTROS wireless presentation solutions in the meeting. Later we will recommend some useful online whiteboards which integrate in your workflow.

The Benefits of Online Whiteboard

1. Unlimited canvas: The size of a physical whiteboard limits how many notes and drawings we can make. But there’s unlimited canvas in online whiteboards, it means you don’t need to worry about anything limiting your creativity.
2. Collaborate features: Team members can simultaneously take notes on the online whiteboard. Voting, making meeting minutes or a to-do list is possible too!
3. Share more than text: You can attach image, diagram, music or video on the online whiteboard
4. Easy to access: You can access online whiteboards with laptop, tablet or smartphone.

Five Best Online Whiteboards

Google Jamboard – Intuitive interface with easy-to-use features

Before using Google Jamboard, you need to create a Google account, then you can use it for free. Google Jamboard’s interface and features are easy to understand. You can annotate, drag images or put sticky notes on the whiteboard. You can create new frames for different subjects. If the issue you are going to talk about isn’t complicated, Google Jamboard is definitely your first choice. Because it’s easy to use, teachers can consider integrating it in the lesson to interact with students. Google Jamboard doesn’t provide templates or voting features.

Miro – Robust online whiteboard for exciting real-time collaboration

You can find all useful collaboration features in Miro. When you first enter Miro, you may feel a bit bewildered. Once you start your first board, you will be fascinated by Miro. Miro provides many templates according to your needs, such as mind map, SWOT analysis or product roadmap. In Miro, you can also find “Note” and “Raise hand” features to make your meeting interesting and efficient. Voting and Timer are features you need to pay for, but the free version is already quite useful for small teams or classes to use.

Miro’s Free plan includes:

1. Three editable boards
2. Premade templates
3. Core integrations with tools like Zoom, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Drive and more.
4. Basic attention management like bring individuals to a specific area of the board or follow what they do

Stormboard – Kanban style collaboration whiteboard

Stormboard’s interface is like Kanban, it enables users to use sticky notes to discuss on the board. You can draw, share files and take notes with your members simultaneously. However, it takes time to get used to its interface compared to Google Jamboard and Miro. For example, if you need a whiteboard, you need to find “ADD” in your interface and choose “Whiteboard”, then you can start drawing on the whiteboard. When you finish drawing, the whiteboard will become a sticky note on Storm(board).

Free version provides five free Storm and allows five users to collaborate in each Storm. Voting and Timer are free to use.

FigJam – Stylish and easy online whiteboard

FigJam is a robust brainstorming tool that makes it easy to get your entire team involved in the collaboration process. You don’t need to pay to use FigJam. However, you need to pay if you want to have unlimited FigJam files or voting feature.

FigJam isn’t as robust as Miro or Stormboard. But you immediately know how to use FigJam as you open a new FigJam file. From marker, sticky note to templates, you can find everything you need. You can even see the template instruction in official templates. There’s plugins to download to help you speed up your workflow. When collaborating in FigJam, users can see who is editing and adding comments. Though voting isn’t included in the free version, you can use “Stamp” to show you some ideas.

Mural – Online whiteboard favored by well-known enterprises

From Mural’s slogan “Trusted by over 95% of the Fortune 100”, you can feel how powerful Mural is. It has a lot of features. Sharing files, drawing or using sticky notes are not problems. You can leave comments, chat, vote or count the time in the free version. When you open Mural, you can see all kinds of templates in the interface. If you like any of them, just save it. In the free version, you can have 3 free Mural(board).

In brief, Google Jamboard and FigJam are friendly to whiteboard beginners. Though Miro has many features, its interface is very easy to understand. The interface of Mural and Stormboard are relatively complicated, but they offer plenty of templates for users to quickly start the discussion. You can try all of them and get the best online whiteboard for your workflow.

Online Whiteboard plus ASTROS Wireless Presentation Solutions to Unlock Productivity

Do you still remember the meeting scenario at the beginning? With online whiteboards, you no longer need to worry about problems you encounter with a physical whiteboard. If you want to elevate the productivity of meetings, ASTROS wireless presentation solutions are indispensable. Using a HDMI cable to share the screen seems convenient, whereas, someone needs to set up the meeting room in advance and meeting attendees need to share slides one by one. Integrating ASTROS in your meeting room, everyone can walk in and start sharing the screen right away with ASTROS App, ASTROS Pod, AirPlay or Google Cast. Even if you only have a tablet or a smartphone in your hand, you can share the screen too. It supports up to four people to share the content at the same time. When you brainstorm with your team members, you can share your slides and your member can share his online whiteboard simultaneously. ASTROS and online whiteboards help you discover more possibilities in your meeting room. If you want to know more about ASTROS, welcome to CLICK HERE to contact our team.