Frequently Asked Questions

Question: What is Esprezo?

Esprezo is an Internet service that allows you to hold live online presentations in front of an arbitrary number of participants in a simple manner.

Question: How does Esprezo work?

After you register successfully, you can upload sets of presentation slides to the Esprezo server and based on these presentations, you can plan and hold presentation events or conduct spontaneous Ad-hoc presentations. A presentation event is held entirely in a devoted Flash application by your Internet browser. If desired, your voice can be transferred to your viewers via the integrated speech transmission function. Your viewers see the slide you have currently chosen and can use the feedback channel to participate, with your approval, in your presentation by asking questions or commenting.

Question: How much does Esprezo cost?

Esprezo is currently in the BETA-Phase and during this phase it is absolutely free. After the BETA-Phase has ended, user accounts remain free. You can then upgrade your account and thus receive more functionality e.g. Screen Sharing, bigger viewer groups, more server quota etc. for a fee.

Question: What do I need to use Esprezo?

Esprezo is a pure Web 2.0 application. Therefore, you only need your current Internet Browser (e.g. Internet Explorer 7+, Safari 3+ or Firefox 3+) with an installed Flash plugin Version 9.0 or higher, which you can get here for free. As a presenter you are required to have a microphone and a speaker (recommended is a headset), as a listener - a speaker (as a listener you are only required to have a microphone if you wish to contribute to the presentation via the integrated speech transmission function).

Question: Can I use my existing presentations?

Yes, you can! Esprezo currently supports PowerPoint (up to Version 2003) and PDF file formats. More formats are being added. The import of you slides takes place during upload to the Esprezo server.

Question: Are slides animation, multimedia content and links on the slides supported as well?

No, currently we don't support these special presentation functions.

Question: Does Esprezo support Ad-hoc presentations?

Yes, Esprezo has a "now-presentaion" feature that allows you to present previously uploaded slides with one mouse click. All you need to do is forward the designated event I.D. (URL) to the participants you wish to invite. This URL is all your participants need in order to be automatically dialed in.

Question: How many users can take part in a presentation session?

During the BETA-Phase the maximum number of viewers is limited. At a later date, there will be set tariffs that allow up to 50 simultaneous viewers per presentation. Planned for the near future is the support of hundreds of simultaneous users.

Question: How can I communicate with my viewers? How can the viewers communicate with me?

The communication can take place either via the integrated speech transmission function, or via a parallel telephone conference. When you use the integrated speech function, your voice will be transmitted to the viewers in high quality. The viewers can contact you either via text messaging or microphone.

Question: How does the feedback channel work?

When a viewer wishes to ask a question or make a comment he can do that via text message or microphone. In either case, you as the presenter will be informed about this wish. You can work through the "virtual hand signals" in any order and can accept or reject these requests. In case you accept a request, the viewer that has signalled his wish to speak will be given the right to do so through his microphone.

Question: Can I send automatic e-mail invites to the participants?

Yes, in case you utilize event planning in Esprezo and set up a list of participants, e-mail invitations in HTML and Text format will automatically be sent to everyone designated in the list. The link in the e-mails will lead your participants securely and hassle-free to your presentation .

Question: How many sets of slides can I keep on the Esprezo server?

Technically, you can have an arbitrary number of sets of slides. However, in order to provide reasonalble resource management on the server, you are assigned a certain apace quota. During the BETA-Phase ten Megabytes of storace space are available to you. In the future, you will be able to receive more space for a fee. Esprezo shows you on the start page your current uploaded files and the use you have made of your quota so far.

Question: Can I exceed my quota temporarily?

Yes. However, if you are over your quota, the last uploaded presentation will automatically be discarded after two hours. Afterwards, you will be unable to upload more presentations until you delete unneeded presentations to free up space.

Question: Is there a centralized address book provided so that I can manage contacts and that will help me add frequent viewers to my presentations?

Yes, your address book will contain the names, e-mail addresses and company/oranization names of your saved contacts. During the planning of a presentation event, if you wish to put together a list of participants, you can add them with a few mouse clicks from your address book.

Question: Does Esprezo support static presentation rooms?

Yes. Every registered Esprezo user receives a static URL, which allows users to join an active presentation. Since this URL never changes, you can add this to your e-mail signature or your business cards.

Question: How hard is it to learn to use Esprezo?

Esprezo is designed to provide highest user comfort with only a marginal learning curve. Its highly specific field of dedication provides highest sipmlicity of navigation and operation of any other web conferencing application. You can learn to master Esprezo within a few minutes. Register for a free user account and try it out.

Question: How do I correctly pronounce "Esprezo"?

Pronounce it the easiest way you want. If you wish to be true to the actual pronunciation, say: "Ess-pri-so".