Wondering what’s new in the world of Webex Meetings? We’ve got a lot coming up that we’re excited to share with you. Namely, a brand-new desktop experience for Webex Meetings that’s designed to make your video conferencing meetings even easier.

We have a new desktop app slated to roll out, which will replace Webex Meetings Productivity Tools. It will offer an even better experience designed to deliver simpler, more modern video meetings. Watch our short video to see the new experience:

As you can see, there’s much more going into the design than just a fresh coat of paint. We’ve put a great deal of thought into how you and your team can best collaborate, so you can forget about the technology and focus solely on the meeting.

You’ll find that these changes in Webex Meetings will help make your meetings more intuitive and more personal—along with giving you and your attendees more control. But, we didn’t stop there.

Simplified scheduling and calendar management with fast join

If your day is often packed with meetings, you’ll appreciate the desktop app’s new pre-meeting experience—providing a full view of your day just like you get in the Webex Meetings mobile app now.

The new Webex Meetings tab also lists all of your upcoming meetings, pulling information directly from your calendar and the Webex Meetings database. You’ll find this works with both Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook.

You’ll also notice how easy and fast it is to start or join a meeting from the desktop app. With one click from the Home tab, you can start a meeting in your Personal Room or join someone else’s.

Everyone will benefit from this seamless pre-meeting experience when downloading the new desktop app.

In addition, we are also bringing a modern, simplified view to your Webex sites. The single dashboard view allows you to easily access your meetings list, find recordings and set preferences.

Video-First Meetings

Now you see people with full-screen HD video when you first join a meeting, helping you better engage with your stakeholders from the very first moment in the meeting. It’s about as close as you can get to sitting across from a person without actually being in the same room.

You’ll also find new layouts with options to control where and how you view video participants and content on your screen. You can toggle between different screens, sharing content on one view and video on another. And with side-by-side views, you can see your content and meeting attendees simultaneously.

Better, more intuitive controls

Gone are the days of clicking through multiple panels and tabs in search of specific controls. Our new, centralized control bar offers all the meeting tools you need, grouped together in one easy-to-find location.

The control bar also automatically disappears when you don’t need it. This again allows you to better focus on your meeting rather than the technology. To make it reappear, just move your mouse.

Look for these updates coming soon

We hope you’ve enjoyed the heads-up in what’s coming to Webex Meetings. You can also visit Collaboration Help for a guided tour of the latest updates.

These updates will start to roll out on July 27 to those with auto-update, and then to everyone else globally in the weeks afterward. Let us know what you think once you’ve experienced the new look and what else you might like to see!