A Web Conference versus a Conference Call, is it a fair fight? It is hard in some respects to compare a web conference with a conference call. A conference call is held on a telephone and has no visual element to it unless everyone looks at the same document at the same time you sent to them previously. But then, you really don’t know if they are looking at that document do you? A web conference on the other hand allows you to show documents, web sites, applications, etc to all of the participants on your web conference at the same time. It even allows you to edit the document real time and can even allow the participants to edit the document on your computer. And a web conference generally has a conference call component to it unless you are meeting with a single participant. Then you can just call them on the phone. So, is it really a contest.
Well, no. It really isn’t, but most people are choosing to hold a conference call instead of a web conference so why is that. A conference call has certainly become easy to use and most people have been exposed to the practice of dialing an access number and putting in a pass codeto enter a conference all these days that we rarely have to explain the technology anymore. And no one is intimidated by using a telephone to access a system and provide commands to the system using a touch tone command like you do to control a conference call. People are just used to it. And a conference call provides the basic means needed to communicate with other people over long distance, a voice connection. Let’s face it, the telephone has been used to communicate over great distances and has been accepted by everyone as an essential means to communicate for business and personal reasons. On a conference call you can discuss anything and refer to documents if everyone has access to them or was distributed them prior to the meeting.
A web conference on the other hand is relatively new. It has really only been in existence less than 15 years and only in the last five or so become widely accepted by businesses. But web conferencing can do what a regular conference call just can’t do. A web conference can allow the host to share visuals with the participants on a conference call. And as the saying goes “A picture is worth a thousand words”. So adding a visual element to any meeting helps with the retention of the material and the engagement of the audience. I think the only reason that every conference call is a web conference is that people are just not that used to communicating using their computers as they are with their telephones. As people continue to integrate they way they use their computers with their telephones there will be a shift in the way we communicate and using visuals to help communicate will be the norm.
So, is it fair to compare a conference call and a web conference. Not really, a web conference wins hands down. But for now, the telephone has a 100 year head start in establishing itself as the de facto communication device and is winning the race. For more on Web conferencing visit www.zipconferencing.com
