Posts Tagged ‘Visuals’

Web Conferencing makes the Meeting Room

Thursday, August 13th, 2009

The mass adoption of web conferencing hasn’t really happened yet, but it is surely well along the adoption path lifecycle.  Don’t get me wrong, web conferencing is growing like a weed and is today almost a $1B business in North America.  But when you look at the sheer number of conference calls going on today and the number of them that contain a web conferencing element to them it is a drop in the bucket.  What we ahve seen in the industry so far is the adoption of web conferencing for the killer applications and those users love it and use it extensively.  That segment continues to grow as more and more people discover that they can conduct online seminars, sales presentations and training sessions remotely using web conferencing services.  What hasn’t quite happened yet is the use of the web conferencing element on an everyday conference call.  Conference call moderators don’t think “Maybe I should start a web conference with this conference call just in case we want to share something.”

This use of web conferencing as an integrated part of the conference call is the next step in getting web conferencing to be a part of the online meeting experience.  The technology certainly is there.  Web conferencing is easy to use and can actually enhance the conference call without even sharing any visuals.  When you have a web conference up and with it an integrated audio conference call you can actually see the participants talking and know who is talking and as a moderator you can control the audio element of the call through online controls in the web conference.  And the pricing is certainly there.  Most web conferencing service providers today offer an unlimited seat package.  That means there is no additional cost to having a web conference up during every conference call.

If you happen to have a web conference up during every conference call someone might share something they otherwise would not be able to since they can share the visual element that was missing before.  Have you ever been in a meeting room that does not have a white board or flip chart for use?  Most have them there because during any meeting it is sometimes much easier to explain something using visual cues than simply trying to talk through the issue.  And the same hold true for the virtual meeting room on a conference call.  If the capability exists to share something visually and participants are used to having those tools available, they will begin to use the tools more often.  This will encourage more participation from the people attending the conference call and improve the communication in the meeting.

So, what are you waiting for?  Try using web conferencing with every conference call and see if it doesn’t start a better conversation in your next meeting.  www.zipconferencing.com

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Conference Calls Save Money

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

Many people who use conference calls in their daily business lives may have forgotten the number one benefit you get when you use conference calls.  Conference calls save money. 

I think that conference call service early adopters were more interested in solving business issues that could not be solved in other ways.  The legal community in particular simply could not find a way to effectively meet with clients and other counsel in a quick and convenient manner when they were unable to meet face to face.  They were not really concerned about saving money by meeting over the telephone as they charge back their customers anyway.  It was the second wave of conference call users that discovered some of the other benefits to using a conference call service. 

Benefits to Using a Conference Call Service

  • Save Money
  • Save Time
  • Increased Productivity

The widespread growth of the use of conference calls has certainly been from their ability to save companies money.  No other technology offers as affordable a solution to solving the need to meet than the basic conference call.  How else can you meet with dozens of people around the world without leaving your desk for just pennies per minute?  So, the most obvious cost you save when you do a conference call is the travel cost to get to a personal meeting.  What other costs can you save with a conference call?

Costs you save when you do a Conference Call

  • Flight Expense
  • Rental Car Expense
  • Hotel Costs
  • Food Costs

And now with the availability of web conferencing and the ability to add visuals to your conference call there are many more applications for conference calls that save companies even more money.  As an industry we again thought that the legal community would be an early adopter of web conferencing since they could share a contract on the screen and edit it with opposing counsel and so forth.  But actually, the largest users of web conferencing have been in the Sales and Marketing areas where they have been able to dramatically reduce their travel costs and shortened their sales cycles.

And now, with the prices for conference call services hitting all time lows in the marketplace there is no better way to save travel costs than substituting your in person meetings with a conference call.  Conference calls save money.

www.zipconferencing.com

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