subject: How To Save Money With A Web Conference Service [print this page] Many businesses are looking for ways to reduce expenses. One area that gets a lot of attention is business travel. A certain amount of this is unavoidable. However, many businesses are looking at alternatives to routine business meetings that require a lot of travel. One replacement for this kind of meeting may be a web conference.
Telephone conference calls have been available for years as a meeting medium. They are relatively inexpensive, and can be a satisfactory environment for quite a few meetings. However, the lack of a visual component is a major drawback in many cases.
Video conferencing has also been available for some time. Unfortunately, when implemented using conventional tools, it tends to be rather expensive. This has limited its usefulness.
A simple form of web conferencing is basically a form of video conferencing. Instead of using a dedicated facility as is the case with most conventional video conferencing, each participant uses their own personal computer as a video terminal. Thus, the monitor and speakers of the computer are used to present the conference. Each user must have a microphone and video camera if they are to have a video presence. If they only need audio presence, then they may either use a conventional telephone or a microphone.
Web based video conferencing is useful for many meetings. Being able to see peoples faces and read their body language to some extent can greatly facilitate communications, particularly if there is significant emotional content. It can save time and money by eliminating the need for some participants to travel.
Another form of web conferencing that is widely used is a combination of an audio conference with computer application windows that are shared among participants. This doesn't let the people see each other, but it can be very helpful if complex material is being discussed. In many cases the audio portion will be handled by a conventional telephone conference call.
There are tools to support web conferences that can be very useful in some cases. Polls and surveys may be taken in real time to get feedback. This is helpful when there are too many participants to rely on voice feedback. Whiteboard tools may allow for group note taking. It may also be possible for a subset of participants to use text chat for a caucus meeting.
The meetings discussed above are all synchronous, i. E., everyone is in the meeting at the same time. There are also tools for asynchronous web meetings. These are very useful in cases where the meeting needs to continue for an extended period. They also help when some participants may be on different shifts or in different time zones.
Asynchronous meetings usually provide discussion areas where people can post comments to ongoing discussion threads. They will usually have repositories where people can post documents and other materials. It is even possible to have a meeting that is both synchronous and asynchronous. For example, a working group could meet once a day or once a week, and then continue work and discussion asynchronously between meetings.
The term web conference covers a lot of territory, as it can refer to a number of different things. Of course, this means that together, they can meet the requirements of quite a range of different kinds of meetings. Every organization that is trying to reduce travel costs and the overhead of travel time should take a look at some of these.
