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A look at reducing costs through the adoption and implementation of online meetings. Alistair Darling’s revelation that the economic downturn is ‘arguably the worst’ in 60 years, and will be more profound and long-lasting than we thought, has provoked widespread media attention. But canny businesses can more profitably focus their attention on another long-lasting trend provoked by the credit crunch and compounded by rising fuel prices.
Reduced congestion on our roads provides a clue: business people are starting to ditch their car in favour of web commuting – using online access and collaboration tools to work remotely instead of travelling to the office and longer distances for face-to-face meetings. A report from Wainhouse Research reveals that use of online meetings is on the rise, with the UK web conferencing market growing by 29 per cent in 2007, allowing people to easily and securely share visual information on their computers while talking with others on the phone.
But can meetings really be effective if we can’t make eye contact, or read the body language of the client, supplier or colleague that we’re talking to? Arguably, face-to-face contact can be vital in some scenarios, but online meetings are developing an etiquette of their own, allowing businesses to easily deliver sales presentations, conduct customer training sessions and streamline projects with remote teams.
It’s a trend that is set to outlive the recession, giving smart businesses the opportunity to avoid spiralling travel costs, enhance the productivity of staff, and increase competitiveness by supporting collaboration between business people based anywhere in the world. Here, Millard outlines his top tips on how to run the most successful online meeting:
1. Make sure people know who’s talking and have an agenda
Let’s start with the basics. It’s hard to recognise voices in a virtual meeting, so make sure people introduce themselves by name so people know who they are when they’re talking. Some of the more advanced virtual meeting tools actually help by indicating on participants’ screens who is speaking, and handy annotation and drawing features will assign a different colour to each person taking part. An agenda will ensure meetings stay on track, just as with face-to-face meetings.
2. Show dynamic content with screen sharing
The ability to share your computer screen with anyone will make your meetings very productive. For example, you can work with a colleague based at home, or in another office, or even at the airport, to create a presentation together in real time. You could also present a new concept to a time-pressed business prospect who is hard to pin down to a face-to-face meeting, or edit a contract in real time with a customer once you have clinched the deal.
3. Gather more feedback with online chat
Virtual meetings allow ‘sub-conversations’ to take part between participants. It can be harder to ask ‘obvious’ questions when you can’t read the body language of participants, but online chat allows you to gather more response from your remote audience without disrupting the meeting.
4. Interact with your meeting participants by giving them control
Interactivity can be dramatically improved if you are able to hand over control to anyone who is involved in your meeting. For example, others can take control of your presentation, guide you through a complicated diagram or bring up a document on their own computer for anyone to view. In fact this facility offers greater collaboration potential than many face to face scenarios because you are all focused on the document in question – rather than simply talking about it.
5. Bring your meetings to life!
Spice up your presentations by enabling meeting attendees to interact directly with your computer screen. Electronic drawing and annotation tools like highlighters or arrows give participants the opportunity to quickly illustrate areas of a document they wish to draw your attention to.
6. Reduce your costs with VoIP
Voice-over-IP is the ideal way to allow your meeting participants to join your online meeting the instant they start the internet session, reducing time spent dialling telephone numbers and passcodes. And VoIP calls don’t cost anything for participants and in this economic climate they will appreciate the savings!
Citrix Online provides a range of secure, easy-to-use online solutions that enable people to work from anywhere, with anyone. Small to medium-sized businesses are increasing productivity, decreasing travel costs and improving sales, training and service using GoToMyPC® to access and work remotely on an office PC; GoToAssist® to remotely support customers, GoToMeeting® to hold online meetings and GoToWebinar® for large, do-it-yourself online events.
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