How to Videoconference

Interesting podcast. Lots of good tips

Interesting podcast. Lots of good tips for an area that needs lots of help. It seems that many people want to just walk into a meeting, interview or class that is using videoconferencing and not think or do anything different. There is a good collection of help at the following website: http://vcalberta.ca/ . It is a videoconference support website for the learning system (K-12 and Post-secondary) in Alberta, Canada. Hope people find it useful.

Trevor- Well done! Thanks for the

Trevor-

Well done! Thanks for the reference. We always appreciate members sharing resources that they find valuable.

I'll also be posting to the main blog based on some further input from another member.

Mark

My workplace makes extensive use video

My workplace makes extensive use video teleconferencing (aka "VTC" in our lingo). In many cases, my organization must connect via VTC to a meeting at which most or all of the OTHER attendees are physically present in the same conference room. When you're the only guy on video, it's easy to get left out of the proceedings.

With this in mind, while our big boss really encourages the use of VTC, he is a firm believer that one must establish and maintain one's credentials through occasional resort to "the human touch"...a little face to face contact. Whenever a new work relationship is established, we make it a practice to conduct a few meetings in person, before shifting to VTC.

As for staying on "mute," I happen to favor it. A lot of our VTC sessions involve multiple stations, all over the world, sometimes eight or ten at once. The image you get on your screen is that of the station where the audio last picked up a sound. It's meant to show you the guy who is talking. Except, when somebody rattles his papers next to the mike at ANOTHER station, your picture switches to THAT image. To avoid this, our SOP is to stay on mute, until it's time to talk. It also allows the head honcho at the table, who will be doing the talking, to grab quick input from an advisor seated nearby, without this sidebar going over the air.

Len- Your boss is right about the

Len-

Your boss is right about the personal touch!

Perhaps I'm just not as well versed as I thought... I haven't ever been in a vidcon where the screen shifted to whomever made the last sound. Under those circumstances, mute makes a lot of sense.

And even though I'm sometimes the advisor, not sure I like the quick sidebar for just the head guy... but that's just me.

Thanks for the input. Would love to hear if anyone else uses mute for the same reason.

Mark

Great cast guys. I'd like to see a

Great cast guys. I'd like to see a show on Web Ex / five Meetingstyle conferences

Oops, finger slipped. Let's try this

Oops, finger slipped. Let's try this again. I'd love to see a show on Web Ex/Live Meeting type conferences. More and more of these are being used for training and long distance sales presentations. I find that the dynamic is a little different from pure audio or video conferences. Something about being able to show a presentation but not get feedback causes people to run on at the mouth. I find with telephone conferences, people stop to ensure everyone got the point, to solicit feedback, etc. This doesn't happen as much with Webinars. Thanks for all hard work you guys do.

Mike, Mark, I must admit that since

Mike, Mark,

I must admit that since I stumbled across your site about two weeks ago, I virtually eat the cast. I have downloaded nearly every single one you did in the past, and for some topics I really wish I had done so earlier.
It's funny, though, that you have a cast on videoconferencing but not on conference calls, because I think there's a lot to be said about this topic, too: How do you address people appropriately when you cannot rely on body language? How do you moderate discussions? How do you keep it going when nobody is willing to contribute without talking too much yourself? Would be great to have some advice here.

Conference Calls are in the queue for

Conference Calls are in the queue for next year!

Mark

Yup.. you are right mark... there are

Yup.. you are right mark... there are loads and loads of them...
Well... it is very helful too...

looking for videoconf setup tips...

Mark / Mike / community,

I would appreciate your comments on best practice for equipment and room setup for meetings via videoconference. The podcast assumes someone else is responsible for setup -- sometimes true, sometimes not. We VC a lot and I'm consolidating guidelines for my team to be more effective. Here are some that I have found improve the VC . Perhaps a follow-up cast on this subject?

- Zoom the camera to just barely fit your head and body in when standing behind the center chair opposite the camera; any closer and it gets strange if you have to stand up or move during the VC; this zoom allows 2 - 3 people to be in focus

- If possible, arrange lighting so there are minimal shadows distorting your face and body -- good lighting setup is rarely thought about when a VC room is set up -- (any thoughts on good temporary front light sources?)

- Minimize light from behind you (i.e. windows), otherwise you become a silhouette

- One-breath rule is mandatory (and difficult!); the time lag contributes a lot of frustration if a question is asked on one side and the other side is still talking

- Don't shout ... the microphones are very good at picking up voices and there is no need to elevate your voice

- Others?

Instant Messenger programs

Instant Messenger programs from Yahoo, AOL and MSN have had video conferencing capability for many years now. This same concept has made it into the business community to help facilitate communications while reducing costs.

Important advice

When you are using the video camera on your laptop for a meeting, do NOT reach forward to retrieve something behind said laptop.

You will pretty much give the viewing audience a very up close view of your chest.

I learned this the hard way :)

Interesting discussion

Thanks, this is a very interesting discussion. You are right in some years videoconferencing be an important tool in the majority of companies. It can be really cheaper to organize such meetings. I've also studied this topic and noticed a very interesting issue. It is videoconferencing etiquette. Here is a funny video of it:

http://www.tubestime.com/watch/videoconferencing-etiquette

. Of course, it is funny but not for everybody. I think you'll agree that such cases which are at the first glance funny, might have crucial meaning for business.

Videoconferencing

It seems that in medicine we are sometimes more behind the times than need be. Maybe it is the fact I have always been employed by hospitals with low budgets. As of late in our hospital we are just now using WebEx. Which I might add has been very successful however, it would be much more personal if the listener could "see" as well as audio interact.

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