How to Videoconference
July 3rd, 2006As the world has gotten flatter, the places where products are ideated, designed, engineered, manufactured, distributed, marketed and sold have gotten further apart. Then add in trends and efforts like supply chain management, outsourcing, collaborations, alliances, joint ventures and customer focus.
It all means that there is either going to be a helluva lot more business travel (which there is), or there is going to be an explosion of phone traffic, which there is. And all THAT means there is going to be a great deal more videoconferencing. Video on the web is going to be huge… and that means cheaper for applications like this.
In this cast, we walk everyone through the basics of how to be effective in a videoconference, with some extra attention on video interviews. If you’re ready for an interview, you’ll be ready for a meeting.
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July 4th, 2006 at 12:40 am
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.
July 4th, 2006 at 3:30 am
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
July 6th, 2006 at 1:08 am
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.
July 6th, 2006 at 12:42 pm
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
July 19th, 2006 at 2:36 pm
Great cast guys. I’d like to see a show on Web Ex / five Meetingstyle conferences
July 19th, 2006 at 4:22 pm
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.
December 7th, 2006 at 5:08 pm
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.
December 17th, 2006 at 2:27 pm
Conference Calls are in the queue for next year!
Mark
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:26 pm
Yup.. you are right mark… there are loads and loads of them…
Well… it is very helful too…