Even as many companies look to find the least expensive alternatives to in-person meetings, other companies are looking for the best possible simulation of a real meeting. Plus: The Top 5 Reasons To Hold Virtual Meetings
Even as many companies look to find the least expensive alternatives to in-person meetings, other companies are looking for the best possible simulation of a real meeting. I recently had meetings in San Francisco and New York, where I saw both sides of the phenomenon.
In San Francisco, I attended a "salon" for small-business execs hosted by Citrix Online, which makes low-end conferencing and presentation products like GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar. I heard firsthand how business owners and managers are using virtual meetings and videoconferences. In New York, I visited the offices of Teliris, which has been selling high-end videoconferencing systems -- telepresence, if you will -- longer than anyone else. Teliris CEO Marc Trachtenberg gave me a sneak peek at some cool new technologies in the works that are designed to make virtual meetings significantly more natural and productive.
Don't Miss: 5 Reasons To Use Videoconferencing
Local Benefits
The San Francisco salon I visited was populated with Citrix Online customers, so it wasn't exactly a scientific sample. Still, I thought some cogent comments emerged that would be of interest to other business owners and managers.
Peter Rumm, manager of online marketing for CruiseWest, a high-end cruising company based in Seattle, has customers, travel agents, and ship captains distributed all over the world. After 9/11, Rumm explained, in-person meetings simply weren't an option. The company was forced to let go of its field staff and, as a result, began using virtual meeting technology to connect with its clientele.
"We do feel that we miss some subtleties," Rumm added, "but we still have a good time. We joke around and get to know each other as best we can. We picked it up very quickly. We knew we had to."
There are even local benefits: Sturdy McKee, CEO of San Francisco Sport and Spine Physical Therapy, a chain of seven Bay Area physical therapy outlets, uses Citrix' technology to bring together managers from his different locations. By keeping his employees out of their cars, he saves on driving time and -- he noted -- liability. He's also considering using it for online mentoring of new physical therapists and to help patients remotely. "We still meet face to face," McKee said, but he's happy to use virtual meetings whenever possible.
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