The Virtual Meeting
by Thomas W. McKee
The best possible way to have a meeting with our volunteers is face to face. These meetings provide the base arena for camaraderie and community building. However, in today's world of fast paced, high-tech communication we need to consider virtual meetings.
What are virtual meetings? The four most popular alternatives are videoconferencing, web conferencing, tele-conferencing, and extranet. Let's begin with a basic description of these four and their advantages and disadvantages.
Videoconferencing
Video conferencing is an interactive use of video, computing and communication technologies. Video can be streamed over the Internet or broadcast over television monitors.
Advantages: Videoconferencing systems can bring together large groups of people in different locations to hear presentations in either a broadcast-quality setting or on cheap, inexpensive Webcams and free or low-cost software, such as Microsoft NetMeeting. Some organizations who are trying to avoid buying or renting new equipment use Kinko's. Some Kinko's offer videoconferencing services to any location. The stores use TV monitors but also provide Internet access for document sharing.
Disadvantages: Cost. You either have to purchase videoconferencing equipment or go to a videoconferencing center. Most videoconferencing providers charge by the hour, so you may feel pressured to end on the hour and leave business undone. The equipment costs vary from a few hundred dollars for low-end, add-on components to a PC system to several thousand dollars for an elaborate system with TV monitors. Software costs are minimal. Videoconferencing meetings can cost anywhere from $125 per hour or $225 at Kinko's from one of its stores to one other location.
Web conferencing
Web conferencing is teleconferencing with the addition of the Web for presentations. Most people use a program like PowerPoint or Excel for the visual. The audio is usually transmitted by either telephone or PC microphones.
Advantages: You can make presentations at once to as many as 2,500 people in different locations by the use of the internet and a phone. Your participants can view the PowerPoint slides or other documents over the internet as you speak--in real time. Other participants can also use drawing tools to make points or take control of your presentation as well. Web conferencing seems to work best for straightforward presentations. It is a way to bring together a lot of people from far distances to present significant information in a short time. Some of the popular web conferences providers are WebEx, and PlaceWare (which allow single-time use as well as by subscription) and IsoSpace (which enables a single group to hold four to five sub-meetings at the same time, as well as to use chat to communicate with certain participants or the group as a whole).
Disadvantages: You miss out on the body language of videoconferencing.
The cost is at least $100 for a one-hour, six-person meeting. Prices vary widely as most providers base costs on length of call and number of participants, and offer a single-time service and/or subscriptions. However, when you consider the cost of travel perdeim, the cost seems minimal.
Teleconferencing
Teleconferencing is like the old party-line telephone—everyone in the meeting is connected by their phone. Teleconferencing services are offered by long-distance carriers or independent service bureaus. The object is to bring many different phone calls into a single conversation. Four basic types of calls are available: operator-assisted (the easiest, but not the most flexible), 800 meet me, toll meet me and reservationless conferencing.
Advantages: All you need is a telephone and the calls can be set up quickly and easily, at relatively low cost. Accompanying documents can be faxed, e-mailed or shipped overnight by the U.S. Postal Service to meeting participants in advance, if necessary. Teleconferences work well for simple information sharing and straightforward decision-making that require no visual presentation.
Disadvantages: Much like the web conferencing, you miss the facial and non-verbal interaction. The facilitator has to work very hard to keep everyone involved in the conversation and the meeting moving. It is very easy for participants to multi-task while they are suppose to be following the discussion. The costs on average have at least eight people and last about 50 minutes; such calls can cost as much as $200. But you can save up to 25% on your conferencing bills by comparison-shopping to find the best deals among phone companies and other providers.
Extranets
Extranets are an extension of the e-mail meeting (e-mail messages are broadcast to all participants and all responses are e-mailed to every member on the committee, board, or team). Extranets are private Web sites that are restricted to an organization's employees and members that allow you to share files, documents and use message boards with selected customers or partners.
Advantages: This does not take the place of the long-distance, virtual meetings above; however, it can, by allowing you to have ongoing communication and document-sharing, reduce the time of your meetings. This can cut phone bills (for virtual meetings) and save business travel time. Extranet can effectively turn a teleconferencing session into a Web conferencing one if all of the participants have access to the private site.
Disadvantages: Most communication is not real-time interactive, You can communicate in real time using chat or instant messaging. The costs vary. Microsoft bCentral offers SharePoint Team Services, an intranet/extranet solution hosted through bCentral.
Click here to find out how.
© 2008 Volunteer Power