Web conferencing - it might just save the world
I am sitting on a train speeding towards London. I am going to London for a one hour meeting.
It has taken me 30 mins to drive, park and get my ticket from the station. It will take me 90 minutes to get into Waterloo. It will taken me 25 minutes to get from Waterloo to where my meeting in.
I’ll then have my meeting. I’ll then spend another 25 minutes heading back to Waterloo, 90 minutes back to Salisbury, 20 mins back to the office.
So for a 1 hour meeting, I will have spent 280 minutes getting to and from it.
You don’t need to be a genius to think this is not the best use of time. Inefficient? Incredulous!
And we haven’t even considered the carbon-footprint of this meeting.
But we do it, everyday and we shout about how little time there is in a day and how we need to cut back on emissions.
Web conferencing has to be the answer. Web conferencing took a bit of a bashing when first launch fifteen years ago. The infrastructure just wasn’t in place to make it viable. Limited locations with the relevant facilities. Bandwidth issues and delays.
However, with broadband and super-fast next generation broadband, as well as mass market web conferencing facilities being available quickly and for free, such as with Skype, web conferencing is here and happening. enotions runs its entire organisation by web conference and instant messaging using Skype.
All that’s required is companies to embrace this technology and for employers to better educate their employees as to how to effective plan and prepare for web conferencing.
Web conferencing isn’t the answer for all meeting needs. Sometimes you have to look the user in the physical eye, not just the digital one, but for the vast majority of meetings, it’s the most efficient communication tool for businesses and the world.
Here’s my stop. I better get off.