We have been using audio and video conferencing, and even web conferencing for many years now, but none appear to deliver quite what is promised - a virtual meeting without all the hassles of travel and reduced impact on time, budget and the environment.
Audio conferencing probably delivers the most. Simple to set up and easy to use - yet the meetings are strangely disjointed - there is no shared experience, no visual clues, and no real sense of who is there. And if you want to show Powerpoint or anything visual you need to add in other technologies.
Video conferencing has always struggled. Initial cost and complexity made it something that only large organisations used. Even then staring into a camera meant that meetings were often stilted - when the technology worked. Whilst one-to-one video calling through the like of Skype is now feasible for anyone, video meetings are still a far from natural event.
Web conferencing - essentially audio conferencing with pictures - has faired little better. The complexity of set-up - particularly for sharing documents - has meant that the prime use is for virtual seminars - one to many communications, rather than the open collaboration of a meeting.
Virtual Meetings
With virtual meetings participants make use of a virtual world (or a room in such a world) to hold the meeting. Each attendee is represented by an avatar. Everyone can see everyone else - including how they are dressed, who they are stood with, and what they are doing. The meeting takes place using ordinary speech - although there is usually the option to supplement this with typed text (great for sticking to the point and taking a transcript home).
Depending on which world you use you may be able to bring a variety of documents and images into the world, and in some even edit them collaboratively. For instance Second Life will let you import and display Powerpoint and video relatively easily. Qwaq (a virtual world purely focussed on business meetings) not only lets you drag and drop documents from your desktop
into the world it also lets you collaboratively edit them in the virtual meeting room itself and jointly browse web sites. And of course if you need to view 3D objects (from ketchup bottles to city plans and skyscrapers), virtual worlds are the only way to really do it.
Getting Started
Holding a virtual meeting can be relatively simple. You don't need to buy virtual land or install server software. Just download the appropriate virtual world client, create an account for each attendee, make an arrangement with a company like us for a meeting space and log in. Your attendees will need a PC with reasonable (but not stellar) graphics, headset with mic, and you'll need a broadband connection. Your IT department may also need to open some ports on their firewall - depending on which virtual world you are using.
For regular users we can create dedicated private rooms - or even whole offices. We can also source systems which can sit completely behind your firewall for more sensitive discussions.
Next Steps
Any organisation which needs to hold internal (or even external) meetings with attendees from different locations should seriously consider trying a virtual meeting to save cost, time and the environment. Why not give us call today to arrange a free trial?
