5 Responses

1. Remote conferencing
   Liz
   Like many we went down the video conferencing route some years ago. It certainly didn’t deliver all that we hoped. We find it is OK for short 1:1 or very small group discussions where people have already met in person, especially where the distance means that a face-to-face meeting is simply not viable.
   As with so many innovations you sometimes have to wait awhile before what you really want comes along. I have seen the latest equipment and it is superb – almost like being in the same room – and I know it gets good use for things like meetings in companies like HP. As to a training/learning context I don’t know which way it will go – the current economic climate may push us that way, but as an environment for effective learning I still have doubts. It is not just about saving travel costs, people’s time is also expensive and they are not going to give it up unless the learning they get really works for them.
   For true remote conferencing, and a great green solution, I’d suggest you check out Greengage at http://www.greengagelive.com which could add an extra dimension to any Large Group Intervention.
   I’d be interested to find out your views when you have researched this further.
   Best of luck
   Graham

2. tips for remote conferencing
   Hi Liz – not sure if you are looking at video, web, or telephone conferencing. I regularly participate in telephone conference calls with a number of people from different overseas locations and some suggestions from that experience – have an established protocol for commencing a call and joining a call – so often time is wasted by doing a round robin of who is on the line every time someone joins, good practice to nominate a ‘leader’ of the call prior to or at the outset and for that person to chair it in a similar way to a normal meeting. In general good meeting guidelines apply for calls but in my experience people tend to forget this and they can become unstructured. Greater need for the ‘chair’ to check if everyone has contributed as it is more difficult to ‘get in’ on the phone/web conferencing. Unless people know each other really well, speakers should identify themselves at the start of their contribution each time. Summary of key points and actions agreed at the end. Set a time limit and stick to it – I find conference calls by telephone, video or web, much more tiring than physical meetings and would generally advise keeping them shorter and in more bite size chunks. I think there is a greater tendency for people to do other things or for minds to wander. Trust this helps would appreciate a copy of the composite suggestions you get.

3. Using webex
   A leadership trainer I know has just done international face to face training using webex – including break out sessions – with 55 delegates! I can put you in touch if you want to know more, I certainly think it was a success from the client and trainer point of view from what I heard.

   Carolyn

4. Thanks!
   thanks all for the comments. Carolyn, i would definately like to get in contact with your colleague, although not quite sure how th proceed!

5. Power of E-communication
   Hi Liz!

   Whilst looking for another book on (US publisher) HRD Press’s website, I found this book and remembered your posting.

   Although the book, “Power of E-communication”, was published back in 2004 (mind you, they’ve been doing this for much longer than we have), the synopsis reads:

   Electronic communication is here to stay and using the right tools effectively is essential to your success. Yet few companies provide training in this changing area. This cutting-edge book is full of guidelines and things to consider to get what you want when communicating through e-mail, instant message, voice mail, conference calls, web conferences and videoconferences.

   And it’s available from Amazon in the UK:

   http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0874257565?ie=UTF8&tag=tech4learning-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0874257565

   Tim