Online Meeting Rooms Are Everywhere

Online meeting rooms are popping up all over the internet.  A quick search shows about 152,000,000 results!  Some of these are irrelevant, like booking a room at the public library online, but most are actual sites of businesses offering software and services to allow you to meet online with whomever you need to talk to for business, education, and more.

Once, the arena of videoconferencing was out of reach for all but the largest corporations.  Now, there are myriad opportunities for the small business owner or entrepreneur to utilize this essential tool of modern business.  There even are free trials available so you can explore the world of web conferencing services and see what fits your unique enterprise.

An online meeting room is essentially a dedicated spot on the internet that allows two or more people to simultaneously share information at the same time.   There can be standard or high definition video, sound, split screens to see other participants, whiteboard demonstrations, document sharing, and more.  You can have a small, simple discussion or a webinar with up to 1,000 attendees.  Some services offer multiple plans to fit your needs and the ability to record meetings, file sharing, annotation tools, scheduling, privacy control, and the ability to assign roles to participants.

A private room, leased for a monthly fee, often allows your branding with your own logos and colors.  You can provide on-demand presentations and courses, online training, and customize the program to match your organization.  You can customize your webinar sign-up form to your preference and send thank you notes when the webinar is over.  Some programs allow you to save the files you share on your site and send the attendees an URL instead of a problematic attachment.

Imagine easily using surveys, quizzes and polls to get feedback from your attendees.  Some services allow feedback during the meeting with integrated emoticons!  That feature could be helpful with a large audience.  The flexibility to interact with hundreds of people or a few without the expense of travel and accommodations makes even a pricier service a wise bargain.

If all you need to do is share your desktop for team meetings, sales demos, training, tutoring, or brainstorming, you can find free services that allow you to share your desktop with up to 20 attendees.  A monthly fee based on number of attendees will allow real-time collaboration with a whiteboard and other tools.  All the adaptability you need for your enterprise is found with a little research.

The advantages of using online meeting rooms are many.  You have flexibility to plan for scheduled meetings or spontaneously call an emergency brainstorming session.  You don’t have to spend time and money on travel expenses and sacrifice family or work time in airports and hotels.  Your carbon footprint is smaller because you are conserving energy but your relational impact with colleagues in increased because you still are meeting face to face.  Your work is more effective because you can get back to it after the session without travel time or jet lag.  Employees can work from home, flexing their schedule around family obligations and giving you quality time when on the job.

Explore the world of online meeting rooms and find the solution that solves your enterprise problems.

Vidyo Takes Videoconferencing To A New Level

It has been estimated that there will be 200,000,000 desktop videoconference users by 2015.  In addition, the tablet and smartphone market is only increasing, and those users will almost certainly aim to leverage their internet and 3G/4G wireless networks to join colleagues in a videoconference for school, work, or a medical consultation.  This modern communication tool has expanded far past the traditional business conference boardroom with its costly hardware and IT support model.  What is needed is a mobile, cloud-based meeting place that can be accessed with any standard device and yet has the quality of communication required in today’s marketplace.

Vidyo has invented “any-to-any personal telepresence,” a videoconferencing technology that is able to intelligently adapt video resiliency without sacrificing quality.  Dropped calls, delays, and distortion are no longer a problem because the Vidyo Adaptive Video Layering Architecture uses scalable video coding to seamlessly compensate for the variables in the network and deliver low-latency telepresence -quality video communication to any device connected to the internet, even those with lower bandwidth environments.  This allows natural, face-to-face meetings anywhere, anytime.  Service providers use the Vidyo Conferencing solution to create and offer private or public hosted video conferencing and cloud services, allowing options suitable for any enterprise.

Vidyo has the U.S. Department of Defense certification for Joint Interoperability Test Command, passing a stringent set of security-based information assurance and interoperability tests.  It delivers end-to-end encryption, giving security assurance for a number of fields, such as government and healthcare.

In the medical arena, this translates to HIPAA-compliant security and allows support for a variety of uses.  It integrates into existing conferencing infrastructure and enhances healthcare environments like cart systems and smart rooms, home health care, speech and language therapy, remote consultations and patient diagnostics.

Education is a natural for the flexibility of Vidyo.  Students, from early elementary through university, can use a laptop to talk to a teacher in a classroom far away.  Smaller school districts can have one specialty teacher giving classes in higher level math, for instance, within their budget.  Lectures, discussions, and research collaboration can occur on everyday networks with off-the-shelf hardware and cost a fraction of that spent on conventional video systems.

Vidyo solutions are fully customizable for your unique enterprise.  You can link room systems, desktops, and mobile endpoints with ordinary IP networks using an award-winning software-based platform.  Vidyo’s software-based technology is the next generation of videoconferencing.  It allows you to connect mobile service, desktop and room system users everywhere, securely and reliably in your enterprise cloud.  It is the only solution that brings the entire spectrum of end users and their assorted devices to the same virtual conference table at a reasonably affordable cost.

Cisco's Telepresence Technology Connects The World

The ultimate in videoconferencing is telepresence.  Some have even observed that Cisco’s Telepresence system is an entirely different league than the run-of-the-mill videoconference experience.  In a telepresence meeting, participants are life-sized with no delay when moving or talking.  You can actually look them in the eye and make the mistake of trying to pass them a piece of paper through the screen because they seem to be across the table from you.

Cisco has come up with a lot of options for those who need a high-quality interaction with remote team members.  This saves more than money: It reduces your carbon footprint by lowering the amount of resources spent on travel and increases productivity by allowing your team members to be flexible in their workspace and schedule.  You can call a quick meeting or have efficient regular updates with employees, clients, customers, and colleagues.  Your communication is excellent with telepresence because all the nuances of expression, tone of voice, and body language are available so you do not sacrifice quality for efficiency.

The new benchmark for telepresence is Cisco’s TX9000 Series, a three-screen, immersive audio/visual experience that plans for future expansion into “high-intensity collaboration” allowing a dynamic interaction with content not previously possible.  This system also helps reduce the total cost of ownership, a welcome factor in investing in the technology a business needs to stay current.  There are two products, the one-row system seating up to six people and the two-row system seating up to 18 people.  The three video streams and one high-definition, full-motion content-sharing stream deliver “the ultimate immersive telepresence experience.”

Cisco’s Telepresence MCU 5300 Series is a standards-based, stackable system allowing your initial investment in videoconferencing services to be upgraded as needed and configured as your business develops.  It offers a low-risk and cost-effective solution for communicating effectively with multiple colleagues.

You can enhance your communication with partners and customers with the Cisco TelePresence VCS solution.  This supports a variety of devices and works in unifying systems transparently, facilitating your videoconferencing needs in a simple and efficient manner to bring high-quality telepresence services to a mass audience.

Looking to enhance your current conference table or room?  The Cisco Telepresence TX1300 Series is a single-screen, three-camera system that is designed for different environments and room sizes with limited space or bandwidth.  All meeting participants are life-size on the screen, illuminated by integrated lighting (no weird shadows!) and interaction is automatic, voice-activated, and natural.  Another option, the SX20 Quick Set easily turns a flat panel display into a telepresence system with three camera choices, dual screen options, and multipoint support for three additional callers.

The military, emergency response teams, construction, oil, or gas industries are all examples of extreme outdoor fields that can use Cisco Telepresence VX Tactical systems in their work.  This is portable and rugged, weather/impact resistant with a screen optimized for outdoor viewing and is easily carried.  A secondary camera and display can even be set up in a shelter to create a room-based telepresence environment in extremely remote locations.

With Public Cisco TelePresence Suites, pay-by-the-hour facilities are available world-wide.  There are subscription-based services available with Cisco technology as well.  This brings the advantages of face-to-face interaction with far-flung associates within reach for less than the cost of airfare and hotel. 

Any enterprise that involves people can be benefited by one of Cisco’s TelePresence options.

Telepresence Rooms Must Be Properly Designed

When you're using telepresence rooms it's important to have an immersive experience. You want the best and most natural meeting experience possible so your contacts, clients and employees can have a predictable participatory discussion that is free from distractions. This includes the design of the telepresence rooms, which must have excellent lighting and audio components, meet recommended dimensions, adequate power, and HVAC requirements as well.

Small distractions can build up when human beings are in uncomfortable surroundings. You may even want to go so far as to include certain colors on the walls, framed art, and pay special attention to the fabrics and textures of the furniture and flooring as well. This gives the telepresence rooms an overall look and feel that is in keeping with the branding and image of your company.

When discussing important and critical business through telepresence meetings face-to-face, the communication and interaction should be as clear and natural as possible. This creates the greatest chance of overall understanding of what has been discussed so everyone at the meeting is on the same page. There are some elements of the room that should be in place that will help with this seamless experience.

Make sure the room has been treated with the best acoustical materials and architectural interior design. The lighting must be optimal for reading and viewing video without being irritating to the eyes. When these principle elements are applied it's called “room remediation.” The company that provides the telepresence rooms should be able to tell you exactly what the rooms include to make your meeting as distraction-free as possible. Having said this, there should be room for flexibility as well.

Know if anyone attending the meeting has special needs of any kind. Perhaps one of the attendees is physically challenged or has trouble with their vision. Take these conditions into consideration. Something as simple as incorrect or insufficient lighting can create poor video quality, which can be an interference.

Ultimately, you want everyone on both sides of the telepresence meeting to feel like they are having a real face-to-face meeting. This will engage everyone to a greater degree, which can only provide a higher level of energy and creativity to the task at hand. Instead of feeling inhibited by the sense that the more they move and talk the less will be heard and understood, your participants can freely contribute.

Scientific studies show that as human beings we gain most of our understanding and communication through physical cues and facial expressions when we speak to each other. If you can't be in the same room for a meeting, then finding the best telepresence rooms with the best equipment is the next best thing.

There are a number of successful and meticulous companies who offer this service. Make sure you check to see if they have rooms in areas near where your participants can gather. If the participants need to travel too long of a distance to get to the meeting, it can defeat the entire purpose of why you set up the meeting via telepresence. Know where your people are and where they can meet. It's good business.

Video conferencing technology could be considered a toolbox of aids to business function & growth.  There are many things in this toolbox, all useful and appropriate for specific needs.  Whygo, a videoconferencing broker for over 70% of the world’s major bridging providers, has opened their toolbox online to offer you access to extremely competitive video, audio, and web conferencing rates.  We have excellent customer service reps to help you choose the tools you need for your business no matter if the connections are to desktop (PC) or boardroom, private or public, ISDN or IP, Standard Definition or High Definition, or even Tele-Presence locations.

For a personal telepresence service with high definition audio & video on your computer over the internet, Whygo uses the Vidyo system to offer the best quality video picture and sound over standard broadband connections allowing you to use your current compatible boardroom video conferencing system or any other broadband connection such as a home, hotel, or coffee shop.

Unlike a flash or Java-based system, Vidyo uses Scalable Video Coding to take the best parts of the picture and sounds and removing poorer quality bits.  The result is less freezing and pixilation with more useable bandwidth for your videoconference.  The processing power of your PC and the speeds of the broadband internet connection can deliver up to HD quality desktop video conferencing to multiple users at one time.  For many businesses, this is a simple, reliable, inexpensive solution for an increasingly mobile workforce.

Another tool in the video conferencing toolbox is audio conferencing; on-demand 24 hours a day, seven days a week without the need to make a reservation.  You dial a permanent number and enter a conference code to access a variety of features allowing you to control and secure your conference; muting all callers except the chairperson, locking the conference to additional callers, conference record, playback, operator intervention at your request only.  You simply open an account and forward the relevant details (telephone numbers and codes) to your colleagues.

The WebEx web conferencing/collaboration tool allows you to share anything on your desktop with your participants.  You can engage your team by sharing a PowerPoint presentation, demonstrating software, showing website navigation, and transferring files.  Reservationless-PlusSM integration allows you to control the audio portion of your meeting directly from the web interface.

If you need to connect two or more groups of people, the video conference facility booking system will allow you to quickly find nearby video conferencing rooms and set up your seminar or conference with all the technological support you require for success.  Your group goes to the local facility and connects with colleagues in other facilities across the world without the cost of airfare or hotel.

Certain facilities even have the ultimate in videoconferencing…Telepresence.  Seamless high-definition life-size video combines with studio quality high-fidelity acoustics, giving you the absolute best video conferencing experience available today.  You will feel that every participant is sitting in the same room or at the same table.

Such a complete toolbox of opportunity deserves a look inside to see which tool you could use today.  Whygo has live, real-time assistance to help you select the tool you need for your business success.

Using Telepresence Facilities Saves Time and Money

Telepresence is the new generation of video conferencing. Most companies can benefit from this technology that employs very high bandwidth networks. For security reasons, it's vital that the telepresence conference be conducted through a private network. Depending on where your employees or contact people are, this can be a problem. That's why there are telepresence facilities across the nation and in various parts of the world.

Many telepresence facilities will provide you with a private meeting room with tasteful décor and comfortable furniture as well as one or more large HD screens to have an immersion experience. You'll need to make sure that the equipment offered at the telepresence facilities is compatible with the transmitting equipment.

For example, it will depend on the software that enables interoperability between existing pieces of equipment. Some software is now integrated into certain brands of audio and video equipment and other brands of equipment currently do not have compatibility with any other vendor or video conferencing system.

You'll need to examine the type of network that's offered by the telepresence facility. If it's a closed network, you may only be able to link within that network and then hire other facilities to connect with everyone in your meeting unless you use an immersive telepresence system. If it is an open network, you'll be able to connect via a gateway service. In addition to a full service telepresence facility, you may also need to bring in a variety of independent suppliers. The independent suppliers will be able to link up from your own telepresence equipment in your facility to someone else's equipment in another location.

Within many large corporations, video conferencing is well established and the capabilities are growing all the time. In fact, there are millions of video conferencing systems in use throughout the world today. Using an advanced network of public video conferencing and telepresence facilities your company can link to them all.

There are almost endless ways to employ this technology that you may not have thought of. You can interview new recruits, used in high legal courts, in-house business presentations when offices are in different locations, product training demonstrations, sales presentations, product launches, business assessment, B2B consultancy services, castings and auditions for TV production and there are some hotels that have this type of technology in virtual meeting rooms.

Ultimately, telepresence and video conferencing are the way of the future. It's an extremely convenient and cost efficient alternative to sending your employees to various parts of the country or around the world. This way you avoid putting your company and your people through any travel hassles, flight delays, over-priced airfares and accommodation needs.

Besides all this, there's usually a very fast and easy way to book the telepresence facilities. Most companies who provide this service will allow their users to book the rooms and equipment they need right on their website. The steps are usually laid out for you including pricing, pictures of the rooms and exact addresses and directions to the facilities. This only increases the level of productivity within your company and reduces the carbon footprint your company leaves behind. It also improves staff morale by allowing them to have a better balanced work and home life! With a telepresence system, everyone wins!

Telepresence Scheduling Can Be Smooth and Easy

Telepresence scheduling can be pretty easy if everyone stays on the same page. Many companies that offer telepresence meeting rooms have online booking software so you can visit their site and choose the date and room you want to meet in. This software will also let you cancel the meeting as well.

Additionally, you'll be able to invite participants, submit and modify details of the meeting and set privacy preferences through the use of the software system as well. This can usually be done for up to 2 months before the time of the meeting and if you want to book a time further into the future, this may take specific instructions from their helpline to lock it in. Remember, for all telepresence meetings there must to 2 different rooms booked. These facilities are not for single group meetings.

Many telepresence companies have tried to accommodate their customer's needs by providing as many different rooms in as many different locations around the world as possible. This means there will be meeting rooms available that are in a building the telepresence company does not own. When this is the case, you'll need to speak with someone on the phone to make sure the room is booked properly.

When booking a room online, you'll need to pull up the calendar of events at the telepresence facilities so you can book the room at an available time. However, if you want to keep the name of the company and any individuals connected with the meeting private, you can select an option to do so. That way the room will be marked as booked on the public calendar, but no one will know who has booked the room.

If you meet regularly at a telepresence room then you can select a recurring appointments option. There are also possibilities to book the rooms for usually a minimum of an hour or two all the way up to a full day event and even 24 hrs.

There are also specific calendar settings within the settings themselves. If the meeting is marked as private or has a limited number of participants, then anyone who wants to see the calendar for these events must have permission to access that calendar. However, this changes when a conference room is booked. Conference rooms are usually booked under global access calendar scheduling especially if the conference room is at a proxy location.

Much of this type of scheduling is contingent upon the availability of everyone invited to the meeting. They must all be available at the time the meeting is due and within the proximity of the location. The logistics of getting people to the telepresence meetings at the correct time can be the biggest hurdle. Once everyone has arrived though, the meetings tend to go off without a technical glitch. Telepresence technology is advanced and with a responsible company running the facility you should be able to hold productive and distraction-free meetings every time you book the rooms!

What is Telepresence and Why Does Your Company Need It?

Telepresence is basically a group of technologies that allows someone to interact with someone else almost as if they were in the room with them even if they are on the other side of the world. This means that the technologies of telepresence allow the users to experience the communication with their senses in much the same way if they were standing in front of them.

As well, users of telepresence can manipulate the technologies to affect the communication they send and receive to the remote location. These technologies allow the flow of information to travel back and forth in both directions. The telepresence technologies are especially popular and useful in the area of videoconferencing used extensively in large corporations that have contacts and employees all over the world. Much of this technology is via video and creates very sharp images and clear sound for excellent communications.

Another wonderful advancement of these technologies comes in the form of mobile collaboration. Smart phones have moved in and taken over so that what was started in the office can continue on the road. The power and convenience of telepresence technologies is unparalleled and considered a necessity by many mega companies.

There are substantial benefits to using these technologies besides just being able to communicate clearly via remote locations. The bottom line is money. When it comes to large companies in particular, they can get more done in less time via telepresence technologies. The companies can reduce the amount of travel spending, create less environmental impact, improve their employees' lives in general by cutting down on absences from home and ultimately improve employee productivity.

Instead of traveling long distances for a face-to-face meeting, personnel can now use a telepresence system, which brings each member of the meeting into the telepresence “room.” Everyone can see and hear everyone speak to every one else in the meeting. Of course, this saves enormous amounts of time and money for the company and its staff members.

Telepresence conferencing is far superior to phone conferencing and the visual abilities greatly enhance the communications between the members. Human beings perceive communication by many cues that go well beyond verbal. Body language and facial expressions are a critical part of that communication.

The use of mobile collaboration of telepresence systems is no less impressive or valuable to a company. The mobile system combines the use of video, audio and other advanced capabilities so that an employee can use their smart phone or other hand-held device and participate in a multi-party conference in real time. This is another cost effective way for companies to keep their people informed and up to date. It also allows their staff to solve problems more quickly, prevent downtime, increase productivity and improve customer service.

The telepresence technologies are extremely versatile and many types of industries are using it as well as businesses large and small. So, if someone asks you “What is telepresence” you can tell them it's a set of revolutionary technologies that has an endless stream of possibilities!

How Whygo Makes Telepresence Technology Seamless

The human side of business, the visceral connection that develops with personal interaction, is the soil that enables business transactions to grow and bear fruit. A business that limits its clientele to local residents has this asset naturally, but those who wish to expand their range must use a variety of tools to maintain that personal contact. In the past, representatives of a company needed to travel to another location so they could have face-to-face contact with a prospective client. The relationship would then be maintained by various limited ways until the traveling rep could schedule another visit. That human contact would strengthen bonds nurturing the seeds of potential business relationships. Unfortunately, sending staff on regular business trips has become increasingly costly. Airfare has risen, time involved with travel has increased, and the personal cost has affected morale by upsetting the work-life balance essential to being effective.

One Company That Provides Telepresence Facilities

Telepresence is an impressive tool for cultivating relationships with team members and clients to reap a harvest of opportunity for your goals. If you have an IT team and facility with the proper resources, then you can do this in-house, but most businesses would rather invest themselves in the actual connections with client and team. An ideal video-conferencing tool would be worldwide, utilize technology that is current and consistent for all involved, be available at all hours for multiple time zones, and have instant support for any issues. Maintaining this type of facility for a single business would be prohibitively costly since you must also ensure equal technological access for the other party. Whygo is an excellent way to achieve the goals of human connection in business. With this tool, a company can access all the benefits of an in-house video conferencing facility for all parties with very little trouble. According to their website, Whygo offers multiple options for you to book public video conferencing facilities. This will allow you to increase productivity and strengthen your staff morale by providing a better work-life balance as well as reducing your carbon footprint. Regular users can have branded systems that help schedule bookings including links from your own website.

Whygo's World Class VC And Telepresence Operation

There are 4 global operation centers enabling your business to function globally. The centers work together to give seamless service. The website is clearly laid out with a mere 4 steps to book a video conferencing room:

• find a location,
• select a center,
• customize your meeting,
• and confirm.

Telepresence, the ‘Rolls Royce’ of video conferencing, is a seamless high-definition life-size video combined with high-fidelity acoustics in a room built to give the experience of realism. This ‘absolute best option’ is ideal for complete communication of facial expression, body language, and voice inflection. You will feel that every participant is sitting in the same room or at the same table. Many lesser forms of communication lose some of the detail that telepresence captures. If you do not need that ultimate level of communication, Whygo offers other video conferencing services as well. You can choose the tools that will help your business become firmly planted in the soil of human connection and reap an abundant harvest.