Professions That Use Video Conferencing

Professions that use video conferencing are professions that interact with people.  If you work with people, sell to people, buy from people, counsel people, teach people, learn from people, or communicate with people, you very well could be using technology to see and hear those people during a videoconference.  The advantage of this tool is that added communication level attained when you can see the person you are talking with; their facial expressions and even body language filling in where mere audio has gaps.

Many boardrooms carry video conferencing equipment as a standard tool to enable staff meetings with remote workers.  This can be useful, enabling branch offices to connect with the main office or telecommuters discuss the week’s agenda with supervisors.  Businesses conduct interviews with potential employees and meet with clients with this tool eliminating travel expenses and time.  Training seminars are easily attended by an individual or a team.  But video conferencing is useful in many other professions.

Education can be greatly enhanced by the video conference.  Cyber-schooling is now available for elementary, secondary, and higher education with classes conducted online in a video format, with student interaction, and with whiteboard illustrations.  Small school districts can have one teacher with a combined class for several schools so their students have access to AP courses. Tutoring in specific subjects can occur between two laptops or a music student could potentially use higher-end equipment to have voice lessons with a teacher across the globe.  Medical students can sit in lectures and discussions can be had with students in coffee shops and living rooms and quads. Graduate students can interview with potential schools in between classes without the time and expense of travel.

The medical field is a natural for the videoconference.  Rural residents facing hours of drive time to reach a specialist could consult in a remote clinic that accesses all the expertise needed by a high quality videoconferencing set up with a medical center.  A team of caregivers can consult at a moment's notice about a challenging case and view charts, reports, and current patient status together.

Counseling can be done in videoconference or a support group meeting held in a virtual meeting room in the cloud.  Participants can access the room with whatever device they have and interact with the entire group, sharing their stories and watching the faces of friends as they help one another with the problems they face.

The arts can be incredibly collaborative with brainstorming sessions and design development occurring electronically as often as needed. With some applications it can be as simple as a phone call yet with the added ability to share documents and sketch ideas.  Logos can be created with continual input from the client as the artist makes an idea a reality.  Illustrations can be adjusted without miscommunication as easily as sitting at the same table over coffee. 

Any enterprise involving design between client and creator relies on accurate communication for a mutually satisfying result.  Communication in fact is the oil that makes the machinery of all enterprise run smoothly.  Videoconferencing increases communication when limited by time and location enabling any profession to be more successful.

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.

What A Video Conferencing System Can Do For Your Business

Today’s workplace includes a growing number of telecommuters who use the flexibility of their schedule to accomplish a great deal outside the traditional confines of the cubicle.  Where a midmorning business meeting in a conference room once allowed regular updates and consistency in ongoing projects, the internet has become the medium for connecting with other members of the work team.

While email has its place, there is often a need for a video conferencing system that provides virtual sharing and editing of documents and optimal communication of face-to-face interaction.  Programs like Skype are notorious for their instability and lack the ability to share documents efficiently.  There are videoconferencing facilities available through brokers like Whygo, and often these rooms are a good solution for a business but sometimes a less costly, more individualized and flexible solution is needed.

Now you can be connected to a coworker or client in moments with high quality face-to-face communications.

Here are some of the things that a video conferencing system can do for your business:

• Provide you with a way to hold one-to-one personal meetings with colleagues in another country or U.S. state
• Help you host a one-to-many seminar with your entire company or a department within your business, even if all the participants are in different locations
• Through telepresence technology, make each member of a video conference feel as if they are sitting in the same room
• Share documents across a wide geographical area with one person or with many over the Internet
• Schedule a teleconference room remotely through Outlook
• Sync calendars with clients and colleagues in other locations 

A video conferencing system should be able to bridge the communication gaps between you and your workforce. Whether you are an executive who needs to reach your entire company across several continents, a division manager who wants to hold intra-office brainstorming sessions, or a business owner who needs to use video to make sales calls, the right video conferencing system can save your money on travel and other expenses while making your entire company more efficient from the top down.

Instead of sending your employees on endless flights across country or around the world to attend meetings that cost your company hundreds of thousands of dollars, you can host a video conference that costs one-tenth the amount that you would have spent fifteen years ago.

With Whygo's video conference booking platform you can now only book single rooms for video conferencing or telepresence meetings, but you can also book multiple rooms at once so that your colleagues on the other side of the world can schedule their commitments. Take advantage of the best video conferencing system on the planet, which uses state-of-the-art technology to deliver virtual meetings unlike any meeting you've ever encountered.

Live Video Conferencing Is No Longer A Figment Of Imagination

In the past, the idea of a live video conference seemed to be a figment of an author’s imagination.  Science fiction novels and movies had people talking to one another while looking at each other. Even cartoons like “The Jetsons” used video communication, but those ideas were not a reality when they were conceived.  Today’s technological advances have made fiction a reality.

Written communication has some advantages: you can reread what was written and edit it as needed, hoping to clarify your words so that the reader understands what you are trying to say and the words have a permanence that non-recorded discussions lack.  The problem is that communication involves more than words.  Tone of voice, facial expression, even body language can all play a part in expression of thought.

During a live video conference, the participants’ faces are seen simultaneously on screens that other participants view.  Everybody sees everybody else, just like sitting at a table together.  Everyone also hears everyone else (unless particular screening technology is used) so it is in truth a ‘real time’ meeting with people you want to talk to.  This is not a one-way broadcast.  Goofing off or reading your email during a video conference has the same consequences it does in a board meeting!

A videoconference is a wise use of resources, eliminating the time and expense of travel to confer with colleagues.  You have the advantage of a face-to-face discussion without the cost of being away from other tasks or family to journey to the meeting.  You can invest your money in a reusable resource--your technology--and give your clients and staff increased flexibility. 

There are a wide range of options for using technology to hold live videoconferences.  Some services are cloud-based allowing any device that can access a wireless internet site to meet ‘in the cloud’ to discuss ideas.  Participants could be in a coffee shop, a hotel, a home office, or workspace and have anything from a smartphone or tablet to a laptop, desktop, or business grade phone system and they all could connect because the cloud-based service is not dependent upon the device used.  Other systems rely on software or equipment to enable connection.  You can even rent aroom equipped with what you need to have a conference with team members in another country, who are renting a corresponding room.  There are thousands of venues globally available for this option.

A quick search on the internet will bring up many avenues to explore when you decide to have this type of meeting.  Clarify what your enterprise needs to accomplish in communication and effectiveness and use your list to see what you can do with your current devices, then try a few live videoconferences with some of the many free trial offers.  Once you have seen the advantages of this tool, dream a little about what you could do with it and turn your dream into a reality.

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.