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Second Life has created a professional, easy-to-use method on-line meeting space that participants can attend from the comfort of their office, home or even their yacht!

Virtual meetings not only cut travel expenses and environmental impact, but provide the flexibility to work with people in a real-time environment regardless of their location.

Practical Matters

For a fraction of the cost, virtual functions like meetings, training events, product releases and seminars can all be conducted on-line. From major companies like IBM to small enterprises expanding their territory, smart businesses are using Second Life to find innovative solutions to the challenge of communicating simultaneously  with participants all over the globe.

A Second Life meeting contains many of the fundamental elements of a face-to-face meeting, a factor that can be hard to recreate using video or conference calls. For one thing, all the avatars for participants are visible, making it easy to tell just who is present at the meeting and who is currently speaking.

Conference Rooms

The virtual meeting room contains many features of a regular conference room. Services include a sound system for amplyfying speakers and a viewing screen where you can run videos, slide shows or power point presentations that everyone in attendence can view.

Translations

One of the big attractions of Second Life for international business meetings is the many translation programs that are offered to make the kind of important real-time translations that cut down on confusion and misunderstandings.

These services use instant text translation programs that  allow you to read the on-going dialog and save the verbatim transcripts for later consideration.

InWorld

The ability to invite interested parties to panel discussions, affiliation meetings and informative lectures is greatly expanded because it is fairly simple for attendees to sign on with Second Life and create their avatars.

To assist anyone having issues with attending a Second Life event, many businesses have a help desk avatar available outside the meeting rooms to help troubleshoot individual issues so the whole meeting is not interrupted and can stay productive.

Another advantage of virtual meetings is that they can be recorded in their entirety and replayed later for the benefit of those who had timing conflicts with the original presentation.

Mixing

Participants in a virtual meeting can ask questions of each other, request clarification on a topic or participate in panel discussions. They can also chat together before and after the meeting, which creates opportunities for members to virtually meet for the first time or “run into” previous acquaintances and renew relationships.

After the meeting, notes can be posted on a virtual bulletin board to announce similar events, related information or post invitations to discuss the topics brought up at the virtual meeting.

You wouldn’t want to embarrass your shadow with these beauties, would you???

1) The Motorola DynaTAC…

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Obviously the man in this picture doesn’t care what holding this huge chunk of metal could seriously do to his health …and reputation. He can get away with it, though. He invented it.

Introducing Cooper. Dr Martin Cooper. Motorola genius extraordinaire. The Daddy, the Don Dada, the creator of the first ever handheld portable mobile phone: an 800 MHz prototype.

Now, the phone in the photo might look huge, but believe it or not, it’s a smaller replica of the real prototype. The real one apparently weighed in at around 4.5 lbs (fondly called ‘the brick’).

In April 1973, Cooper must have been pleased as pie as he stood on the streets of 6th Avenue, New York, and made that first call.

So, that’s how you get the ladies, huh?

2) The Nokia Mobira Senator…

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Is it a personal stereo? A suitcase? No, believe it or not, it’s a mobile phone, and it was Nokia’s first baby (born in 1982). The Mobira Senator wasn’t a walk-around mobile phone, but a mobile phone nonetheless: a portable one designed for a car. It weighed 21 lbs (enough to lopside any vehicle it was in, perhaps?)

3) Motorola DynaTAC 8000X…

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On the market in 1983, the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X was the first commercial handheld mobile phone and was a close but much slimmer cousin of its original predecessor, weighing in at a more manageable and respectable 1.75 lbs.

Now this model had a rather long antenna which probably made walking around people somewhat of a challenge without almost poking someone’s eye out. In today’s ever more densely populated world where you can just about swing a toothpick, a mobile phone that size wouldn’t have gone down too well.

4) Siemens Oxford C1…

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Siemens jumped on the bulky bandwagon in 1985 with its Oxford C1 model. The company also designed a suitcase to go with it (though it looks like it had a torrid Gone-with-the-Wind affair with a car battery).

And just in case any aliens were looking to invest in the new product, Siemens made sure it printed its name in large bold print across the full length of the suitcase, so it could be viewed from space. Ah, brilliant.

5) Ericsson Hotline…

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Weighing in at a hefty 4kg, the 1988 Ericsson Hotline was the equivalent of how you’d imagine a mobile phone would look if it grew a pair of arms, dipped into an 80s wardrobe and dressed itself. Either that or the chief technical designer was an ex DJ and looked to one of those huge speakers you’d find at an 80s disco party for design inspiration.

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6) The Motorola Bag Phone…

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The 1992 Motorola bag phone was designed to make it convenient for people to walk and talk on their mobile phones. Unfortunately, it turned out not to be quite as ‘mobile’ as they envisaged and it might as well have been called a car phone. Apparently, the bag phone was so heavy that a lot of people just couldn’t be bothered to carry it around with them and left the whole caboodle in their cars. The culprit wasn’t so much the phone, but the accompanying battery and transceiver that weighed it down.

7) Siemens Xelibri…

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Released in 2003, would anyone have guessed these were indeed mobile phones? Or would it have had people screaming “don’t stick that thing in my arm”? There’s just something about this range that’s very reminiscent of health check kits used to test blood sugar levels.

Not a good look — and the consumers seemed to agree, which is why the Xelibri was only on the market for all of 18 months.

Shame that.

8) The Samsung P300…

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Like the Siemens Xelibri, the Samsung P300 appears to have had serious identity issues. This time, this one thought it was a calculator. Not it’s fault, really. Samsung, what were you thinking? Who’s the uber-dominant tech wig that came up with this brilliant idea?

Calculator or phone, it really doesn’t look that great either way.

And to think it was designed as recently as 2006.

Worrying.

9) The Nokia Vertu Bucheron Cobra…

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Nostradamus couldn’t have predicted this one. Neither could he have predicted that the words ‘mobile phone’ and ‘$310,000’ would share the same sentence one day — which is how much one of these sparkly babies went on the market for (in 2006).

If a phone is ugly to start with, then slapping gold cobras, diamonds, emeralds and 439 rubies on it only serves to accentuate its hideousness. Someone must have seen sense because only a cautious eight of these visual eye-aches were ever created.

Nokia did eventually see the light …and produced a cheaper model …at $115,000 a pop.

Great.

Business practices change constantly with new inventions. Video conferencing is one of the latest ideas to make things easier around the workplace.

Enhanced Technology and Communications

Video conferencing has been around for a while, but only recently has it gained enough in quality to make it worthwhile as a tool for most businesses. Lagging internet connections make for jumpy movements and disconnected voices, but increased infrastructure is improving that.

Less Travel and Reduced Environmental Impact

Meetings that once required days for travel and required accommodations to be scheduled now take place with people at their desks or in nearby conference rooms. Educational opportunities widen as virtual students pop into classroom world-wide.
More Business Meeting Options

For today’s businesspeople, that means options are changing. The benefits of seeing someone in a meeting or presentation give more to communicate with than phone or email can provide, since visual cues are lacking during most of the correspondence.

Saving Time and Staff Absence

While cutting some of the travel is good for the budget, removing the days out of the office for the staff to manage meetings with other locations is a better reason for video conferencing. Commercial flying to remote locations can take a day or two out of the work week. Finding a larger meeting room off-site to accommodate all the participants takes more time to track down.
Working Flexibility for Employees

For larger projects, video conferencing allows an employee to work at home, rather than relocating temporarily to another location for the duration. Larger companies can take the world-wide stage as an option to stagger work in different countries to meet deadlines and schedule video conference meetings to keep all involved on where to start and end for the day’s work.

There are still occasions that call for actual travel, but video conferencing can help you make the most of those business decisions by knowing how to get the most out of the options available to you.

Stay organised and make certain you personally use the video conferencing option to understand how to make the best use of it before telling all your employees to use it. The best management practices lead by doing and make the most of everyone’s time and abilities.

Keeping up with the video conferencing angle allows great flexibility for businesses to expand and grow into better practices for profit and productivity. It is a great information and communication tool for companies to build their ability to work.

Here are 10 of Video Conferencing’s newest (and sometimes, unlikely) users:
Health Professionals

Patients are accustomed to visiting doctors in their offices, but video conferencing can change some of those visits. Disease management for treatment of a long-term disease, specialist referrals, support services in campuses and remote offices, remote patient monitoring, and nursing call center services all bring new opportunities.

Telecommunication

Journalists are beginning to get press videoconferences to allow international presence. Access to a computer allows them to ask questions and report on more events without relying on second- or third-hand information.

Education

Classes taught by video conference bring teachers and students together over long distances to experience the classroom feeling without extensive travel. It also creates options for virtual tours and meeting exciting people who can’t visit a classroom, like NASA officials or native language speakers in the same age group as students.

Surveillance & Security

Remote monitoring, motion detection, and video broadcasting are some of the features used for surveillance. Warehouses or empty facilities keep things safe by the video conferencing tools. They also could set up a person to reason with if someone enters during a time other than the norm without automatically alerting authorities.

Government Ministers

Busy officials can link in to meetings via video conferencing instead of traveling. This means they can get more use out of their time and still attend meetings at more than one venue when necessary.

Emergency response
During an emergency they’ll show up at the door, but video conferencing helps keep them trained to deal with the worst that can happen while saving on fuel and travel expenses.

Budding families

Families spread over large distances or in different countries are beginning to use video conferencing to keep in touch and show how much the babies grow. This alternative can be cheaper than plane tickets, especially for new grandparents who want to make weekly or daily appointments.

Prisoners

Video Conferencing makes for easier connections between parents and children, especially when getting regular visits scheduled with out-of-state children. Lawyers and judges are finding video conferencing benefits for hearings and depositions to speed proceedings by increasing the number of arraignments and “Assignment of Counsel” sessions per day and eliminating travel to the jail.

Seniors

Letters, phone calls, and emails only go so far, and all of them lack the nonverbal cues so vital to communication. Ideas to keep seniors included in the family life are meals and sharing stories to different generations. They also have added security when alone in the house to call someone on the video conference to stay alert during times when a repairman is expected.

Churches

Whether it’s bringing conferences to more people or simply spreading the message from the church, video conferencing proves to be very effective. There are no virtual sermons yet, but group counseling, education, and meetings between officials are on the rise.

Here are some of the most annoying and embarrasing habits of Video conference calling. Make sure you don’t get caught out!

The Mute Button

It’s important to remember whether your mute button is on or off. As a facilitator, you must give the respondent time to take the mute off and answer.
The responders must use the mute button when not speaking and remember to put the sound on when necessary. Don’t mutter into the microphone or talk to yourself. Always assume they can hear you. Limit sidebar conversations within the room and pay attention to the speaker.

Gestures

Be aware of every single gesture you make. Talking with your hands might be acceptable when in the room with other people, but watching it on video can make others nervous or dizzy.

This is especially true when lagging video may only catch a few movements and makes the image at the other end of the conference jumpy and disjointed. Gestures may also give someone a bad impression of you, so try to isolate any bad habits, like scratching your nose, ahead of time to keep them from creeping into the video conference.

Forgetting Introductions

You may not see everyone at all times during a video conference. Introductions make people feel more like they know who is talking. Make nameplates with at least 4 cm letters for easy reference.

When more than one location is involved, make a plate with that name, also. Address everyone directly when asking questions. “Mike, did you have those numbers?” “Susan, can you tell me…?”

Something Else in Your Mouth
Food, gum, or other items that might otherwise occupy your mouth are a definitely no-no during video conferencing. While you might not always have the camera on you in some larger meetings, no one wants to look over at you and see your jaw working.

The kindest assumption they can make is you’re attempting to talk and not being heard. At worst, they see your open mouth and what occupies it during their possibly lagging connection.

Time

Begin and end all video conferences on time. This is respectful to all attendees, because they definitely have other work to do even if they are not scheduled for another meeting.

It also lets them know what to expect. If someone constantly drags meetings from a half hour scheduled to two hours actual time, no one wants to go and their attention wanders. Adults are alert for 30 to 45 minutes at a time; schedule appropriately.

In today’s fast paced business environment, speed, efficiency and cost effectiveness are central to establishing and maintaining competitive advantage. Technology has made many of the perennial expenses of the business operation dissolve. The days of the door to door salesman strike us as almost primitive up against the social media networks that are presently all the rage. Conducting business meetings via video conferencing calls is gradually making traveling an obsolete requirement. The future of video conferencing has all the characteristics to suggest its inevitability as a staple product of business innovation.
As strictly a matter of saving time, the benefits of video conferencing are virtually irrefutable. A click of a few buttons versus all the exigencies related to travel give video conferencing a natural advantage over traveling. In the same manner, the constraint on finances is clearly mitigated with video conferencing. The exorbitant cost of traveling far exceeds the cost of investing in a reliable system to conduct the video calls. An elaborate cost-benefit analysis isn’t needed to prove the validity of choosing the one over the other.

Accessibility is yet still another benefit derived from video conferencing. This is particularly true for a business’ client base, which tends to value ease of access without removing the advantages of face to face meetings. Also, as a way to streamline one’s business operations into a more fluid and dynamic system, video conferencing provides a unique tool. Whether it is clients, partners, associates or co-workers, both the small and medium sized business and the transnational business gain by utilizing the video conferencing option.

The expenses saved in time and money by using video conferencing transpire into the more collective interest of protecting the environment against the unnecessary strain that the prodigious amounts of business travelling places on it. As more businesses adopt video conferencing capabilities, a pattern of business practice can be instituted that will serve to enhance their role in being socially responsible stewards of society.

Video conferencing is the 21st century response to many of the challenges facing businesses as they try to gain greater participation in the global market and remain competitive. Saving time and money, creating ease of access and facility of operations and protecting the environment are all achieved in this one simple solution.

The following are the top 5 tips for arranging a successful meeting, regardless of the specific topic or specific business. Following these tips will help to ensure the most productive and fruitful meetings possible.

1. Arrange the meeting early. When setting up a meeting, giving all of the potential attendees as much advance notice as possible will increase the likelihood that the meeting will be well attended. In addition, should one of the key participants find the initially suggested meeting time inconvenient, having arranged the meeting early gives other attendees the greatest amount of time possible to find alternate meeting times that are workable. Since the most successful meetings are those at which all of the critical participants attend, planning ahead is integral to success.
2. Provide attendees with a written agenda ahead of the meeting. Giving participants a written agenda increases the probability that attendees will come to the meeting prepared to discuss the topics that the meeting’s organizer has defined as being the primary discussion points. This practice will help to avoid confusion as to the purpose of the meeting and can help to steer the meeting to the critical points as the meeting progresses. Providing the agenda ahead of time allows attendees to comment on the agenda and to bring a written copy with them. Giving participants the ability to voice any concerns about the agenda prior to the meeting means that should these concerns surface during the meeting, they are more easily dismissed. In addition, because written copies are available both before and during the meeting (bringing additional copies of the agenda to the meeting is a good practice), attendees can take notes directly on the agenda and have prepared issues.
3. Schedule meetings with the schedules of attendees in mind. If the participants in the meeting tend to be busiest early in the day, scheduling a meeting before noon, will have two effects: it may ensure that the meeting will not run past its scheduled time (a benefit) and it may result in participants who are not thoroughly engaged (a detriment). Conversely, meetings scheduled later in the day may be freer to run their course, but participants may be tired and less engaged than they would be earlier. Having a good sense of the schedules of the attendees can lead to a more successful meeting.
4. Use electronic scheduling whenever possible. In the internet age, more and more systems allow meeting organizers to invite attendees electronically. As systems become more integrated, w-mail programs and linked to cell phone and planners, and each communicate with each other. The advantage of using such a system for organizing a meeting is that, in most cases, the meeting will be automatically added to the invitees’ schedules, reminders will be set, and full attendance will become more likely. Furthermore, because of the ease involved in using such systems, attendees will have an easier time participating ahead of the meeting which may have a subtle or dramatic impact on their attitudes upon attending the meeting.
5. Be prepared for changes. The single most important characteristic to be emulated by individuals in all types of commercial endeavors is to be adaptable. As the pace of business continues to accelerate, those with a penchant for change and an ability to seamlessly integrate new methodologies and approaches into their repertoires will have the highest likelihood to succeed. For example, if one has arranged to have an in-person meeting, having a contingency plan to allow some, or all, of the attendees to participate remotely can make the difference between a successful meeting and one that must be rescheduled.

Following these top tips for arranging a meeting can have a dramatic impact of the level of success of a meeting.

In our world today, technology plays an ever important role. Moreover, with the advancement of the internet, conventional assemblies, conferences, and board meetings have also gone to the future. Along with that, what used to be a difficult task to accomplish can now be handled through conference calls. Indeed, such an evolution has sped up the way we do business. And, since business enterprises are not mere islands, it requires the need to communicate to vast distances and sometimes remote locations. The point is that since our generation has experienced a paradigm shift, we need to better equip ourselves in order to flow with progress. If not, we will be left behind and this could subsequently affect our productivity.

International conference calls are undoubtedly going to be needed. At one point or another, companies will have to make use of it. Having said that, it is imperative for companies and businesses to make ample preparations because a lot is at stake. A company’s image, reputation, and overall dignity is being risked with every conference call. This fact is not meant to scare anyone, it is just an emphasis on the gravity of every conference call handled. The consideration then, is prepare for every conference call in order to reap the rewards and proceed with high hopes. Bottom line is that every conference call should be managed and arranged accordingly. At all means, companies should not only convey their image through their appearance but they should also take care of technicalities.

There are a lot of choices to make when setting up for an international conference call, be it a training session or business meeting. Making arrangements should be the most important factor and should be the first priority when making an international conference call. When making arrangements, the facilities and the main lay out should be the main concern. This means taking care of all the tools that will be used, laying out the tables and chairs, and preparing the staff. Additionally, the facilities are meant to work in your accordance to create the best environment possible. The gist of a conference call, therefore, lies in the seating options and arrangements. Elaborated are the different types layouts that can be utilized in a conference room.

Classroom or Theater Layout

A classroom or theater layout comes first in our list because it is believed to be the most appropriate arrangement for an international conference call. The layout is very simple. Just like in a theater, the screen is positioned in front while the audience (staff members) are all seated by rows. There are no preferences on tables and chairs as long as the arrangement complies with the proposed set up. This arrangement is beneficial in a way that it optimizes the space and allows more members to be inside the room.

The Typical Conference Call Layout

The typical conference call layout (also known as the boardroom) is where a large elongated table is surrounded by chairs and is in front of the screen. The advantage of this setup is that everyone has space for writing and the whole group can easily be seen. However, it doesn’t always offers good views as every person is seated at a different position with respect to the screen.

Clustered Layout

A clustered layout is best suited for workshop-type presentation. Basically, this arrangement is done by grouping like-minded individuals together in order for them to interact better. Everyone will still be in front of the screen, only this time different groups will be scattered around the room.

Avoid the temptation to view conference calls as less serious than traditional face-to-face meetings. They can be an important part of your career, and taking good notes during conference calls keeps you from wasting the group’s time. Here are 8 top tips for taking conference call notes:

#1- Play to your strengths
If you type faster than you write, type your notes in a word processor to be sure you keep up with the discussion. However, you may be able to track the flow of conversation more easily and draw connections between ideas if you are using a pen and paper. Find which approach works best for you, and remember that some handheld devices can offer the best of both worlds.

#2- Prepare ahead of time
You know the call is coming, so there is no excuse for not being ready. Open a word processing program or get a notebook, and take whatever other steps you need to hit the ground running from the start of the meeting. Ideally, your setup allows you to keep your hands free to capture important information.

#3- Record the call (if possible)
Recording the call may not always be an option, but it is the best way to make sure that you remember everything that happens during the conference call. The drawback is that it is not always easy to refer back to specific parts of the discussion.

#4- Use an agenda
You can distribute an agenda for the conference call ahead of time and build in spaces for note taking. It will allow you to keep the meeting on track and give you a chance to quickly organize your notes while the call is underway.

#5- Repetition is necessary
Do not be afraid to ask a speaker to repeat a key point if you had trouble getting it down the first time. It will avoid misunderstandings later on, and everyone would rather take a moment to repeat a single statement if it means that they won’t have to repeat the whole meeting later.

#6- Don’t leave yourself out
Remember that you are an active participant in the meetings, and your comments will steer the discussion. It may feel strange to take notes on what is coming out of your own mouth, but remembering what you said will put the other remarks in context. It will also be helpful when trying to recall what you DIDN’T mention during the meeting.

#7- Summarize the meeting before the call ends
If possible, take a moment at the end of the meeting to summarize what has been discussed with the other participants and compare it with your notes. That way you can be sure that everyone is walking away with the same major ideas.

#8- Make sense of your notes while you still can
Immediately after the call, go back to your notes and check them for readability. If you used shorthand or abbreviations, this is the time to go back and write things out fully, while the meeting is still fresh in your mind. A few months down the road, you may not be able to translate your thoughts from the page as easily.

Being adequately prepared and planning out your note-taking strategy ahead of time will let you take thorough, useful conference call notes, which ensures that everyone has spent their time effectively. Hopefully, these 8 top tips will help.

The modern workplace has more options for communication than ever before and yet still people misunderstand each other. In fact, many companies are hampered by information overload, leading to lost productivity and innovation. With these simple tips, you can ensure effective communication.

1. Meet Face-to-face

Talking to someone face-to-face is the most basic, and still the most effective, means to assure mutual understanding. Body language and voice inflection cannot be judged through e-communication, so if there’s someone with whom you often have communication issues, try meeting in person. Face-to-face check-ins actually strengthen relationships and make digital communication even more effective.

2. Listen

People tend to speak and then think about their next statement, rather than listening to responses. This creates a situation ripe for miscommunication. Make sure to be an active listener. Try asking questions and restating the other person’s meaning in your own words to ensure you understand.

3. Common Ground

If there is a difference of opinion, focus on the common ground, those areas where you can reach agreement. This will make for more productive problem-solving, rather than a divisive argument.

4. Reason over Emotion

When people do disagree, emotion can make communication even more difficult. If people are angry, others automatically get defensive and nothing will be accomplished. Try to keep some emotional distance from the situation, especially if the other party lashes out. Remember not to take this personally. The emotion likely stems from frustration or fear, not necessarily from you.

5. Use Technology Wisely

Everyone has sent an e-mail they wish they hadn’t. When e-mailing, people tend to lose inhibitions and get into conflicts much more easily. Those conflicts can quickly spiral out of control. Technology is an essential tool in today’s workplace, but remember to consider the people with whom you’re communicating. Don’t overwhelm them with lots of e-mails or interrupt with instant messages if you don’t get an immediate response. Above all, remember to be clear and concise. Use technology to confirm simple facts; have sensitive discussions in person.

6. E-mail Clarity

When sending an e-mail, keep it focused on one topic, issue, or question. Make sure the subject line clearly reflects this. Recognize the recipient can’t read your mind, so supply necessary details. Re-read everything.

7. Reply-all

Use reply-all sparingly. Workers get an average of 200 e-mails a day, in addition to all other forms of communication, so getting buried is easy. Make sure to check the recipient line before you hit send on any e-mail.

8. Instant Messaging

Instant messaging is instantaneous, but it also easily creates misunderstandings. Don’t become impatient if people don’t answer immediately. And try not to be abrupt. IMs don’t have conversational cues like face-to-face talks.

9. Acknowledge Mistakes

Make sure to acknowledge mistakes, but don’t be accusatory. Treat mistakes as learning experiences. They are inevitable and being upfront about them will foster a more productive environment.

10. Quality over Quantity

More communication does not mean effective communication. Focus on clarity and conciseness. Your coworkers will thank you for it.