Latest news and views from Conference Genie

In this economic climate it is important to look at some business facts when you are considering ways to enhance and grow your business. Travel expenses on business have become a burden and are taking away from corporate bottom lines. Hotels and rental car companies are adding in charges that did not previously exist and with the way these companies are structuring their agreements with customers it is nearly impossible to avoid paying many of these extra charges. Air travel has spiked in cost in the past year or two and where it used to be financially feasible to fly out to see a client just two years ago it is now a financial nightmare to try and book a last minute flight or make any changes to your flight arrangements once you have finalized them. Businesses need alternatives to travel and video conferencing is the answer.

As high speed and broadband Internet services become more widely available all over the world more companies are turning to video conferencing services to help reduce the cost of travel. With a video conference you eliminate the cost of plane tickets, car rental, meals, hotel rooms, and any incidentals that get expensed to business travel. You and your customers can still see each other for important meetings, share visual information, and close the deal with video conferencing.

Video conferencing is good for much more than just sales calls and client meetings. Many technical companies offer on site support to their clients and many of those technical companies are starting to offer support via video conferencing. Depending on the product or service it is possible for a qualified technician to diagnose and treat even the most complex issues using video conferencing. A technician can walk the client’s representative through the repair process using video conferencing and the technician can use real life models of the product to make the process simpler. Companies that did not offer on site technical support can now offer a video conferencing as a method of onsite support and the cost to the technical company is almost negligible.

Video conferencing also has other business implications that may not seem readily apparent. People that are hearing or speech impaired can now get involved in long distance meetings without having to leave the office. Sign language can be used as a form of communication during a video conference. If you own a company that deals in educational products you could use video conferencing to reach children and teachers all over the world and expand your customer base without ever leaving your office.

There are endless possibilities with video conferencing as you can apply video conferencing to almost any situation that you would normally have to address in person. With some creative thinking you can even develop ways for your product or service to reach clients all over the world you would not normally have a chance to meet without video conferencing.

The first conference calls were no doubt smoke signals and drum beats developed by primitive groups of people communicating with one another on a larger scale. Men have always found a way to correspond on a group basis. Back in the old west at times there were groups of men who stood around telegraph wires and listened to Morse code. But a conference call as we know it is with a telephone system. The conference call establishes a forum whereby a group can get together and hold a discussion.

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The first beginnings of the conference call as we understand it was developed back in 1945 by a Bulgarian born inventor by the name of Asen Yordanoff. He invented quite a few things one being the first air bag. Yordanoff was eventually given honorary citizenship to the United States of America. Yordanoff’s contribution to the conference call was the Jordaphone; this device was developed in 1945 for the war. The voice on the phone could be picked up on a loud speaker and transmitted by way of a regular microphone so that everyone in the room could hear or talk to the person on the phone. This was quite an ingenious development. This was done all without wires, and the idea was considered a little ahead of its time.

Conference calls are still the business standard for talking to associates who are widespread. In this day and age of national and worldwide branches as well as telecommuting being able to stay in contact with everyone on your team and include them in important meetings is even more vital than ever before.

Setting up a conference call system is easier than ever before too. There are many types and styles of teleconference phones available. Some aspects of these phones are similar in that they all have a standard keypad for dialing, a speaker for group listening, and a microphone system. The most popular type of microphone for conference calling is the headset for totally hands free operation during the conversation.

The Keypad

The basic keypad of any conference call system should be clear, easy to read, and large enough to be easily handled. A top notch system will allow for stored numbers that can be speed dialed and screen readout. Some conference call systems are designed to encompass the speaker and microphone portion of the system while attaching to your standard digital phone system. These can be a money saving way to accomplish a state-of-the-art teleconferencing system if you already have a good phone system in place.

The Speaker System

The conference call phone needs to have a high quality speaker that will not distort sounds. The volume should be fully adjustable so that it is loud enough for everyone in the room can hear, or low enough to not disturb others while you are on your call.

The Microphone System

Most conference calling systems have headsets so that you can multi-task while on your call. Keeping your hands free allows you to leaf through files, or even prepare for your next call while in your current meeting. There are also call systems that include multiple external microphones. These systems are wonderful for times when you have a group meeting to take a conference call and allow everyone to partake in the conversation. Whichever type of microphone set up you prefer they should have noise cancelling capabilities so that any background noise is blocked out. Whether you are in a busy office, or a bustling home this is an important feature of any microphone.

Call Conferencing Prices

Prices can range from as low as £100 for a conference phone system that allows you to plug-n-play instantly with an existing phone system to £500 for a fully self-contained system with extension microphones for as many as 12 people.

Make sure that the system you choose comes with all of the connecting cables needed. Wireless systems range from £300 for a unit that plugs into an existing phone system and is perfect for single use, to £500 for a self-contained system, has a 150 foot range, 24 hour talk time, and microphones for up to 12 people. These systems use battery packs that are rechargeable for longer use.

Some of these systems can even be plugged into your existing cell phone for extra versatility and convenience.

Remember the good old days when you would fly out to meet a customer and try and close the sale or assist the customer with a technical issue on product you just sold them? If your company is still living in the good old days and flying personnel all over the globe to do business then it may be time to introduce you to the idea of doing business by conference call. It used to be that a conference call was the least preferred way to carry out an official meeting but with the rising cost of travel it has become widely accepted to hold official business meetings via conference calls, and with the advances in technology, and the widely accepted presence of the internet in most companies these days, there are ways you can do most of your business without ever leaving the building.

These days a conference call meeting for routine issues is widely accepted, and with the right conference call company you can have access to the features necessary to make any meeting easy for all the participants to be involved in. Features include the option of leaving messages for people in the meeting and even getting a recording or transcript of the meeting for later reference. There are conference call companies that can help you sync up an internet presentation with your conference call and that allows you to add visuals and graphics to your presentation. With this kind of ability it is no wonder that more people are using conference calling than ever before.

You can also use teleconference calling to do your important meetings where face to face contact is essential. With the right video teleconferencing service you can see and hear all of the meeting participants regardless of where in the world they are at the time. Technology such as this allows meetings between parties from all over the world to happen without spending money on airfares, rental cars, hotels, and meals. The savings to your company would be astronomical.

Small to medium sized companies are embracing conference calling for the savings it brings in doing business by not just reducing the need for travel but eliminating it completely. Technical issues can sometimes be solved by teleconferencing where your technician can actually see the customer’s issue and help solve it without ever leaving the building. It is savings that any company can appreciate in a difficult economy.

The advancement of new state-of-the-art technology is changing the way people communicate. Video Conferencing has been in existence since the 1970’s but was not quickly embraced by the corporate world, perhaps because it was more glamorous to jump on a plane! Given the current global economic conditions, large and small companies are searching out ways to cut their costs. Video Conferencing is a big leap forward in intelligent telecommunications because individuals can be in one part of the world and still attend an important symposium in another part of the world without incurring large travel expenses.

Telephone conferencing had becoming increasingly popular, however it can be a little impersonal. Video Conferencing helps you put a face to the voice which will make a meeting more personable and aid in building confidence and trust, opening the way for decisions to be made quicker. The system can help companies to cut expenses by providing an inexpensive yet efficient means of training employees at other locations without the need to travel to a corporate office. Reducing costs is just one perk that always grabs companies attention but there are countless other advantages. Video conferencing helps companies and individuals to improve downtime, conduct meetings on a more regular basis and it also creates an avenue for executing interviews.

Not only are businesses using this technology, but schools, law enforcement and medical staff have found it a useful tool as well. Colleges can offer online or correspondence courses because of the use of video conferencing. You can now attend a school lecture without having to leave the comfort of your living room. Students have the ability to communicate directly with their professors thus making their online course more understandable. Witnesses can now give testimonies without having to appear in court, Doctors can monitor patients progress and hold meetings to discuss medical findings.