• Checking email – Radicati Group research shows that the average business person sends approximately 34 emails and receives 99 emails every day. While there’s no doubt that the majority of those are coming in during the work day, chances are at least a few are being sent and received throughout the duration of your audio or web conference.
• Browsing the Internet – this includes researching work-related material, shopping, reading news articles or books, and going to social media websites (such as LinkedIn and FaceBook) which account for over 20% of American’s time spent online.
• Texting – according to Pew Internet, the typical person sends around 40 text messages daily. Assuming those texts come in during a 15 hour day, that equates to three texts being sent by each of your participants during your conference.
• Private chats – no, we aren’t talking about the handy chat and sub-chat features that come with most web conferencing services. We’re talking about those participants that put their line on mute and then answer their cell phone during your meeting or converse with co-workers that stop by their desk.
• Eating – a late breakfast, snack, lunch, or even an early dinner.
• Exercising – while this is a good idea for your participant’s health, there’s an even better chance it’ll keep them from focusing on your materials.
• Personal grooming – this includes participants brushing their hair or teeth (perhaps after grabbing a bite to eat), clipping/filing/painting their nails, shaving, putting on make-up, etc.
• Housework – this counts mainly for mobile workers and those who work from home, and includes cooking, cleaning, organizing, playing with/talking to/cleaning up after pets and children.

In accordance with a study that was conducted by Stanford University, people who multi-task would accomplish more if they did each task individually as opposed to simultaneously. So, while your participants might think they can multi-task successfully, research shows they would probably do even better by slowing down and directing more focus toward each task.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done during an audio or web conference?

Thankfully, there is a reliable, easy-to-use and cost-efficient solution: conferencing!

Conferencing services – be it audio conferencing or web conferencing – allow you to reach out, communicate, and interact with your partners, customers and employees anywhere in the world, for significantly less than standard business travel. Like it or not, there are certain times when conducting a traditional face-to-face meeting just isn’t possible; whether it is due to time zone or scheduling issues, sick or injured employees or any other number of reasons. Luckily, with the advancements that have been made in modern conferencing technology, you can now have the ability to conduct a conference without the inconvenience of requiring everyone to be at the same table.

By bringing your team together for an audio conference or a web conference, you not only eliminate the costs and time associated with business travel, but you also help your company become more “eco-conscious” by shrinking your business’s carbon footprint.

Audio conferencing provides a quick and easy way to connect with any number of people using either a telephone or smartphone. No matter what size your business is, there are a number of top conferencing providers – such as InterCall, the largest conferencing provider in the world – who offer a robust, comprehensive collection of services with valuable and effective features. For example, some audio conferencing services provide one or more toll-free numbers and passcodes for your participants to call and join your meetings. But what if one of your participants is unable to make the conference? Well, some audio conferencing solutions allow you to record your conference and store it for future playback.

From simple, two or three person meetings to large, operator-assisted audio conferences, there is a solution available to meet your business’s unique requirements. And here at ConferenceShopper, our wealth of expertise and established industry relationships with the leading audio and web conferencing providers allow us to off you unbiased, carrier neutral advice on services from the finest providers of audio and web conferencing.

This is because it is more crucial for smaller companies to make the most out of every dollar they spend, as they do not always have the necessary funds available for running an IT department. What doesn’t help is that, given our current economical state, companies of all sizes are now trying to do more with less, while the already high costs of travel continue to rise. For an SMB, the price of coordinating and executing a meeting (including airfare, car rentals, hotel rooms, etc.) can quickly run into the thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars, if not more.

Not only that, but business travel also eats up a significant amount of your employee’s time. As a result, one of the easiest and most effective ways for a company to save money is to slash – or even eliminate – their business travel.

While cutting back on travel expenses might seem next to impossible for a company that relies on regular business trips, I am here to tell you that with web conferencing it absolutely can be done. By employing a reliable web conferencing solution, your business will not only see a financial benefit, will also save time, which to a small business, is often just as valuable as a good sales lead.

Modern web conferencing services provide face-to-face connections that allow you to communicate and collaborate with geographically dispersed clients and colleagues as if they were sitting right next to you. You can conduct presentations, product launches, hold recurring company status meetings – your options are endless. Moreover, leading web conferencing providers offer a comprehensive list of features that give even the smallest start-up company the same look and feel as the “big dog” competitors.

When it comes down to it, every minute counts in today’s business world, and the time your company stands to save by utilizing web conferencing services has the opportunity to translate into increased productivity and directly impact your bottom line. If you have found yourself or your staff tied-up in arranging and scheduling conferences, your company can no longer afford NOT to employ a web conferencing solution.

Thanks to the current advancements in technology, it is just as likely that you will conduct business with a customer in another country as it is that you will conduct it with someone across town. That being said, you should not assume that sending an email is the most proficient method of communication. While email might be convenient, web conferencing solutions allow you to harness the full power of the Internet and offer a much more professional and valuable touch that can keep you ahead of the competition.

Web conferences take all the benefits and features of an audio conference call and bring it to the next level. Not only are you able to communicate with up to thousands of participants at one time, but you can also view documents simultaneously. Just imagine the time and stress you could save yourself from by eliminating your chances of miscommunication! And you are no longer limited to simple file sharing; now web conferencing allows you to share your desktop and other applications, utilize interactive annotation tools, as well as a host of additional powerful features.

For example, audio conference calls might leaving you wondering who is currently speaking; web conferencing solutions such as PGi’s iMeet provides individual “cubes” for each meeting participant that contain bios, social networking information, and take the guess work out of determining who is speaking by lighting up green whenever a participant talks. These cutting-edge features aide in strengthening the relationship you create with your current and potential clients and partners.

Web conferencing breaks down the geographical barriers that are separating us, and bridges the gap through face-to-face communication. If you are interested in finding a web conferencing solution for your business, contact one of our professional account managers today. We work with the industry’s leading providers of web conferencing services and can find you the ideal solution for your business’s unique needs.

Event conferencing lets you to view your meeting participants in real-time on the web. Interactive features, such as a question and answer sessions and polling, make it ideal for product roll outs, sales kick offs, employee seminars or webinars, and press releases. With the addition of power point demonstrations, white boarding and document sharing, event conferencing offers quality that rivals face-to-face meetings. A record and play back feature give participants the ability to return to the event, even after it is over – to assist in information retention and so those who missed the meeting have a chance to catch up on their own time.

“…And let’s put it below this paragraph here.”

“What if we changed this color to green?”

“Then we’ll need to adjust this, too.”

Sound familiar? While it is possible for projects to be finished in this manner, having multiple team members huddle around a single computer screen is far from ideal.

What if everyone on your team could sit at their own desk while working? Web conferencing services provide real-time interaction across the hallway – or the country – so you can receive instant feedback on your creations without the messy fingerprints on your monitor or straining your neck trying to see the monitor.

Web conferencing rivals face-to-face meetings, and is quickly becoming a standard tool for businesses of all types and sizes worldwide. Anything you can do in an in-person meeting can also be accomplished in a virtual meeting – while reducing overall expenses (including travel costs, materials, etc.) and increasing productivity. For example:

The creative process could go so much more smoothly. When that’s done, send the marketing director an invite to the virtual meeting for final approvals.

Let’s compare:

• An in-person meeting requires pricey projection equipment in order to let attendees view and share information on the same screen; web conferencing permits desktop sharing where attendees can view and share information and files with the click of a mouse from the comfort of their own computer.
• An in person meeting allows participants to take control of a desktop to present and share data or for web browsing; a web conference provides participants with the same functionality from their own personal computer.
• An in person meeting provides presenters with crucial eye contact and the ability to read body language, allowing them to alter their meeting to keep their audience engaged; with web conferencing, presenters are able to pick-up on those same important visual cues via webcam. In addition, web conferences services often provide special features, including real-time Q&A, interactive whiteboard and annotation tools, as well as the ability to record your meetings for future playback.

Several years ago, conferencing was limited to analog signals sent through copper cables. Conventional conferencing technology largely involves the use of basic telephony for the implementation of calling conferences between geographically separate locations. Modern conferencing technology greatly advanced with the onset of the World Wide Web. Nowadays, modern fiber optic and wireless technologies has drastically revolutionized conferencing options for all sectors of society. It is now infinitely faster, considerably cheaper, and highly accessible to more and more consumers in the whole of the communications industry.

At present, conferencing technology is available in a large number of specialized applications. Now, consumers can select from a large number of conferencing options to address their unique conferencing needs. From operator-assisted conferences to webinars to sub conferencing options, the face of modern day conferencing is far different from conferencing technologies a decade ago. Businesses who want to have an edge over their competition can take advantage of highly specialized conferencing services like web conferencing to effectively expedite business communications.

Conferencing Solutions Have a Wide Number of Business Uses

Today, communications involving multiple parties are essential for the success of many a business. From promotional sales presentations to company-wide announcements, businesses can make use of conferencing applications for more efficient information dispersal to the most number of constituents in with the least effort and time involved.
Correspond with partners to discuss company strategies and objectives by using a highly specialized conferencing tools. Inform and train employees through highly interactive online discussions. Connect with clients from geographically dispersed locations simultaneously and in real-time. These and a lot more are only some of the most vital functions of next-generation conferencing technology. ConferenceShopper.com provides your business with all of your conferencing needs.

Take Advantage of Converged Audio and Video Conferencing Solutions at Conferenceshopper.Com

Conference Shopper also provides clients with the latest advances in converged audio and video conferencing solutions. At present, unified audio/video conferencing technology is much more accessible to a wider range of businesses. The advent of cheap conferencing technology by reason of the World Wide Web has caused the development of highly specialized conferencing applications to service the unique and varied needs of every business type. At ConferenceShopper.com, businesses can choose from a huge selection of conferencing services for the perfect conferencing solution.

More and more learning institutions have been using audio and video transmission to communicate with students and fellow educators. Classroom videoconferencing is becoming more and more popular especially for higher education students with limited time, money or with physical disability.

Distance learning is often confused with classroom videoconferencing. However, they are not synonymous. Distance learning refers to the method of teaching between teachers and students in two different locations, while videoconferencing is a tool used to bridge the gap caused by lack of physical interaction in the classroom. And how videoconferencing really works in a classroom depends on how the teacher uses it.

Maximizing Videoconferencing

Here are some tips to maximize the use of videoconferencing.

• Plan your conference for early in the day when the Internet is less congested.
• When in a building, tell everyone that you need all the bandwidth and so if it is possible if they stay off-line during your scheduled conference.
• Strategically assign the placement of your students on camera.
• Test your connection to your partner or class. Use a direct connection if possible.
• Conduct trial runs with your students so they would know how to be in the conference.
• Be proactive. Expect for the worst. If the server is down, postpone it.
• Beware of unexpected incoming hook-up requests.
• Mentoring is a great experience for young learners and can be done with videoconferencing. They get to compare and exchange ideas with each other.
• Arrange for your computer specialists to conference with your class and answer technical questions.

On top of these tips, classroom videoconferencing involves careful planning and preparation on the part of the teacher and the students. For it to be effective there has to be a purpose for each conference. A well planned videoconferencing can be one of the most exciting and motivating learning experience for students.