While many companies use conference calls to engage multiple parties at once, this can lead to enablement of multi-tasking, late arrivals, and easy distractions. Thankfully, video conferencing combats these effects by simulating an in-person meeting through virtual face-to-face interaction. Many of these systems are costly, and despite available grants and funding some organizations simply cannot afford an enterprise-grade system. This is where Blue Jeans comes in.
Blue Jeans is cloud-based video conferencing service that has developed a new video conferencing platform which is mobile-friendly and works in conjunction with services such as Microsoft Lync, web browsers, Skype, room systems, Jabber, Google Video Chat, and audio-only phones. Their goal is to bring the video conference to the users, rather than the users jumping through hoops to attend a video conference.
As many office workers know, many meetings are unplanned and with the increasing ease of having video at the touch of a button from any device, this is becoming more and more common. According to a report released by Blue Jeans services, people join meetings from a mobile device 30% of the time, and that number is predicted to grow.
A few tips for running a virtual meeting:
Be on-time: while the ease of video conferencing is making these meetings more common, it is still important to be on time no matter how casually the meeting was thrown together. Attendees could be in different time zones and accommodating someone else’s schedule by working through lunch or after work.
Look at your surroundings: Since everyone will be able to see you and your surroundings, take a moment before the conference to make sure there aren’t any distractions for other participants. This includes phones that could vibrate or ring, other people, family members and pets for those working from a home-office, and any other items that are in the field of view of the camera. With Blue Jeans mobile services, make sure the environment you are in isn’t overly noisy or distracting as well.
Use the video: Taking advantage of the ability to virtually meet face-to-face is always recommended. It shows you are willing to embrace the technology and it also leads to faster nurturing of relationships. Virtual “face time” is the 2nd best thing to actually sitting down with someone and meeting them and it goes a long way in terms of getting to know colleagues.
