It is possible to fall into traps that most businesses out there fall into whenever they decide to set up a desktop video conferencing system. Desktop video conferencing will enhance your communications with fellow workmates, clients or even family members, regardless of their location or video conferencing system.
A good company that provides reliable video conferencing services such as Blue Jeans Desktop Video Conferencing can give you the ideal cloud-based system, one that will connect easily to room-based or mobile video conferencing systems. However, the question is, how will you protect yourself from mistakes that others before you have made, and how do you choose the best desktop video conferencing system?
Here are considerations to help you narrow down your search and avoid mistakes that most people make.
What experience are you expecting from the system?
Judging from the trends today, most businesses are setting up offices in different parts of the country, and it is not practical to keep moving from one location to the other every day. In addition, people like to discuss issues and exchange ideas, using either documents or face to face, qualities that enhance understanding. According to flexnet.com, it is evident that for a business to break beyond its boundaries, real-time and person-to-person interactions are ideal, something that a good desktop video conferencing system can provide you with.
Therefore, when you are settling for a service provider, you need a company that will make you feel as if you are in the same room with whomever you are holding a meeting with. Most people go wrong when they compromise on the size of their bandwidth and the quality of the voice and video, leading to lugging, which is quite annoying when you are trying to have a meaningful b business meeting with a colleague or client.
How many participants can the desktop video conferencing accommodate?
As with a normal boardroom meeting, it is possible to meet with many people, share your plans, ideas or reports on a PowerPoint slide, or on a white board, and have people respond to your views. You, therefore, need to expect an almost similar or better result when using a desktop video conferencing system compared to being in an actual boardroom.
You should get a system that will allow you to make a presentation, respond to other people’s comments, view people’s facial reactions and even share a joke, all from behind your computer. Most people go wrong when they choose to settle for the cheapest system in the market, not knowing that in time, they are likely to require a system that will serve more participants.
How will you ensure proper deployment of the desktop video conferencing system?
Any new development in the business circles is useless if the intended users have no idea on how to use it. The best way to take care of this is through holding training sessions, where the service providers send their staff to your business premises and help every employee to understand the system. According to nefsis.com, it is also possible to send users a guide to help them understand the system better, or in instances where the service providers cannot send trainers to your other offices in other countries. An easy way to learn how to use the system is to acquire a video guide on all the important features of the system since videos are more user-friendly compared to written manuals. In addition, with such trainings or manuals is that you will understand shortcuts that will make your work easier, and you can gain the conferencing facilities by the touch of a button thanks to desktop shortcuts.
Most people who go wrong here tend to ignore the need for such trainings and end up trying to do things the way that makes the most sense to them. Ignorance or lack of training will lead to improper use of the system, and you might never get the full benefits of employing a particular system.
To hold a successful desktop video conferencing, here are points to ponder on:
Prepare adequately for the meeting, a step that will involve settling down behind your computer a few minutes before the meeting begins, and checking whether the system is functional, which is according to Northwestern University Information Technology. At this stage, deal with important details such as; glare, image quality, adequate lighting, and your background.
Conduct a thorough sound and audio check, which will involve making sure that the volume of your computer is not too low to hear what is going on, and not too loud to distract other people. In addition, test your output volume so that you do not have to shout, and always remember to speak facing the microphone.
During the actual conferencing, it is important to identify who you are and where you are from; of course, this will not be necessary if the meeting is between friends. The importance of this identification is for new people to know where to begin with you. Avoid any side conversations that will interfere with the meeting you are having, and try your best not to interrupt the meeting with noises of flipping papers in the background or by creating an echo.