Virtual meetings and virtual teams have become more
and more popular over the last decade.
According to Julia Young, from Facilitate.com, a
virtual meeting is an event joined by attendees from multiple locations and which
is technology-based. Attendees run the meeting through video platforms from
their desk without travelling. It can be held in real-time or run by
several times due to jet lags of attendees or lack of coordination of their
schedules.
This new kind of corporate meeting is often considered
as time saving and more effective as a virtual meeting tends to be short - it
lasts in general around 90 minutes. When the meeting is planned, it is useful
to determine the level needed for interaction; it will then determine the
technological tools needed for this conference as technology must match
objectives. Technology needs to be easy to use and accessible for all
participants. Over the last decade, it has known some improvements:
better connection speed, high-definition monitors etc. The result: while it
remains very expensive (some video conference rooms cost until £300,000),
technology enables savings in travel budgets, boosts productivity by letting people collaborate with
one another from the comfort of their home offices.
According to CIO.com, several formats of virtual meetings exist
and each of them has its ‘event specialty’:
· Live Meeting: best format for a presentation where one person will speak to a group with occasional
participant questions using SLi.Do for example, i.e. live chats functionalities.
· Group Support System
(GSS): best format for problem solving or decision making where a
team of people will work on a difficulty and come to resolution.
· Collaborative
Document-Building Tools: tools such as
Google Docs are best for a work product execution meeting where a team will
work at developing a deliverable.
Rules of virtual meetings
Some rules for virtual and face-to-face meetings
remain the same. Some key questions have to be answered by the event planner
far ahead: What are the objectives of the meeting (communication, data gathering,
idea brainstorming, problem solving, networking, decision-making etc.) and how is
the event going to reach them? What are the technological tools needed for that
meeting? What are the obstacles likely to occur? How much time do the IT team
and the event planner need to prepare this meeting? Etc.
The audience needs to be kept interested and occupied
all along the event for face-to-face events as well as for virtual ones. Thus,
the event planner needs to vary the possibilities for the audience to
participate and has also to evaluate his event and Return On Investment.
In addition, the event planner still needs to have a
backup plan in case the technology fails.
According to
CIO.com, the ground rules for a virtual meeting might include: to log in at least 15 minutes before the beginning of the meeting due to downloading time, to avoid disturbance and attend the meeting in a quiet place, to avoid multitasking while attending the meeting, and to turn off cell phones, emails and PDAs during the meeting.
The VirtualFinFair
The VirtualFinFair is, for example, made to create a unique customer
experience thanks to the avatars, the virtual booths and even the scenery of the platform. Its
objective was to animate a network of asset managers and finance experts by
launching a professional fair where they can meet during a special day.
 |
| Virtual Finfair 2013 poster (source : http://e-merging.hyperfair.com ) |
During this
event, the company staff has its avatars and appears on the booths to help
visitors. Concerning the communication of the event, the usual strategy is
used with social media posts, website news and invitations were sent along with
a user manual to help future participants.
The fair is
opened from 9AM to 10PM to allow visitors from all over the world to
participate to the event. Exhibitors and visitors can wander in the alleys and
exchange virtual business cards, interact with other participants and attend
live conferences just like a traditional fair. In a few clicks, participants
can download the documentation they are interested in, talk business in live
without leaving their desk. Thanks to special hashtags, they can also express their
feelings about the event on social media and share the experience with their
community.
Advantages and disadvantages of virtual meetings
According to us, there are many advantages for
companies to organize or attend virtual events:
- It is money saving: less HR and investments in venue, transportation & accommodation.
- Time-saving; it reduces travel and time out of the office for participants.
- Boost of productivity.
- It is an innovative product which makes the event more memorable and fun for participants.
- It is more environmental-friendly as only a computer is needed for the event.
- It allows a broader geographical audience as the hours of the event are more flexible than a traditional one.
- There are also more detailed statistics in live time useful for event planners.
- Concerning the disadvantages, we consider:
- Face-to-face meetings preference remains as well as the human dimension.
- Participants tend to be less concentrated in front of their screens in the comfort of their offices.
- There is less control possibilities over participation and success of the event (passive participation).
- This type of meeting does not fit all industries. For example, for the agriculture/food sectors, touching, trying in live and smelling products is essential for purchase.
Finally, technology guru, Corbin Ball declared to Succesful meetings webmagazine: "Webinars and other virtual meetings are great for short information exchange," but "30 to 45 minutes is usually the maximum you can expect someone to pay attention to a webinar while sitting in front of a monitor. Meetings, on the other hand, take people to a more focused environment with fewer distractions. As long as attendees are informed, entertained, and fed, event hosts can keep them engaged for days. The opportunities for networking, brainstorming, and relationship building are usually far greater at face-to-face events than online."
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