I HATE having to travel for meetings. I do not like travelling by car for further than about 200 km and even though I often have to fly I really have an everlasting fear of flying. Well, actually, I do not have a fear of flying, I am more afraid of the crashing.
Not only is there the fact that I do not like to travel for meetings I also believe that the cost involved and also the risk on our roads outweigh the importance of most meetings. I serve on a number of national committees and the past few months many of them have adopted online conferencing and meeting applications. At first it was a strange experience as it was quite different from having a conversation with someone on Skype. It was also quite a bit more effective and pleasant than having a telephone conference.
On the screen you have a chat window, buttons to show if you agree or disagree, if you are happy or sad and also a door button for if you were to step away from the computer for a moment. One of the best features is that you can also have a presentation running in one of the compartments of the screen.
There are a number of these applications available online and the prices vary considerably. Larger companies or organisations would probably go for a product like Eluminate and it is a brilliant product. If, however, you are a small business owner and you need to have meetings with customers, give a sales pitch or demonstrate how to use a product I would recommend www.gotomeeting.com which has a very affordable product which I highly recommend. They have a number of products in this range which could save you thousands on travel and also accommodation.
