What are the advantages and disadvantages of an online video conference? What conveniences have you gained by using the Internet for your meetings and what disadvantages stemming from giving up face to face with our interlocutors?
Here’s what the advantages and disadvantages of video conferencing is about:
Advantages of Online Video Conference:
Everyone has their own screen to present. Personalized and personal. There is no need to gleam your eyes to see the other person as it may happen in reality when you are too far away from the speaker.
Attention can be total
Whoever presents, who participates and the content shown can create a great engagement. Much more than what you have in a physical meeting. In both cases, the ability to present and communicate information effectively is a quality that comes first of the technology.
If you have it, technology can greatly increase your talent, but if you cannot communicate best, technology will only make it worse this more.
Total privacy
When you make video conference, you have almost total and complete privacy. You can dress as you like, sit as you like, drink, eat, and even smoke if you go. There is enough freedom to do so.
Order in conversation
Although this may be a consequence of being navigated with this type of technology, it is a fact that during an online meeting everything is more orderly.
The same technologies lead you to use the various features one at a time and to “raise your hand” (raising or hand is a feature present in most video conference tools, and gives you the ability to attract the attention of Presenter or others by using an icon or some kind of signal) to take the microphone.
In many situations this aspect is extremely useful and allows you to use ordered communication models and gives each one the opportunity to have an equal space for their own intervention.
Audio quality
You can see and hear each participant at a meeting with the same audio quality. No one is nearer or farther away, as happens in real situations.
It’s as if everyone was sitting next to you.
Take notes. The wealth of notes that can be generated during an online meeting is impressive, structured and much more reusable than you might have at any traditional meeting.
In fact, online meetings generate transcription of the whole chat exchange, meeting audio recording, and many other types of notes.
Everything then can be reused and shared in the original digital format, providing all participants with a huge set of resources and content.
Multiple and parallel communication channels
In a videoconference, I can exchange items with a colleague while the presenter is responding to another. The meeting moderator can distribute files and give private suggestions to each participant, without the other interlocutors being distracted or disturbed.
Identification
While in a physical meeting there are many people you do not know, who have never met before or do not know the name, in every virtual meeting you can easily know the name of everyone and have their photos or biography in one click . Also, as described above, you can contact the person privately without disturbing others.
Extending the meeting over time
After a virtual meeting it is easier to keep in touch with the participants, reach them on their social accounts or contact them by email. In addition, the meeting can virtually continue infinitely on other communication channels that you can continue to feed over time (think of a hashtag on Twitter that monitors the conversation).
Disadvantages of Online Video Conference
Less immediacy
In a virtual meeting, there is less chance of being spontaneous, interrupting someone else, using body language or facial expression to communicate nonverbally.
There are many opportunities to distract
Attention to an online meeting is complete as long as the moderator manages the action agenda and supports content distribution. But if the meeting does not offer clear objectives, it is made up of long, monotonous presentations, and does not offer enough involvement, everything goes quickly.
There is no space for inexperienced presenters and unplanned events
While in a physical event the presence and character of a person can balance their lack of communicative abilities, the world of technology is ruthless and rewards only prepared communicators.
Technological issues
Some of these free video conferencing tools, like ezTalks Cloud Meeting can restrict the fluidity and spontaneity of exchanges, as their use requires great attention and skill from the user. When their use is truly natural and intuitive as saving a file or clicking a link, technology will be what it should be: a facilitator.
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