When to Use Web Conferencing

Many times a web conference can increase efficiency

Many organizations are choosing to cut their meeting and conferencing budgets in favor of meeting online, or web conferencing. This not only helps companies save money but also helps with their carbon footprint as there is no need for employees to travel anywhere to attend or host a web conference. While web conferences are often productive and useful, they can't always replace face-to-face meetings.

To help you decide when it is most effective to hold a web conference, I've compiled a list of some of the most common occasions when a web conference might be suitable.

1. When making a presentation

Presentations don't need to be in person to be effective, as online presentations can be just as useful for helping you get your point across. The key to a good presentation via a web conference is a host who knows how to use his web conferencing tool to his advantage. This means that if screen sharing is available, the host will prepare compelling materials to share with the participants. A good web conferencing presentation will also make use of tools such as polls that help engage the audience.

2. For an initial job interview

Many times it's unnecessary to have a job candidate go over to your office for an initial job interview, as this can easily be done via a web conference. This helps the company save time and money when recruiting, particularly when regularly recruiting

candidates from another state or country. Web conferences are great for putting job candidates in a virtual boardroom setting, so interviewers can get a realistic feel of how candidates will react when being met face-to-face. Interviews can also easily be carried out for remote posts via the Internet. One great advantage of a web conference for a job interview is that by using the web conference tool's online collaboration capabilities, it's easy to send candidates test tasks that can be completed during the interview.

3. For team-building

It’s increasingly common for companies to have employees in different states or even countries, and many times, team members come from all over the world. This means that getting to know your colleagues can be challenging as companies usually have very little budget to allow employees to travel for team-building purposes alone. By web conferencing, you can get to know your dispersed colleagues even sitting in one of the best rooftop bars in New York, and work with them as if they were right in your office. This can improve relationships within your team, as it’s much easier to work with someone you know and speak to regularly.

4. When hosting a routine meeting

If you’re constantly having to travel for routine meetings such as monthly goal-setting conferences, for example, you could opt to have them online, in the form of a web conference. You can still speak to your colleagues in real-time (and even face-to-face if you’re using a video conferencing tool). Productivity could increase, as there is no travel time and people can meet from the comfort of their desks. The meeting may also be more efficient, as online meetings tend to be quicker than face-to-face ones. This means that you could have more time in your workday for working on the meeting's actions, or for completing other projects.

5. For working collaboratively

Even if you have a whiteboard and a projector, working collaboratively from your boardroom could prove to be a challenge. This is because, with a single computer, team members can’t work on a document simultaneously. So if you want to increase the speed at which you work on documents, consider hosting a web conference. A web conferencing system that has online collaboration capabilities is essential. By using such a system, you’re able to meet with your team members from anywhere as if you were right in the boardroom, all while collaborating on documents together.