Face-to-Face VS. Video Conference: A Which-to-Choose Checklist
Filed under: OCS 2007, OCS 2007 R2, Unified Communications, Voice over IP
Traffic. The price of gas. No time anyway. Airport security. There’’s lots of reasons why business travel is more irritating than ever. (That last one’’s bad enough!) So it’’s no surprise that we field lots of questions about conferencing systems.
Which always brings up the same question. “Which is better, face-to-face meetings or conferencing?”
By “conferencing” I mean conference calls, video conferencing through systems like OCS, etc. Any system used to bridge the communication gap between you and someone who’’s not close enough for you to knock on their door.
So which IS better? Well, it depends on a few things. Like the person with whom you”re conferencing. Their relationship to you. Where they”re located. And what technology’’s available.
What Types of Meetings Do We Have?
Let’’s start with the types of meeting out there. The “type” is determined by the other person (or group) you meet, and why. This gives us about 5 major meeting types:
- Meetings with Clients. The important meetings, where you and your client hammer out what you”re doing for them. And don”t forget follow-up meetings!
- Meetings with Partners. Setting up/maintaining relationships with partners.
- Internal Department Meetings. Project-based (usually). Planning out who’’s doing what, where.
- Internal Company Meetings. Everybody gathered for announcements or emergencies.
- Vendor/Sales Meetings. When you”re the one buying a product.
Once you know what type of meeting it is, you can determine whether to go face-to-face or conference, right?
Not exactly. There’’s still a few questions to answer. And we resolve those through this Meeting Checklist I”ve compiled. Don”t laugh; if you forget one of these, you could wind up with some serious miscommunication.
The Meeting Checklist
- What type of meeting is it?
Pick from the above choices. - With whom are you talking?
Is this a potential customer? A co-worker? A partner or vendor? - Where are they in relation to you?
Across town, or across a continent? - What time it is there?
The two of you could be in entirely different time zones. Something to check before their phone rings at 2 AM. - What IT do they use?
Would their systems support conferencing, like OCS? Or is a conference call all they can do? - Which is more practical?
Does it make more sense to use video conferencing? Or could you work a face-to-face meeting just as easily?
So, we”re back at the original question. Which is better? Face-to-face meetings, or conferencing?
Before I answer, let me be clear on something. You can use OCS for all of these. Its video conferencing will work for every meeting type, provided the other person(s) has the technology to support it.
But there are times when a face-to-face meeting is just more practical. Yes, even in this ultra-connected day & age.
Use Conferencing Systems (like OCS) For…
If Time is the Issue:
Internal Department Meetings
If Location is the Issue:
Meetings with Partners
Vendor/Sales Meetings
Follow-Up Client Meetings
Stick With Face-to-Face For…
Initial Client Meetings (even if non-local)
Internal Company Meetings
Granted, these options aren”t set in stone. Generally I say, if you can use conferencing systems over face-to-face meetings, do so. If the customer or partner prefers face-to-face though, by all means! The best choice in conferencing medium is always the one both people can use to get things done.
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