5 Advantages of Online Meetings

Whether we like them or not, meetings are an essential activity of business life. It does not matter if you are a one-man/woman operation or work in a conglomerate, meetings with suppliers, colleagues, subordinates, and/or superiors are required.

In the old days, there were two ways to meet: Face-to-face or over the phone. Then there was video conferencing, but the other ways were still more practical, because they were far less expensive. Nowadays, however, thanks to technology, all one needs is a computer and access to the Internet to conduct an online meeting.

Online meetings have several advantages over the traditional methods.

1. Online meetings can be conducted with little advanced notice since the participants do not need to leave their workstations to meet.

2. Online meetings are cost-effective: You don’t have to reserve or prepare a meeting room. Neither you nor your participants need to travel outside of your office, thus no money is spent in order for the participants to attend the meeting.

3. Today’s online meeting vendors have powerful tools that enhance real time collaboration among the participants. For instance, you can transfer keyboard and mouse control to a participant to allow her/him to fully explain their points and call up documents as needed to assist in explanations. Participants are also equipped with chat facilities so that they can communicate with the other participants without disrupting the proceedings of the meeting.

4. Powerful moderator tools allow you to completely control the meeting. For example, mute functions can prevent hard charging participants from unnecessarily butting in on the discussion. As any facilitator knows, face-to-face meeting moderation is not so easily accomplished.

5. It is easy to record the meeting’s proceedings for future review, playback, and broadcast. There is no need for special recording and reproduction equipment.