What's It All About?
1
Videoconferencing:A Twenty-First Century Business Tool
For many, it was the highlight of the 1964 World's Fair in New York City. People waited in the heat in long lines at the AT&T Pavilion to talk with—and see at the same time—a stranger from another fair location. The Bell Labs' Picturephone was, more or less, successfully demonstrated to the public. People were excited. Many were convinced—or told—the future had arrived.
Videoconferencing had actually been around for decades. It was first demonstrated by Bell Labs technicians who displayed a crude link between Washington, D.C. and New York City in the 1920s. Those in the know hoped this visionary medium would soon realize its potential. It did not. Even after the 1964 World's Fair excitement, videoconferencing failed to have broad usage for another thirty years.
Now at the beginning of the twenty-first century, VC technology has dramatically improved, and bandwidth continues to be more affordable. Futurist and columnist for BizJournals.com, Terry Brock, sees even bigger changes on the horizon: “Telephone lines will go the way of the dinosaur. All communication will eventually go over the Internet, and we will definitely see videoconferencing ease-of-use that equals personal computing today.”[3]
Affordable bandwidth is fueling the demand to be able to see people while talking with them over long distances. Forecasts from the two leading research firms in this field suggest that the worldwide market for virtual services and videoconferencing systems is growing dramatically. Wainhouse Research predicts that worldwide tele-, video-, and Webconferencing services will grow from $2.8 billion in 2000 to $9.8 billion by 2006.[4] Researcher Roopam Jain at Frost and Sullivan projects that worldwide revenues from the sales of group and desktop systems for videoconferencing will grow from $574.3 million to $1.54 billion by 2006.[5]
The demand for VC services is being felt around the world. Videoconferencing systems were first offered in Japan in 1984. Demand for them has grown rapidly ever since, even in a country where time spent together in person is considered essential. In 1988, 250 systems were installed; in 1993, 3000; in 1995, 8800; in 1998, 80,000; and in 2000, 320,000.[6] When charted, the impressive growth curve looks like this.
If these figures hold true, they imply that videoconference equipment and systems will become as common as fax machines. Businesses will be forced to use the technology or look as outdated as companies without fax machines did in the late 1980s.
We attribute this heightened need and interest in videoconferencing to four trends that are turning videoconferencing into a necessary communication tool for business instead of merely a clever way to meet someone virtually. Furthermore, the convergence of these four trends is spurring predictions that upwards of 50 percent of meetings in the next decade will involve some type of video transmission.[7]
Trend 1: Videoconferencing Technology and Quality
Will Continue to Improve While Costs Drop
From its first—and failed—commercial application by Bell Labs in 1964, videoconferencing technology has come a long way. Bob Schiffman, of Kelley Communications in Las Vegas, proudly demonstrates the latest equipment available from Tandberg, considered to be the Rolls Royce of the industry. It is very high quality, and Bob will tell you it is reasonably priced. Tandberg produces a dual-monitor system that can connect to as many as ten remote sites, affording simultaneous video and data presentations. Bob says that software upgrades have significantly enhanced both the speed and quality of Tandberg's product line. In fact, all VC equipment is getting better, and prices have dramatically fallen.
Consider what has happened in VC technology in just the last few years. The majority of VC systems now have “touch-button” capability so they immediately connect to other systems. Prior to this capacity, people had to take several steps in order to connect. Users can now spontaneously add someone to their virtual meetings; they can surf the Web in the middle of their interactions; and they can stream video for all participants to view.
Desktop systems are available that can connect through USB ports, with “plug and play” capacity; that is, the computer will not have to be restarted after connecting. Prior to this development, connecting through one's desktop involved considerable technical expertise and time. As a result of the convenience of plug and play, the phenomenon of personal videoconferencing has dramatically increased.
Recent technology has also significantly increased the quality and “realness” of video images. For example, “3-D” videoconferencing, offered by Dallas-based Teleportec, now takes “virtual reality” to a new level. Teleportec has a product that projects images onto a thick sheet of glass embedded with light-reflecting particles. Users report that the images have a three-dimensional, or holographic, quality that make them more lifelike than a television screen, creating the sense that viewers are in the presence of a live human.
As higher quality videoconferencing equipment is achieved,along with lower prices, the number of users will increase and VC will continue to be easily and unremarkably integrated into the communication devices that managers, supervisors, and frontline workers use daily to conduct business. Videoconferencing is no longer just a means for senior executives to show off their latest electronic tools—as it has been for some companies. For example, Polycom, the largest manufacturer of videoconferencing equipment, sells powerful and affordable equipment with as close to television quality that can be installed in four offices for less than $25,000.
Videoconferencing technology, using a wireless approach (which is currently available and growing in use), will allow users to view and participate inexpensively in conferences, meetings, and press conferences via the Internet from—a remote office, a car, while on a business trip to Shanghai or a vacation, or from a home office—almost anywhere. That is the vision. Furthermore, videoconferencing over the Internet will significantly leverage the investments companies have already made in their information technology (IT) infrastructures.
Trend 2: Controlling Costs and Saving Time
Will Become More Critical in the
Competitive Global Economy
Compared to the cost of sending a team any distance at all, the price of high-quality videoconferences has become very attractive. In fact, some companies are requiring their staff to explain—before scheduling a trip—why a videoconference would not work as well as an in-person meeting. Eighty-eight percent of a group of travel managers surveyed by the National Business Travel Association in late 2001 reported they will increase their use of VC to control travel costs. Compare that percentage to the one in a similar survey by the same association made six months earlier, when just 33 percent said they would use more VC to reduce their travel budgets.[8]
To companies that schedule several meetings each year and whose operations are in multiple locations, vendors of VC systems argue that the cost of the highest-end VC equipment can be earned back in a matter of two years or less. Admittedly, the manufacturers and distributors of VC equipment make a lot of strong statements so it is difficult to determine just how accurate such claims might be. For example, one industry spokesperson stated that just one use of a videoconferencing system could equal the cost of bringing people together!
Live video events, linked by satellite, that match television broadcast standards are expensive—but they are able to reach thousands of people. Prices for satellite conferences range from $5,000 to more than $175,000 per setup. Even prices at this level, however, represent substantial savings when compared to travel and housing costs for thousands of people. These video events can also reach huge audiences in multiple cities who otherwise would not attend. Major conferences of this type can now also be conducted over ISDN (integrated services digital network) lines with substantially lower costs. Janelle recently spoke to an audience in Ljubljana, Slovenia, while four ISDN lines beautifully carried her entire six-hour workshop to another group assembled in Skopia, Macedonia, who watched her on a gigantic screen. During that entire period, connection to the remote site was lost only once and was quickly reestablished.
A major selling point of VC technology for many companies is not so much cost savings as time savings. Because videoconferences tend to be more structured, meeting time may be more efficiently spent compared to meeting in person. When a product helps organizations complete work significantly faster than before, cost is automatically less important and the product is almost guaranteed to become widely used.
The authors, all frequent flyers, regularly overhear businesspeople moan about productive time and family time lost to travel. For example, on a flight from Los Angeles to Seattle, Lewis Barlow heard a salesman from Rhinotek Computer Products calculating that with flying time, check-in, security, and travel to and from the airport, the trip ate up a full eight hours—all for a half-hour meeting.
And every “road warrior” has his or her own disaster stories of wasted time. Darr Fedderson, a well-respected business executive, laments, “When I worked as the national accounts manager for Rustoleum Paint, a colleague and I flew from Portland to Texas, with a plane change in Denver. When we arrived at Garden Ridge's office, the key decision maker was absent because of a family emergency that took place while we were traveling.” Fedderson and his colleague had to make the same trip the following week. If a videoconference had been scheduled and canceled, the time wasted would have been minimal.
We have flown across the United States (losing a day in the process) and stayed overnight to participate in an hour-long sales meeting the following morning—in a jet-lagged state of mind. We then spent an equal amount of time returning home. Granted, these can be necessary and very lucrative meetings, but that is a heavy investment of time in order to participate in a one-hour meeting, and not all of these meetings need to be conducted in person.
Time and costs can be saved in other ways—only limited by one's imagination. People who locate products for distributors around the world can connect with customers via VC and show their products immediately instead of shipping samples. Individuals can show, buy, and sell used automobiles to distant buyers via videoconferences. Decisions can be made more quickly, and products get to stores and customers faster. This means time can be saved and productivity is increased.
Trend 3: Businesspeople Will Develop
More Flexibility in Their Use of
Communication Technologies
Long-distance communication has expanded dramatically since smoke signals and carrier pigeons. Now most competent businesspeople know how and when to use e-mail, faxes, PDF (portable document format) and graphic files, hard-copy letters, mass mailings, voice mail, cellular telephones, and person-to-person meetings. Most salespeople, for example, know when to pick up the telephone and talk with a customer, when to send an e-mail, and when a personal visit is necessary.
Videoconferencing enables businesspeople to contact more clients and colleagues in a shorter period of time. For example, a manager might be aware of two or three important meetings in locations across a wide geographical area that the manager could add value to by attending. Videoconferencing would make these multiple meetings in multiple locations possible in one day.
Videoconferencing also allows people to communicate with each other in a way that is perceived to be more connected than a simple telephone call. For example, the authors attempted to sell our consulting services to a software company. We knew that just talking over the telephone would not lead to the kind of business relationship we wanted. At the same time, we knew we did not have a good enough relationship with the company to request an in-person meeting. We proposed a meeting using VC. The human resources (HR) director agreed. Being able to see each other on-screen allows people to become more familiar and comfortable with each other, leading to business that would probably never happen without the use of VC as one of the tools in the communication arsenal.
As more people become comfortable with videoconferencing and know how to maximize their time in virtual environments, requests for videoconferences instead of in-person meetings will become commonplace. Salespeople will not automatically be expected to travel thousands of miles in order to have a chance at getting an order. In our own training and consulting business, we now hear with increasing frequency from our large corporate clients, “Shall we videoconference about that?”
Business customers are becoming more guarded with their time as their workloads increase. Various studies already show that many customers prefer immediate access to their vendors over in-person contact. In other words, they will accept a videoconference in place of an in-person meeting—if they can schedule it right away.
Research conducted by a major consulting firm shows that, since 1970, business customers have shifted dramatically in what they say is necessary to complete a deal. Being able to have face-to-face contact with a company representative was the number one factor that companies specified in 1970. By 1990, however, this factor dropped dramatically—to eighth place![9]
Companies need to evaluate the impact of videoconferencing on their customer relationships. Videoconferencing may give organizations, even small ones, a new and less time-consuming more reasonably priced way of reaching out to memorably touch their customers. Any kind of meeting that allows people to see each other, even if it is not in person, can be a strong pull for repeat business.
Trend 4: Protecting the Environment and
Conserving Resources Will Become
Even More Important Considerations
Although environmentalism is now a minor factor pushing the demand for VC, it appears to be a growing one and is already important for environmentally conscious organizations. A majority of the population now believes that global warming is more than speculation and is concerned about it. In addition, an increasing percentage of people have a heightened sensitivity to their own impact on the environment. They will choose alternatives in order to avoid adding more pollutants to the environment.
Even if they are not avid conservationists, many organizations try not to waste precious fuel sources and pollute the atmosphere. Companies today recycle paper, aluminum cans, and bottles. They have accepted the ban on smoking indoors. And they often reason that a videoconference is less damaging to the environment than moving dozens of people around in airplanes and cars.
When socially conscious individuals see the strong links between saving time and costs and helping to protect the environment, this trend will be one more consideration that is factored into the decision whether to hold a person-to-person meeting or to schedule a video-conference.
Videoconferencing at the Tipping Point
These four trends are creating a “tipping point,” to use the term popularized in the book by the same name.[10] A tipping point, as described by author Malcolm Gladwell, is a phenomenon that occurs when a critical mass is achieved. When a social practice has “tipped,” it actually drives its own expansion. Because videoconferencing is on the brink of this critical mass point, businesspeople, need to be ready for a complete integration of VC into their lives.
While it is tempting to focus on the technology of videoconferencing, we will better leverage our time spent in virtual meetings if we take a people-centered approach to this newest communication equipment and focus on the new habits needed to take advantage of it.
2
Why New Habits Are Needed
We have come a long way from simply being excited about seeing people who are far away while talking with them to turning the technology into a necessary business communication tool.
Without developing the best habits, however, it is possible—even likely—we will completely misuse this visual medium, look awful, and be perceived in a negative way. And because videoconferences are easily recorded, any mishaps can be watched hundreds of times.
Jay Koenigsberg, founder and CEO of Vexcorp, Inc., a private IP (Internet protocol) network of videoconference services, has set up a network of branch locations across the United States. Jay points out, “The videoconferencing experience is either good or bad. There are no in-betweens.”[11] In addition to providing centralized scheduling, and top-notch easy-to-use VC equipment, Vexcorp adds value by paying attention to what Koenigsberg calls the “total videoconference experience.” Vexcorp has experimented with paint colors on his studio walls and settled on a deep blue that is best projected across the public Internet. Chairs do not rock or swivel. Lighting is soft. All of the locations have their city site listed with the Vexcorp logo. This enables participants to easily identify the location of each speaker. These are small details, but they matter. Koenigsberg describes one of his competitors who set up a VC studio in a strip mall next to a Virginia beach. Everyone could see people walking by in bathing suits through the glass window positioned directly in the camera's view.
Unique Aspects of Videoconferencing
Videoconferencing shares one salient characteristic with public relations, television broadcasting, and public speaking: good habits increase a person's effectiveness in front of an audience. And developing these habits to a point where you do not have to think about them can make the difference between success or failure.
Historians have noted that military officers tend to fight current wars as if they were still engaged in their previous battles. Likewise, most of us use the latest technology as if it were a mere extension of a previous medium. If we assume that videoconferences are merely regular meetings transmitted by video, we will be like those military generals who failed to appreciate the full applications of tanks and airplanes in warfare. We will underutilize VC and fail to appreciate the damage a poorly run video meeting can do to individuals and teams.
We all know that people have many bad face-to-face meeting habits. They waste time. They do not take advantage of the opportunities that a group of people can create in real space together. In face-to-face meetings, people interrupt each other; that can create chaos in a videoconference. People display negative body language—body language that will be amplified in a videoconference and recorded on tape for repeated viewing. People come unprepared to regular meetings, a practice that is more visible during a videoconference. The mere introduction of a camera makes any videoconference meeting more formal than an in-person meeting. Any problems that exist with regular meetings will be highlighted with VC. In addition, an entirely new set of problems will occur. As a result, more discipline is required to make virtual meetings effective.
Videoconferences also require structure especially when multiple sites are involved. If decision making in your organization primarily occurs during side conversations or in the hallways at meeting breaks, do not expect that to happen in videoconferences. Videoconferences may speed up decision making, but this can work against you because speed can result in the failure of all parties to accept the decision and therefore actually slow down implementation.
While several people can see each other during a videoconference, only one person at a time can hold forth or people will end up electronically talking over each other. In addition, if the system has a voice-activated camera that focuses on the speaker, interruptions can create chaotic movement as the camera jumps from one person to the next. When someone stops talking, a three-second delay may occur before the next person's remarks are activated. This slows the broadcast down. As a result, people need to follow a fairly orderly process or visual and auditory elements can be disruptive. To minimize the interruption problem, some videoconferences assign a person to control the switcher (an electronic device that allows only one person to be broadcast at a time).
People talking over each other commonly happens during any type of meeting. We are able to mentally sort out this very human style of communication when we are all in the same room together. The challenge is to manage this style virtually across multiple and distant sites.
Most in-person meetings also do not get recorded; a videoconference is easily captured. When together, people can readily see who else is in a room; one cannot assume that everyone in the room is visible on camera during a videoconference.
People and their organizations need to view videoconferences as a unique form of communication. Aspects of VC need to be determined by the culture of the organization, the sophistication of the equipment available, and the reasons why the virtual meeting has been scheduled in place of an in-person meeting.
Videoconferencing is not as reliable a form of communication as the telephone, at least at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The telephone nearly always works—even for teleconferences set up at multiple sites. However, it is not uncommon for VC sessions to be disconnected or run into other technical problems. Fortunately, once a conference is disconnected, it is fairly easy to start it up again. Virtual meetings require patience, which most of us do not possess, accustomed as we are to the stability of wired telephone connections.
Demonstrations of desktop VC equipment at videoconferencing shows almost always look better than real usage. We have heard the complaint, “Try connecting it to a real network,” from everyone except people who sell the technology. VC experts also emphasize that low-end (in other words, more affordable) technology simply does not match the consumer's expectations of VC's capacity.
While we cannot specifically predict how VC will eventually develop, we will point you in the right direction as you use the medium. We will help you think about and begin to develop habits that may make the difference between advancing your career and putting the brakes on it. It is probably a good idea to get off on the right foot with new habits—when you are on camera!
You're on Television—Act Like It
In many ways, videoconferencing is similar to much of today's broadcast journalism. CNBC financial shows, with their informality, resemble what an in-house conference might look like. And CNN's Town Meeting show, complete with e-mails sent in for a moderator to respond to, are close to what we can expect many in-house videoconference events to be like in the future.
While we may excuse business virtual meetings that are not quite up to CNN standards, we still have high expectations for anything that is on video. Virtual meetings that look as if someone put a stationary video camera in front of a group of people and set the lens at wide angle will be unacceptable. People who could not attend the meeting and are expected to watch such a video record will be very unhappy—and very bored.
This resemblance to television scares many people about VC. They feel exposed and they do not know how to match television standards. After all, others—who are not in the room with them—are watching them and possibly making negative side comments! By comparison, people on television business channels have had years of experience in developing habits to look professional. Television broadcasters know how to keep the viewers' interest; they shift frames, run multiple pictures simultaneously, and talk in sound bites. Videoconferences are interactive—unlike television programs. They use conversation to work ideas, consider pros and cons, and gain support. They do not engage in these activities to entertain or attract a larger audience. While content is extremely critical in a business virtual meeting, it is easy to overlook the fact that the way the content “looks” can be equally important.
In one sense, being on television is easier than participating in a videoconference. Because broadcast cameras keep shifting frames and focus, no one is on camera all the time. However, in a videoconference when the camera lens is set at wide angle to include a group of people seated around the table, no one is ever off camera. In face-to-face meetings, we have the opportunity to scratch our heads, yawn, or stretch while colleagues focus on the person who is speaking. In a television studio interview, you are also blessed with commercial breaks. Videoconferencing, when you are never out of view, can be exhausting.
When tape recorders were introduced to the public, people squealed, “I don't sound like that!” when they first heard their voices played back to them. Today most of us are quite used to the sound of our voices on tape. Now you can hear people say the same thing, in effect, when they watch themselves on video: “I don't look like that” or “I hate my hair” or “That shirt looks horrible” or “Do I really look like that?” It's going to take us a while to become comfortable with seeing our images regularly projected back to us. And some of us may never like it!
Eventually, businesspeople have more or less learned how to adjust to all types of electronic communication gadgetry even though they certainly do not use all the tools to their maximum. Each type of new communication medium both generates and requires different habits. Voice mail, for example, required new habits—and some people still resist it and leave low-quality or unusable messages. Some of us excel at one medium over another, but we are all expected to have a minimal level of expertise with all means of communication and not to squeal like a teenager as we resist the medium.
Consider what would happen if you refused to use e-mail because you have difficulty writing your thoughts coherently in a rapid-message format. Although some senior-level executives get away with this because they have staff support, if they were just beginning their careers today they would never make it to the executive suite without using e-mail.
Some people do not like communicating by telephone, but in business you have no choice but to learn good telephone skills. Likewise, it does little good to complain about voice mail. You are going to run into it, so you need to know how to leave a succinct, appropriate message. Disliking cellular telephones is no excuse not to use them today. And if you refuse to deal with telephone “menus,” you will never be able to get through to most organizations.
You had better have some degree of computer literacy in today's world as well. A decade ago some people would proudly raise their hands when asked who did not use a computer. Today, almost everyone (except for the very elderly) is too embarrassed to acknowledge an inability to use computer technology. You are expected to know how to download or upload documents, send graphic images, work a spreadsheet, and understand hundreds of acronyms.
VC is placing the same demands on businesspeople. A few years ago, few people would raise their hands in assent when asked whether they had ever participated in a videoconference. Now almost everyone indicates they have participated in a videoconference of some sort—or at least they are too embarrassed to acknowledge they have not.
3
Limitations of Videoconferences
No one believes or even suggests that videoconferences will replace face-to-face meetings. In fact, some people even doubt that this medium will be as widely accepted as we may first think. Their voices need to be heard in order for us to understand exactly how videoconferencing can add value to the mix of communication tools we currently use. The negative viewpoints will help us to think more clearly about maximizing the effective use of videoconferencing.
A common point of view is that videoconferencing will add value by supplementing telephone and written communication when more human connectivity is desired or required and in-person meetings are not possible or are too time consuming or expensive. Videoconferencing will sit between telephone and in-person meetings as another communication tool available to businesspeople.
Chuck House with Intel, for example, suggests that substituting a videoconference for an in-person meeting might be worse than skipping some meetings altogether. “Consistent remote attendance heightens frustration, builds alienation, and serves to segregate more often than integrate the remote attendee.”[12] House's point is worth considering.
Several VC commentators agree with House's sentiment. They say it is difficult enough to know what is going on inside the heads of other people when you are with them. When you are watching a small, flat small image of someone, it is even more challenging. While videoconferencing attempts to create the impression that you are in the same room meeting face-to-face, you definitely are not. You cannot really look people in the eye. This is particularly true when dealing with a twenty-inch monitor with a screen split to view three or four locations. Details of faces are very difficult to see under these circumstances. As a result, we have to use the medium carefully instead of pretending it is something that it is not.
Electronic communication will always be different from person-to-person meetings. You cannot electronically transmit a handshake. Neither can you physically pat someone's back in a videoconference. You cannot transmit video images of everything that is happening in a group of people. You only see what the camera wants you to see.
Human communication is highly complex. And the transmission of images, whether across ISDN, DSL (digital subscriber line), or T-lines (high bandwidth lines used for videoconferencing), does not equal the real thing. Smells, the feel of another person's handshake, the opportunity to see the entire person with one glance, the ability to see the texture of the clothing the other person is wearing, body movements—all these contribute to our understanding of another human being.
This is why people frequently say that television never conveys the entire picture. The public heard that very phrase repeatedly after September 11, 2001, from visitors to Ground Zero, site of the World Trade Center twin towers. Apparently no television image (with the highest quality transmission links and the best cameras) came close to duplicating the experience of standing on the spot and viewing the extent of the destruction. Only by walking the entire perimeter of Ground Zero was one fully able to grasp the scale of destruction.
If you encounter someone in real life who is familiar from television, it sometimes takes a moment to be sure that the television image and the live human being are the same person. One of the authors recalls seeing former senator Bob Dole at a Washington, D.C., airport shortly after his defeat by Bill Clinton in the 1996 U.S. presidential election. Clearly, it was Bob Dole. But seeing him in person after viewing him for hours on national television was in no way the same experience.
In the same way, we have participated in videoconferences with individuals we had not yet met in person. In every case, we all agreed that we would probably not recognize these people if we saw them on the street amidst a crowd—especially if any time had passed.
This is because television is not three-dimensional. It distorts images. It provides incomplete visual fields. The colors are slightly off. Sometimes we only see head shots. Hand gestures may be unviewable. A video image is a pretty good facsimile, but it is not the real thing.
And make no mistake about it, videoconferences transmitted through ISDN or IP (Internet Protocol) lines, for example, while getting better all the time, do not provide the same crisp images afforded by a satellite link that beams regular television programming into our homes. And those images are where our expectations have been benchmarked. You can easily compare regular television cameras and Web cameras by watching CNN where, in a pinch, broadcasters will use a Web camera. The Web camera image is jerky, the voice and picture are frequently out of synch, and a noticeable time delay occurs between the anchor's question and the answer. The person on Web camera is waiting to hear what was said, and that delay lets us know this is not a normal television satellite link.
Communication Subtleties
Humans need the whole picture to assess reality. With a television image, we always wonder what is happening behind the camera. That is where we believe the real action takes places. We know that the picture transmitted on a screen does not show us everything. We only see television anchors dressed professionally—from the waist up. The anchor could be sitting with bare feet immersed in a pail of cold water to counteract the heat from the camera lights. (While Peta was anchor of an Australian television show, she witnessed this many times.) If we could see those feet in a bucket of water, we would have a very different impression of the television host.
It can be difficult to make important decisions without that up-close view. Business decisions are frequently made based on subtle gestures, a nod, or a grimace. When several people are in a room together, the interactions they have with each other all help the participants make up their minds about how to proceed. Two people glancing at each other at a pivotal point in a meeting can result in a decision to continue the discussion, a suggestion to pursue a particular point, or a contract—or not. These sorts of subtleties can be difficult to capture electronically in a virtual meeting.
Yet when you read current magazine and newspaper articles reviewing videoconference meetings, you are left with the impression that most people like them. Actually, liking it is never discussed. The assumption in these articles is that a meeting held in cyberspace was a success simply because it took place.
We question this. Janelle had an opportunity to participate in a client meeting that had live links to field offices in Latin America and other parts of the United States. A newspaper review of the event might have reported that a successful videoconference was held. We read about these “successful” videoconferences all the time.
From Janelle's perspective, the meeting, while technologically excellent, was a waste of time and money. No one felt engaged with the distant groups. The home office felt compelled to invite the people from the field offices to make comments so the group could feel as if everyone was participating. All the participation from remote sites did was slow down the entire flow and structure of the meeting. The first few connections to remote sites were interesting, but people in the local audience rapidly grew tired of them. Boredom settled over the group. Regrettably, we have heard this tale of boredom with VC repeated dozens of time.
Janelle participates in annual two-day planning retreats for the board of the National Speakers Association. These meetings could never achieve the same results they do using VC. Too much interactive communication is required to discuss the issues the board needs to address. Would VC be less expensive? Yes. Would it be as effective? It is extremely doubtful. Would it be the same as an in-person meeting? Definitely not.
In certain ways, telephone conversations and e-mail can be more intimate than a videoconference ever will be. The more information we have, the less the imagination is engaged. Think about the sound of someone's voice right in your ear. It is an intimate connection. You can hear the person's intonation and breathing across the telephone lines—even on wireless connections. It can be thrilling, even arousing. A teleconference enables an entire group to precisely hear each other's intensity, moods, and even health. That does not happen during a videoconference, in part because VC sound systems are normally not placed against the ear.
Even e-mail can be more intimate than videoconferencing. Two people sending instant messages back and forth or writing to each other in a chat room can create a sense of intimacy with words that the flat image of video misses.
If you want to watch up-close action at a football game, avoid sitting outdoors in the cold, and save a lot of money, then watching the game on television is a good choice. But to have an experience of the crowd, the excitement, the smell and taste of stadium hot dogs, you have to be in the stadium—even if you are sitting in the very top section of the stadium. In the same way, try celebrating Thanksgiving dinner with a videoconference. Or attempt to get a child to bond with you over video.
The news media used to comment on the “virtual dates” Bill Gates (before he married Melinda French) had with Ann Winblad, Silicon Valley's leading venture capitalist. Gates and Winblad would go to the same movie in different cities and then talk about the experience on their cellular telephones as they were driving home. Media commentators never knew quite what to say about these dates, as most people want a bit more contact than this on their dates. The media used the story to suggest that the very notion of “virtual” has changed us in subtle ways.
Human Bandwidth
John Perry Barlow, digital expert and cofounder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, believes that the more interaction people have with virtual technologies, the more they will seek real interactions. Barlow says, “We know that there is no human condition with fatter bandwidth than face to face. We know that the more interaction people have virtually, the more inclined they are to seek face-to-face contact. It's a natural human instinct, to climb the spectrum of bandwidth.”[13] In short, videoconferencing could do for face-to-face meetings what computers did for paper.
The promised paperless office never happened. All the computer did, with the help of prolific Hewlett-Packard (HP) printers, was to create more opportunities for people to quickly print out reams of material. In its own research, HP found that people do not feel they “own” a document on their computer screens until they hold a hard copy of it in their hands. Similarly, reading virtual books has nowhere near the appeal of reading a “real” book. It is hard to curl up with a PDA.
The frustration of the desire for in-person contact, erupting from what looks to be a guaranteed increase in videoconference meetings, may ultimately cause an increase in our desire to connect with each other in person. In short, limited communication breeds the desire for more complete communication. Virtual meetings may replace specific in-person meetings, but perhaps as some meetings are videoconferenced, even more face-to-face meetings will be scheduled.
Consider global teams. David Lewin, professor of management at the University of California, Los Angeles, suggests that up to 50 percent of global teams fail primarily because they do not have the opportunity to be with each other in person, where they can establish trust and learn each other's working styles.[14]
One of our Italian colleagues tells us about a very upset local client with whom she works. The American part of the team, located in California, calls the Italians when it is 8 P.M.—or later—Italian time. The Americans, who have not met the Italians in person, do not understand why their counterparts are not more enthusiastic during the videoconferences. Also, the meetings are held in English, which is normally difficult for the Italians, and speaking in a foreign language at 8 P.M. is even more challenging.
The Americans refer to the colors on the charts they are transmitting, even though they shaved the Italian budgets so the Italian team does not have the necessary electronic equipment to see the same colors. If the team had been established in person and these people knew each other personally before they began videoconferencing, more of the added value of VC might be easier to realize.
Senior-level businesspeople understand the need to have in-person time with people to find out who they are. They play golf with peers, spending hours with each other on the links, during which time many business deals are concluded. If this type of interaction is necessary for senior-level people to make good decisions, why should not the same thing be true for a junior-level person who works on an international product development team?
Putting people within video viewing range of each other spans distance. It does not tell people how much they can trust each other. Nor does a videoconference tell people much about their working styles. To realize the added value that VC can surely create, organizations must learn for what purposes they can most appropriately use VC. They also must know when they need to schedule face-to-face meetings.
Videoconferencing As a Complementary Service
Understanding the limitations of videoconferences enables us to now look at the value they can add. At times the nature of a discussion demands more human connection than a telephone call affords, but no opportunity exists to travel and meet in person. For example, in the authors' business we frequently like to converse with our trainers after they have completed a training program. We cannot meet in person, and the telephone is too remote. We would like that trainer out in a distant location, sitting in a hotel room, to feel connected to us and our home office. While not perfect, a videoconference call would be better than the alternatives. Ann Godi, president of Benchmarc Meetings and Incentives, argues that videoconferences will supplement telephone calls and teleconferences, while not eliminating face-to-face meetings. “I don't think face-to-face meetings are going anywhere. The more technology driven our industry is, the stronger the human need for meeting face to face,” she says. At the same time, when used strategically, VC technology—because of the way it engages our vision—can take us closer to human connectivity than anything else.[15]
By understanding how to work with the limitations of videoconferences (a limited format when compared to one person meeting another person, face to face, handshake to handshake, in real space), you will be able to more appropriately and effectively use VC. The tragedy will be if we expect videoconferencing to accomplish the same tasks as in-person meetings. If so, we may dismiss this incredible medium by making demands of it that were never possible, and at the same time ignore some of the grand possibilities that are inherent in being able to push a button and see, in shared visual space, someone we are talking with who is hundreds or even thousands of miles away.
The three authors met with one of the companies that has a network of videoconferencing studios across the United States. We first met by telephone, and then by videoconference. This CEO—with a nearly infinite ability to videoconference—then suggested we meet in person!
The progression of communication was natural. The initial telephone conversation provided both parties with sufficient information about each other to know that we wanted more communication than a telephone call. Meeting in person would have been too precipitous. Videoconferencing became the next logical step. Both groups “passed the VC test,” which made us suggest a face-to-face meeting. At the in-person meeting the dialogue was sufficiently in-depth so that we could clearly see where our relationship was headed.
We like a statement by Hugh Scrimgour, chief operating officer of Expocentric.com: “By no means do our services claim to be a substitute for the real thing. They are aimed at being a complementary service. But . . . they can be highly supportive as a way of keeping business communities together.”[16]
