The Value Of Virtual Meetings Meet with clients from the comfort of your home office via the Internet.
By Julia Miller
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Considering wasting two days flying to attend a two-hour meetingwith a prospect who might not pan out? Perish the thought. Today,several companies specialize in putting together cyber conferences,thus eliminating the hassle and expense of travel and allowing youto meet with customers, prospects or colleagues from the comfort ofyour home office.
In many cases, with only a phone and 28.8K Internet connection,you can make your marketing efforts more immediate with interactivemeetings that range from one-on-one client presentations tointimate peer pow-wows. You can also integrate all types of media,including PowerPoint slides, streaming audio and video, and livedemonstrations. Web conferencing companies like WebEx, PlaceWare and Contigo all offer either free oraffordable virtual small-meeting space. Both PlaceWare's MyPlaceware and WebEx's Free Meetings software are free for smallgroups of up to five people. Contigo's i2i Meetings softwarecosts $2,799 for meetings with up to 10 people but includesunlimited usage during a specified period of time.
"Because multitasking is so crucial today, there's anincreasing demand to hold meetings that don't requireparticipants to be physically present," said Barry JamesFolsom, president and CEO of PlaceWare. "Web conferencingmakes virtual meetings an affordable reality."
It also makes meetings a more convenient reality. Besides beingable to grab lunch and chat with customers (and maybe even feed thedog if you're an expert multitasker) at the same time, virtualmeetings also eliminate geographical boundaries. This means ifyou're a globally-minded entrepreneur, you can still talk inreal time-albeit at some strange hours-with a customer in Europe orAsia. Check out the aforementioned Web sites for free demos.
