Posts
Even Dagwood Bumstead has tried video conferencing!
In Plain English: App Sharing
“App Sharing” is the most commonly used function in web conferencing. But what is it exactly?
Short for “application sharing”, it’s a feature where your web conference participants can see whatever is on your screen. The most common “app” that is shared is the venerable PowerPoint presentation, but don’t feel limited to sharing only PPT slides. If it’s on your screen, you can share it!
That’s what desktop sharing is all about. By selecting the option to share your desktop, your meeting attendees can see whatever you have on your screen- a spreadsheet, a web site, or any job specific program you use. And there’s no need for your participants to have the application installed on their own computers. So don’t worry if you want to show a Visio diagram and no one in your web conference has Visio- no problem! Just “app share” your deskop and go. It’s so powerful and useful, no wonder it’s the most popular web conferencing feature today.
To learn how to app share using any web conferencing provided by PGi, click the links below:
App Share in Microsoft Office Live Meeting
On the minds of PGi Customers: Online meeting tips and tricks
On the minds of PGi Customers: Online meeting tips and tricks
As meeting experts, we want your meeting experiences to be better and more efficient. Recently, we asked our customers what meeting best practices they would want to share with other PGi meeting hosts. We collected a lot of great tips and wanted to share just a few of the best.
Tips for presenters:
• Connect 10 to 15 minutes early to make sure everything is working correctly.
• Turn off your cell phone and office ringer.
• Call in from a landline when you can.
• Use *96 to mute all participants to help control background noise.
• Start on time – otherwise you set a precedent for always waiting for people to join. Don’t wait for late or missing attendees.
• Speak slowly and clearly.
• Stay focused; avoid distractions during the meeting.
• Start by reviewing meeting objectives and desired outcome of the meeting – and enforce it during the call.
• If you are soliciting feedback, it’s better to get it and reserve criticism for later so as not to discourage others from making suggestions.
• Respecting a firm end time that can’t be moved goes a long way with attendees.
• Conclude by thanking people for their time and participation.
• Ensure that after the meeting, you send a follow up email clearly stating action items, decisions made, etc.
Tips for Telecommuters – Part 2
An earlier post on flexible workplace policies reported that arrangements such as job sharing, phased retirement of older workers, and telecommuting can increase the productivity of a company’s workforce and its overall bottom line. I believe this is true when both the employer and employee are careful to set up guidelines. In my most recent post, I talked about having structure with your workspace and hours. Here are a few other things to consider:
Got Kids? They need to go … somewhere. Whether it’s daycare, school or summer camps, kids need to be away during work hours just as if you worked in an on-site office.
Turn a Blind Eye to Personal Messes: Life brings clutter, and like when I used to work in the office, I sometimes end my work day to find the breakfast dishes are still sitting out. They eventually get picked up, so I’ve learned to turn a blind eye during a busy work day.
Have the Communications Essentials: With GlobalMeet and web conferencing, I have everything I need to stay connected to my office peers.
What has helped you work most productively from home? Share your telecommuting tips with me here.
Reasons to Work From Anywhere: I Have a Black Eye
A couple days ago I was waiting in line at my bank when several masked men burst in brandishing automatic rifles and yelling to get down on the floor. That’s when my instincts took over. I immediately disarmed the assailants with a flurry of karate kicks and judo chops, but not before they snuck in a punch and gave me a black eye.
Ok, so that’s not what really happened. I was accidentally knocked in a soccer game. But that doesn’t change the fact that I avoided the office the next day. My colleague, Katherine, did the same thing when she got her shiner a few months ago (Legend has it she was trying to jump a canyon on a moped)…
Luckily we were able to stay productive by working from home using email, IM, and web conferencing tools integrated with audio.Injuries happen every day and make it difficult – sometimes impossible – to get to the office. But with virtual meeting technology you can work from anywhere, anytime, anyplace.
Take two aspirin and join the meeting!
My One and Only Tip For Dealing With Social Networking During Meetings
Do you work with super savvy social networkers that love to share their lives with the world?
10. The Social Networker: The days of meeting notes are changing. Many professionals are Tweeting or Facebooking live from a meeting. Note to self: bad form to tell your social network that a meeting sucks, especially if you have befriended the meeting host!
—-
When you rely on common sense, you’re relying on subjectivity.
As the meeting organizer, you should assume that any content you share during your meeting will make it out into our wonderfully grand World Wide Web. If you want to place boundaries around what can and cannot be shared via social networking, you’d better be clear about it upfront. Otherwise,
everything is game.
Take five minutes in your agenda to set Ground Rules. If there are certain things that can be broadcast but other material should be considered confidential, then create a simple legend to let your audience know what you are comfortable with them sharing.
3 Tips For Using Body Langauge In Your Meetings
In a recent article published on Forbes.com, Nick Morgan talks about “how to win an argument without words” by “overpowering” your subject with body language.
With collaboration comes conflict. But don’t be mistaken – conflict is good. Yes, good. It means people care enough to defend their position. Often conflict arises because the ideas being thrown around are new, bold, and even dangerous – the same ideas that break the mold and make millions.
Too often the loudest voice in the room wins. Rather than let your point get lost in the fray, consider how body language plays a role in your daily meetings and how it can be used to help you get your point across, even in a tough crowd.
Here’s some tips from the article:
1. “Mirror your adversary.” Positioning yourself in a similar stance or gait as your audience allows to build non-verbal agreement.
2. “If they start arguing or disagreeing, align.” Sit or stand directly facing your audience and you’ll be surprised how fast the protest ceases.
3. “Use a hands down gesture to calm.” Hands out, palms up, waist high tells your audience to calm down, especially when alignment fails.
Want to learn more on how to read (and set proper) body language during your meetings? Check out these articles on Forbes.com:
In Plain English: Global Conference Calling Explained
Global conference calling sounds great, and it’s a term you hear often. But what exactly does it mean, anyway? In the USA and Canada, most of us are quite familiar with the regular old conference call- dial a toll or toll free number, enter a passcode, and you’re “good to go.”
When it comes time for someone outside North America to join a conference call, there are several options:
US Toll The global attendee can call the US toll number to join the call. While a common practice, it can be expensive for the caller- especially if he or she is on a mobile phone.
International Dial Out The host of the call can use a feature called “dial out” to call global callers directly at any international number. An advantage of this method is that the host incurs the cost of the call; the global participant just answers the phone.
Local Access Numbers This feature continues to grow exponentially as a cost effective way for participants from all over the world to join calls. Instead of dialing a US Toll number, the participant dials a “local” number to join the call, just like they were dialing a friend across town. Local toll free numbers are often also available. PGi currently offers local access numbers in over 100 places around the world.
Click here to learn more about global conference calling from PGi.
Work from Anywhere: Because I Want to Help My Employer, the Economy and the Environment
According to a report from the Council of Economic Advisers — Work-Life Balance and the Economics of Workplace Flexibility (PDF) — published in March 2010, many companies overlook the benefits of implementing flexible workplace policies for their employees. Flexible workplace arrangements can include job sharing, phased retirement of older workers, and telecommuting. These practices allow workers to continue making productive contributions to the workforce while also attending to family and other responsibilities.
According to the report, flexible workplace policies can be linked to improved recruitment and reduced turnover, increasing the productivity of a company’s workforce and its overall bottom line. These practices are also associated with improved employee health and decreased absenteeism, a major cost for employers. The report suggests that if more firms would adopt these practices, then society as a whole would benefit, in the form of reduced traffic, improved employment outcomes and a more efficient allocation of workers to employers.
I’m lucky to work for a company that embraces these practices, primarily by way of telecommuting, in both the types of products we sell and the human resources policies that have been instituted. I can attest personally that flexible workplace arrangements have made a huge difference in my productivity and happiness as an employee. Does your company have these types of policies and how have they made a difference to you?
