The benefits of Skype and conference calls in meetings

When your business includes staff who work away from the office – either mobile or at home – or who are based at several different locations, video conferencing is an excellent way of combating a lack of interaction.

When you run a business where frequent meetings are essential, it’s easy for employees based away from head office (even if they are in other parts of the world) to feel they are missing out. If information is relayed to them after the event, they’re unlikely to feel their finger on the pulse and they are also unable to contribute their points of view in real time.

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Using Skype and conference calls means you can meet people all over the world every day, or even several times a day if necessary. Thus, business can move faster – which a vital consideration in today’s competitive climate, with everyone collaborating in real time and moving forward together.

If you have an urgent meeting, you can include employees from other areas at short notice simply by scheduling a video conference. Those who are on a tight schedule don’t have to make travel arrangements.

Communicating via a video link is the closest thing to meeting someone in person and is significantly better than communicating by email. By seeing others (and being seen yourself), you can gauge people’s body language and expressions as you would if you were in the same room. This can be so important in business meetings, as it can change the nature of the conversation. Good or bad, you can appraise the visible signals and modify your responses accordingly, as you would in person.

With video conferencing, you can also carry out visible demonstrations that all attendees can see – both in person in the meeting room and from remote locations. You can write on a board and everyone will be able to see it, you can demonstrate a new product, or you could even introduce a new employee.

Video conferencing is a useful way of sharing knowledge and enabling interaction, even for those who aren’t present in person at the meeting. Using multimedia facilities, such as online interactive whiteboards and online collaboration tools, enhances the overall experience for all delegates.

There are different types of Skype that are suitable for various sizes of business. The regular Skype that is used at home is adequate for small businesses of up to 20 employees. However, you will need Skype for Business if you’re running a larger organisation.

This is the Rolls Royce of Skype, that will allow you to invite up to 250 people online to your meeting. It also offers enterprise-grade security and is integrated into Office apps. It has cross-platform support, allowing users to connect with employees anywhere on Windows, Android, iOS and Mac, in browsers and via IP phones.

Using Skype and conference calls to help organise your meetings will enhance communication and therefore productivity. It can make communicating with employees, business stakeholders, partners, suppliers and customers a seamless experience.

Using authentication prevents employees from sharing resources with other people outside your organisation, so that only devices approved by the company can be connected.

When you need the best venue for your business conferences, &Meetings specialises in fully-equipped meeting rooms in London.