Web Conferencing to Beat the Recession!

While air travel may be at its lowest rates in more than a decade, finding a conference centre for your company's next convention may still require you take advantage of these price cuts, unless you can come up with another affordable way to get everyone together.

As the person in charge of gathering the company's staff from different corners of the country, you've got to be asking yourself how you will to get them to a single conference centre and keep company expenses at a minimum. The logical answer is that you need everyone in the same place so that identical information can be disseminated at the same time. However, the additional cost of accommodating people in hotels, providing food and entertainment and other incidentals that go along with coordinating a big meeting might leave your accounting department reeling.

There has been a significant decrease in business air fares of late, and there is a reason for that which could wind up playing a big role in how your information is delivered to your satellite offices. It's called web conferencing, and it has rapidly become a viable alternative to travelling physically to a geographic location. With the expansion of this technology, more and more companies are looking to connect with their remote staff via the web conferencing medium.

The technology has come so far that it now allows real-time and streaming communication, which is is almost on the same level as face to face interaction. What this is done is bring the corporate community much closer. As well, the pricing of this technology has proven to be much more affordable for small to midsize businesses looking to cut costs on conventions, meetings and everything associated with long distance travel.

With the expanding scope of web conferencing technology, audio and video can now be delivered via a broadband or high-speed connection to anyone, anywhere in the world just by having a web browser. As a result, meetings can be held and recorded so that remote staff in different time zones, who might not be able to attend the conference, can replay it at a more convenient time. Those that can attend are now able to watch it and real time, where ideas can be put forth, and brainstorming can take place through shared applications like polling and virtual whiteboards; as well, presentations can also be made through PowerPoint slides and other documentation which can be transferred to all participants with a minimum of hassle.

The cost of web conferencing greatly reduces the need to travel, and during these difficult and stressed economic times, companies are focusing more on their bottom lines, and will gladly use the money saved to develop new business ventures. Additionally, with the reduction in travel costs, companies that are looking to go green, can use web conferencing as a way to decrease the carbon footprint that air flight causes. As well, in terms of keeping remote staff out of harms way, when it comes to medical issues including swine flu, SARS and other communicable diseases, web conferencing keeps unnecessary close contact to a minimum.

In Australia one of the major suppliers of the web conferencing software and interface is WebEx, which has reported that more than 11,000 Australians have used the software for company meetings on a weekly basis; which is not altogether unexpected in a country where companies can expect to have offices and staff separated by thousands of miles. Some of the more common users of WebEx software are in the finance and IT sections, and they use it for marketing and training purposes.

Before you book your next company flights, check out which conference centre near you can offer the space for web conferencing facilities.

Mary Hubbard represents the events centre @ maroochy, a Sunshine Coast conference centre and corporate events venue. Find out more about hosting your next conference on the beautiful Sunshine Coast here http://www.eventscentremaroochy.com.au.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mary_Hubbard