In our current technological age, distance meetings are becoming more popular. Employees are telecommuting, companies are outsourcing, and the need for meetings to be held virtually has increased. Videoconferencing, made easy by programs such as ooVoo and SightSpeed, is becoming more relevant in today’s business world.
Hillevi Sundholm performed a research study in which he followed meetings of a research network that has 10 laboratories across Europe and North America. Each month, they had a meeting through videoconferencing/audio conferencing, and the research teams also have access to a wiki website and a shared media space, which was used during meetings.
Through his research, he found both positives and negatives to distance meetings. A negative he found in the labs set-up was their use of both video and audio conferencing. When an employee was only in the virtual meeting via an audio connection, it was easy to forget the employee was there, and led to what he called “implicit excluding,” which is a person being excluded without anyone meaning for that to happen. This also happened when there were a large number of members from the same team participating in the conference. In that case, what he called “co-locating,” the team that had the large number of team members dominated the conversation and the other teams were excluded.
One positive he found was that the teams were able to make quicker decisions through the norms they had developed. One of the social conventions the teams adapted over time was turning off their microphones when they weren’t speaking. This allowed teams to discuss things locally without disrupting the whole meeting. Since the local teams could come to a conclusion about what worked best for them without having to debate it in front of the whole team, it allowed for decisions to be made faster.
One way to help keep distance meetings running smoothly is by having a clear goal as to what the team is doing, and what the purpose of the meeting is. It is important that each member knows what his task is. It helps cut down on confusion and saves time when these things are clear.
In spite of current technology that does not allow for perfect ways of holding distance meetings, it is still a viable option for many companies. Virtual meetings are easier then flying employees across the globe anytime a person needs to talk to them, and save companies money in that respect. Virtual meetings also save companies time. As technology continues to improve, so will ways of having virtual meetings.
Tips for Success
Austin and Lynne Henderson published a their research study on “Supporting Distance Collaboration” in the Winter 2000 issue of The Journal of Quality and Participation. Austin Henderson is the co-founder of Pliant Research, a “research consortium exploring the theory and practice of computing systems that move beyond the formal,” according to his website.
The Henderson’s observed a variety of departments which used virtual meetings at Sun Microsystems. They found three essential requirements for successful distance collaboration in meetings:
- Construct the idea of a distance meeting place.
Meetings are defined more by start and stop time than by physical location. Even when a team is not working in the same room, they speak in a way that implies they are: “is George here yet?” and “who just joined us?” When two rooms are connected by a video screen, participants look into the middle distance to speak, as if everyone is in the same room. However, some interactions occur only in the local space, like eye contact and gesturing that occurs spontaneously between local participants. - Level the playing field.
All participants need to have equal technology to be most effective. If you can’t see but can be seen, you will be very uncomfortable. Also, meeting courtesy must be maintained equally for all participants, both locally and from a distance. An experiment the Henderson’s conducted about PowerPoint showed how some attempts to create an equal playing field are better than others. One meeting displayed slides locally in both locations, connected by video screens and sound. Although both meetings could see the same slides, coordinating verbally when the slides should change was distracting. Also, each local meeting had their own conversations about the slides, forgetting they had distance counterparts; the local presenters would point and gesture at the screens, which the other group could not see. This system did not work because the focus of the meeting changed from the middle of the virtual meeting place to the middle of the local space.
The other meeting shared the slides by giving each member printed handouts. The members were not divided by their physical location, and the focus of the meeting remained in the middle of the virtual meeting place. Each member naturally directed their comments to the group instead of the local presenter. - Use local and distance hosts.
Meetings, whether local or distance, require hosts. The hosts set up the meeting, arranging the time and space, as well as the technological and physical equipment needed for the space. The local host makes sure everyone in their space is comfortable and connected; the distance host makes sure all local areas are connected and leads the discussion. Without a local host, the local areas would be disorganized and suffer more technical problems. Without the distance host, the local groups will naturally focus on their own groups, and attempts to connect with the distance locations may lead to competing impromptu hosts.