A Meeting of Minds

How to run a virtual meeting that will treat all participants as if they were in the same room.

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Virtual Manager: Mastering Business in a Networked World

The best virtual meetings treat remote participants as if they're in the room. Here's how to run one

Imagine yourself walking into a meeting. A sensor near the door scans the information on your name tag and transmits it to a computer that's wired to a digital readout at the front of the room. The numbers on the readout ratchet up steadily, like those on a taxi meter, calculating the cost per minute of each participant's time. If there are 10 people present and each is paid $45,000 a year plus benefits, then that meeting costs the company roughly $300 per hour. If your company holds one such meeting for two hours every week, the price tag totals about $31,200 per year.

Most $31,200 expenditures attract some scrutiny in corporate budgets, but when it comes to meetings, time and money are routinely wasted with hardly a thought. And if ordinary meetings are tough to do well, those in which some members participate remotely are 10 times harder. The guy phoning Atlanta from Montreal, for example, doesn't get to see participants' body language. He misses that telltale muttered comment. Taking the floor is, for him, a major production. And when the Atlanta group unrolls a blueprint on the table, he might as well forget it.

To run effective virtual meetings, a manager must create the illusion that remote participants are right in the room. For that you need technology--but the technology has to be so unobtrusive that people forget it's there and can concentrate on the business at hand. The best tactic is to combine software known as "meetingware" with communication technology, such as tele- or videoconferencing.

If teleconferencing via the telephone is your choice, then sound quality is key. Conference calls on low-quality speakerphones lose not only subtle communication cues but sometimes whole words. Therefore, companies that conduct frequent teleconferences should invest in the best speakerphone system they can afford.

Stand-alone speakerphones, as opposed to ordinary phones with small microphones built in, generally come with a large, domed microphone and a speaker--a setup that costs about $350 to $900. You can also get satellite microphones to pick up comments from people in the far reaches of a room. But first pay attention to room acoustics and seating arrangements. Round tables and small rooms usually work best. I've successfully used one good speakerphone for 15 people in a small room with excellent acoustics. For really great sound, you can wire a room specifically for conference calls, with speakers in the walls and a microphone at each chair, or with one ultrahigh-end central mike. These systems can cost anywhere from $2,500 to $20,000, but you'll be giving remote participants the best virtual presence money can buy.

To solve the problem of remote participants not being able to interject comments, choose a speakerphone with "full-duplex" capability, which allows remote and local parties to talk at the same time and still hear one another. However, be aware that in areas where telephone lines have insufficient bandwidth, phone companies don't provide the necessary two channels for full-duplex communication. Even so, a high-quality full-duplex speakerphone can still create the impression of simultaneous speech.

Most PBX systems claim to offer three- or four-way teleconferencing, but although those on-site can hear remote callers clearly, remote callers often can't hear one another very well. If you have more than one remote participant calling a central site, you'll need an audio bridge, a small piece of hardware you attach to your PBX. Ask your PBX installer if you already have a bridge capability, especially if you have a newer digital system. If not, you can buy your own bridge for less than $1,000 direct from your PBX supplier or use a conference service provider.

If you choose videoconferencing, use the largest screen possible--at least 35 inches diagonally across. A large screen captures body language and, more important, helps remind others that remote participants are indeed "there." Get the highest-resolution (meaning the fastest) telecommunication line you can afford. Systems running at less than 128 KB and 30 frames per second just won't cut it. As with audio, if you're connecting more than two locations, you'll need a video-bridge service. Stand-alone video bridges, now offered by PictureTel, Sprint, and ACT, are still very expensive (about $20,000 to $30,000) and are changing rapidly--good reasons to use a service a while longer before investing in one.

Once you've got high-quality hardware in place, you can start worrying about running the meeting. The biggest challenge is making sure everyone participates. It's too easy for participants, especially those at remote sites, to lapse into passive observation. One tactic is to give each remote participant an active role, such as taking minutes. A good facilitator should also occasionally take an opinion poll with a show of hands or ask each participant for a quick reaction.

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