by Margaret Rouse, Assistant Editor
When my kids were small, they couldn't wait for me to come home from conferences. They knew I'd be loaded up with goodies from all the vendors. I'd watch people to see which vendor was giving out the biggest shopping bag and then go from booth to booth chatting up vendors and picking up t-shirts, disposable cameras, a coffee cup or two, bouncing glow balls, mouse pads, bubble wands, software demo's, baseball caps, Frisbees, and of course, candy.
When I'd get back home, the kids would pour the contents of my bag out on the floor and sort through it, just like they'd did with their own bags on Halloween. In their eyes, a good conference was one where I got good stuff.
It's fortunate that my kids are all grown up because I rarely go to conferences anymore. Instead, I often take advantage of Webcasts to find out the latest/greatest whatever. I can work remotely and meet with the whatis.com team by teleconferencing. There's even videoconferencing equipment set up in my office. In fact, there's so much technology available to me that I could probably stay current without ever going to a conference again.
Except that I would lose something by not attending workshops and conferences in person. Something besides all those goodies from the vendors.
I know money is tight. No one wants to travel unnecessarily. And don't get me wrong. I don't want to go back to the days when we were road warriors racking up miles in an effort to keep up with the latest/greatest. I just have this nagging feeling that I'm just not taking away what I would if I was "really" there instead of "virtually" there. (And I 'm not talking about the coffee mug or t-shirt.)
This week we'd like to know what you think of conferencing technologies. Is it a treat to be able to save time and meet with your colleagues remotely? Or do you feel tricked and cheated because you don't get as much out of it as the people who are really there. And how about the technology itself? Is your conferencing technology dependable? Can you always hear (or see) what's going on?
And then there's the big question. When is it an effective use of technology to meet remotely? When is it not?
Drop us a note. Or better yet, stop by our discussion forum and share your thoughts. We're not vendors, but we are giving away a few baseball caps to people who take the time to stop by the forum and chat us up. (Are you smiling?)
See you in the forum!
LEARN MORE:
teleconference
http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci213111,00.html
videoconference
http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci213291,00.html
Webcast
http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci213344,00.html
Attend a Webcast: Telework Success Strategies for the Virtual Employee
http://searchebusiness.techtarget.com/onlineEventsTranscriptSecurity/1,289693,sid19_gci533415,00.html |