Video conferencing is a crucial technology for businesses, especially now. Although, while it has the benefits of accessibility, it certainly is a different animal than your run-of-the-mill in-person meeting… as due to this, it has a challenge that an in-person meeting does not. Let’s go over what this challenge is, and how to overcome it.
The Biggest Challenge in Video Conferencing
Unfortunately, there’s a big disadvantage to video conferencing and that’s the inherent lag that so commonly takes place during meetings. While this may not sound like much, it matters a lot.
Based on the length of time that we’ve spent communicating face-to-face and communicating remotely, the latter is barely a blip on the timeline. We’ve had telephony, the first form of voice-based telecommunications, for about 100 years. Conversations, on the other hand, have taken place for 70,000 (give or take). As our brains developed, they adjusted to make these conversations as efficient as possible.
This meant that, while we wouldn’t talk over one another by default, we would leave as little pause after the other person finished speaking to respond as possible. We’ve all experienced what an awkward silence is like. This precedent is what makes that moment of quiet so uncomfortable.
Video conferencing isn’t instantaneous, which makes these pauses an inescapable reality. Even if they are miniscule delays, conversations can still devolve into the pauses and interruptions that so many workplace jokes have capitalized on.
Despite this, however, implementing remote conferencing still offers far more benefits than drawbacks. As your team adjusts, their productivity and collaborative success will rise.
Voyage Technology is here to help your team collaborate with the solutions that power your business’ operations. We may even be able to help reduce the latency your team is dealing with on your conference calls. To find out what we can do to help your specific needs, give us a call at 800.618.9844.
