Virtual meeting? We'd rather do it face-to-face, say techies

Pick the best tool for the job, advises Plantronics' Judith Hogan

Even technically oriented Computing readers prefer face-to-face meetings over and above video and audio conferencing, as well as other electronic collaborative tools.

That, at least, is the suggestion of a straw poll taken during Computing's web seminar today, in which just under half - 46 per cent - indicated that they preferred face-to-face meetings for thrashing out important organisational issues. Just over a quarter, 26.7 per cent, opted for video conferencing, while around one-fifth opted for fairly old-fashioned teleconferencing.

Judith Hogan, head of corporate sales, UK & Ireland, for Plantronics, suggested that people need to select the right tool for the task. "Sometimes, an email conveys the wrong tone. Maybe people read different things into it, whereas a conversation might soften that. It depends what you want to communicate," she suggested.

She added: "I'm not sure many people have been trained in communication skills. In face-to-face meetings, only about seven per cent of what you say is the message [the actual words]. Fifty-five per cent is body language and 38 per cent your tone of voice. People need to be aware of this.

"If you move this to a conference call, 13 per cent of what happens is the message and 87 per cent is tone of voice. So people do need to be trained on the effect their voice can have to help them sound more impactful on a conference call," said Hogan.

Hogan was speaking to Computing in today's web seminar, "Better meetings through technology - and common sense", sponsored by Plantronics.

It follows research by Computing, also sponsored by Plantronics, that found that IT workers typically spend between one and five hours cooped up in meetings. The research also found that the biggest irritation with meetings - among many different bugbears - is people going off on tangents, which was cited by 57 per cent of respondents, and people who love the sound of their own voice, cited by 30 per cent.

Quocirca's Clive Longbottom, a self-confessed meeting addict, suggested that such people need to be tactfully steered towards a conclusion to prevent them from dominating meetings and turning everyone else off. "You can either say to them, 'that's a really interesting comment, but let's take it offline and we can discuss it later' or 'thanks very much for that, but can we just go back to where we were'," said Longbottom.

And if they don't get the hint, Longbottom added that meeting chairpeople need to be more blunt in their handling of such people to prevent the meeting being derailed. Ipso facto, so-called wallflowers may need to be coaxed to ensure that their contribution is heard, especially if they have specialist knowledge that could be of value to the meeting.

"Be careful, too, with the 'agreeable' ones. If the meeting just involves everyone agreeing, you're not going to get anyone challenging, so you end up with people reaching a decision that, probably, no one agrees with," he added.

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