This is a guest post provided by Jonathan Trent —a writer for NextUC, providing the latest Microsoft technology for team collaboration and video conferencing done the right way.
In an economic challenging time, video conferencing certainly makes sense for obvious financial reasons. It provides a great way to save the time and expense associated with travel. Although the use of telephones and “voice only” communication has been used as a viable communication tool for decades, visual communications clearly provide a much more complete method of communicating.
Video Conference vs. Telephone Conference
There is a heightened bond that takes place with people when you can see them face to face. When a presentation needs to be made to a group of people who cannot physically gather together, video conferencing results in significantly more productive communication than a teleconferencebecause video conferencing enables participants to be able to pick up on non-verbal clues.
Video Teaching vs. Classroom Teaching
In some cases, video conferencing may be more effective that an actual physical group setting. Several studies have indicated that for delivering instruction, videoconferencing appears to be more effective than the “traditional” classroom. The visual aspect of video communication seems to increase the amount of time and degree of interest in which students are engaged in what is being taught.
Video Is…
Visual communication is impactful
Based on research done by Alvert Mehrabian, some academics interested in “visual literacy” have concluded that there is a relatively high degree of impact that visual communications can have in comparison to verbal and vocal contact. In his studies, measured the impact of voice tone and body language on people’s perceptions of the trustworthiness of other people. He made the following conclusions:
• 53% of the impression made on a viewer/listener derives from behavior and body language.
• 40% of the impression is determined based on visual credibility and personality.
• 7% of the impression made is derived from the audio spoken words.
If it is true that only 7% of the impression that listeners make is from spoken words, then audio communication solutions are clearly limited in enabling the speaker to build the rapport needed to communicate effectively.Many believe that there is a greater emotional response to video communication via teleconferencing vs. verbal communication via teleconferencing. Those needing to communicate a message to a group of people need to take this into consideration.
Video conferencing is more compelling
When used appropriately, videoconferencing appears to be a cost-effective way for sales organizations and educational institutions to deliver information in a personalized and compelling way that delivers the facial expressions of the person speaking as well as other visuals. Additionally, two-way, interactive videoconferencing technologies can very effective in delivering quality educational information to a broad, geographically dispersed population of viewers. Videoconferencing is a great way to enhance the delivery of a message.
Video conferencing is very nice since you can do some meeting with business partners without being physically present.