Online meeting recordings

May 29th, 2010 @ admin // One Comment

In addition to no software installs with online meeting rooms now you can record your meetings. This is ideal for archiving what was said, when it was said and who said it. Keeping minutes of meetings usually requires one person dedicated for the purpose and meetings often start with “where we left off”.

Not only can you save time, money and of course travel bringing people together over the web, now you have a reliable way to protect and follow up on those meetings. You no longer have those “minutes” transcribed for distribution, now you know exactly what was said. The added bonus is how people reacted to your suggestions through body language. Facial expressions are essential in understanding the reaction to your proposals. Training, coaching and understanding when to stop talking can all be key factors during a meeting.  The example below in collaboration with Irishdebate.com we have recorded the Irish Minister for Transport discussing his thoughts on “proper planning”. Over 20 people logged in. Not everyone had a webcam not everyone had a microphone but everyone could hear the Minister and see him sitting at his constituency office in Dun Laoghaire. Guest’s attended from all over Ireland and Europe.

The meeting is fully encrypted and when the meeting is finished you are provided with a recording to download.

Part 1. of the video conference can be found on http://www.irishdebate.com

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Today’s theme is on Smarter Travel

May 20th, 2010 @ admin // One Comment

 

On Friday the 14th of May 2010 Ciaran Cuffe TD and Minister held a pilot public video conference for 30 minutes. Minister Cuffee was able to address the concerns and issues of those logged in during the questions and answers session through live video from his office in Dun Laoghaire. Minister Cuffe discussed the subject of Smarter Travel in Ireland and what he is working on in his role as Minister for Transport.
Ciaran Cuffe Video conferencing

Over a 30 minute time slot Ciaran got to engage with up to 25 people

Some of the questions included:
  • Tara>> @ciarancuffe How far off do you see an integrated public transport card for Dublin or even nationally?
  • Eamonn >> asks @ciarancuffe Do you think electric cars should be allowed to use bus lanes as a startup incentive?
  • MP >> asks @ciarancuffe What do you think of the deal Dublin City Council did for “Dublin Bikes” with JC Decaux?
  • John >> asks @ciarancuffe whats your opinion on 24hr bus lanes?
  • John >> asks @ciarancuffe when will the taxi services be considered as fully part of the public transport?
  • John >> asks @CiaranCuffe what about tax breaks for companies who set up their employees with a home office?
  • Tara >> asks @ciarancuffe what work is being done to facilitate the integration of cycling with other modes of Transport?
“Wow, that was a full on video-conference, thanks for all the questions, we’ll do it again soon” (Ciaran Cuffe) http://twitter.com/CiaranCuffe/status/13971208940
After this public video conference  the Minister had to ironically “attend” an event “The Green Economy- A Business & Leadership Briefing Sustainable Development – Beyond Rhetoric”
http://www.siliconrepublic.com/special-events/the-green-economy-business-and-leadership-briefing
This was not Ciaran Cuffe’s first time using video conferencing as a tool to connect with an audience, in 2009 he met with Student’s in Tipperary Institue via video link too but this was specifically a private session and only as a way of educating third level student’s interested in learning about sustainablity in Ireland.
Ciaran Cuffe is a TD for Dun Laoghaire and is Minister for State with special reasonability for Sustainable Transport; Horticulture, Planning and Heritage which is spread over three departments Transport; Environment, Heritage and Local Government; and Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. (since 23 Mar 2010)
http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/aboutus/ministers/cvofministerofstatecuffe/

 

 

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Unfunded Communications

January 5th, 2010 @ admin // 2 Comments

Companies, organisations or governments can save money, tax payers money, bottom lines, mileage allowances,  work efficiencies and get true return on investments. They must  absolutely accept the virtual option in 2010 and beyond through online meetings.  So often touted by the so called and ever increasing large entities that are MS and Cisco, government bodies are typically directed for various reasons to buy into the employers within their country. Of course, employment and revenue is on the mind of every elected politician. The fundamental flaw in democracy starts here, politicians cannot get elected without funding, who funds the politician ? And so unified communications or “unfunded communications” (if you fund it) started. What a ridiculous waste of money and time this term and implementation causes. What smart phone battery or laptop truly supports voice and video over IP for any length of time? What software and what proprietary licences do you need to subscribe to if your organisation wishes to avail of these services ?

Open source video conferencing has been around for many years, notwithstanding the power of the flash plugin, why reinvent the wheel? – just upgrade your switches … get a little more bandwidth, even get a dedicated element to the management of your bandwidth, you have the kit! you probably have the network – web based, without the need for massive investment in servers, no need to buy anything else with the exception of a webcam and a headset.. how hard can it be to reduce your annual spend on meetings via travel?

Accepting our political leaders are not software savvy for the most part, their advisors are supposed to be. Do you need to install something ? #FAIL. Do you have to have windows for it to work ? #FAIL.  Do you need propriety hardware for it to work ? #FAIL. The solution must be web based for future proofing and economy of scale. Bandwidth is the key, switches allow data transfer, everything else is down to your vendors “cloud” or in our case rackspace << a data center, why would your company take on more than you need to… why reinvent the wheel?

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