Advocates of teleconferencing have been, for some time, predicting a sharp decline in business travel. It seems to be taking some time. Airports are still chock full of tired executives dragged from their warm beds for the early flight to Sydney or Melbourne. The argument often given for their trips is that more is achieved with face to face communication. They’d say that it’s just not the same with a prescheduled, multi-participant teleconference. The real business goes on when the meeting is over.

The change we have been waiting for is the ability to hold that “face to face” communication, without the formal meetings. In other words, the ability to talk to someone, ad-hoc, and see who you are talking to. It’s what we call any-to-any visual communications, making video calls as easy and as common as a regular phone call. The difference, of course, is that you have the nuances of facial expression that in a conversation is as important as what’s being said.

How often on a phone call do you hear silence at the end of the phone and you wonder what the other party is thinking? The face always gives thoughts away. By seeing who you are talking to you can obliterate confusion and really get things moving. It’s the way to replicate those chance corridor conversations where many business decisions are made.  The difference is you don’t have to fly across the country and it can happen anytime.

So next Monday morning, turn over in bed, close those hours and grab an extra hour of sleep. No need to join the queue for the airport today.

More IP Visuals blog entries here.