Many years ago when corporations wanted to train their employees who were scattered in various locations there was really only two options available to them. These options were to send instructors to each location individually or have the employees travel to one central location for the training. Either way it took a big chunk out of the corporation's budget. Today there are more popular ways of communicating and training these employees, which include video conferencing and web conferencing. When should these forms of communicating to others be used?
Video conferencing, in my opinion, is more appropriate for presentations or briefings that do not require any additional information from the receiver or any amount of instruction. Such things as important documents and training material can not be conveyed easily so it is much harder for everyone to get a good grasp on the topic at hand. Video conferencing can be quite expensive because special equipment is needed and additional ISDN or digital telecom line are required.
My garden in May 2004
A Polycom VSX 7000 camera used for videoconferenci...
May coloursMost corporations do not have these facilities within their buildings so they usually have to travel to another business, which specializes in video conferencing, which could put a strain on employees time schedules (Elliott).
Web conferencing allows users to display online slide show presentations and interact with others using video, audio and text. Users can also watch another user perform a task on his or her system as a learning exercise and even take control of another user's system to walk them through the steps necessary to complete a task (Elliott). The best thing about web conferencing is its cost. The only tools you need once you purchase the web conferencing software itself are the network or Internet connection, slide presentation software, speakers, microphone and a web camera. Most businesses already have an internet...