Well, another adventure into the high tech world of communication. I joined a web cast with some other classmates on Thursday evening using Central Desktop as the conferencing tool. Amanda acted as the host and did a great job of setting up the page and developing a theme for the group to discuss, which was appropriately named, Fourth of July celebration. The page also included a couple of tasks , eg. a Word document listing some of your favorite places to celebrate, activities you enjoy on the holiday, and your input on a menu. It also included a PowerPoint presentation that a person could checkout, edit and then upload back to the page. As usual, it took me longer to figure out how to get into the actual chat that was going on. I was able to navigate the page but was unable to hear or chat online with everyone. I eventually figured it out and was happy to join the group discussion, which included a conference call via the phone line which is something else I have never done. The webinar provided a great deal of interaction between the group. The host, which can be changed, controls the desktop and can pull up whatever information that he/she wants everyone to see. This is where the collaboration starts, for instance on the PowerPoint presentation, everyone had input on the layout and content of the final draft. I also set up a skype call with a brother who lives in Burma. I initially had some microphone issues but worked through them. We were able to talk for a short time although his voice was choppy.We were still able to chat online in real time. He blamed the poor voice recognition on insufficient bandwidth on his connection. Whatever the case, unlike a phone call this was free of charge. Pretty amazing!!!!

I can see where web conferencing would cut down on travel expenses and time. Employees do not move from their office thus saving the company considerable amounts of money, which also could be energy efficient since they do not have to burn fuel in their cars for travel. In this era of multinational companies operating in all parts of the world, I can see this as a most effective tool in communicating with clients,employees, suppliers shareholders, just to name a few. These online meetings can virtually be arranged anywhere, anytime, within minutes. Can the same be said for booking a convention center in another state? I think not. Technology marches on.