Desktop video conferencing for remote presentations and file collaboration.
Now that bonuses are off the cards, many employers are wondering how to improve staff retention without adding to the payroll burden. One fantastic way to help staff loyalty is to offer the opportunity for staff to work at home. But if you’re relying on email and a phone line, communication can very quickly break down. It’s not surprising that home-working has taken longer to take off than anticipated: many colleagues view their home-working colleageus with suspicion, and bosses are often reluctant to free thier employees from office-bound desks. Live Meeting provides an excellent solution, since it allows people to interact with office-based employees much more easily. Some of the ways Live Meeting can be specifically useful to home-workers include:
Much better than relying on phone contact, Live Meeting provides a more robust means of communication. Use your webcam (supplied) and microphone to see the other person while you explain something, or while you present material.
One of the problems traditionally associated with working in different locations has been the inability to collaborate effectively on documents. Live Meeting lets you share a programme or document easily, and make changes together in real time. At the end of your meeting, the document is saved in a central location, and when you re-open the virtual meeting room, your file is there waiting for you.
Because Live Meeting ties into Microsoft Office so well, you can easily schedule meetings by using Outlook. If you’re using Outlook’s shared calendars features, it’s easy to set up Live Meetings when you know your colleagues will be free. As soon as you request a meeting, the invitation is sent via email and automatically put in the calendar if accepted. See this post for more about the Outlook integration.
Now that bonuses are off the cards, many employers are wondering how to improve staff retention without adding to the payroll burden. One fantastic way to help staff loyalty is to offer the opportunity for staff to work at home.
But if you’re relying on email and a phone line, communication can very quickly break down. It’s not surprising that home-working has taken longer to take off than anticipated: many colleagues view their home-working colleageus with suspicion, and bosses are often reluctant to free thier employees from office-bound desks.
Live Meeting provides an excellent solution, since it allows people to interact with office-based employees much more easily. Some of the ways Live Meeting can be specifically useful to home-workers include:
- Set up face-to-face meetings with a webcam
Much better than relying on phone contact, Live Meeting provides a more robust means of communication. Use your webcam (supplied) and microphone to see the other person while you explain something, or while you present material. - Share and collaborate on documents easily
One of the problems traditionally associated with working in different locations has been the inability to collaborate effectively on documents. Live Meeting lets you share a programme or document easily, and make changes together in real time. At the end of your meeting, the document is saved in a central location, and when you re-open the virtual meeting room, your file is there waiting for you.
- Allow home workers to link-in to office meetings Live Meeting also provides the ability to link real-life meetings with off-site colleauges. Using Roundtable, a meeting can be set up which will provide a live video link of all participants. Anyone with a Live Meeting license can then join the meeting and participate. For more about Roundtable, please see this post.
- Outlook calendars integration
Because Live Meeting ties into Microsoft Office so well, you can easily schedule meetings by using Outlook. If you’re using Outlook’s shared calendars features, it’s easy to set up Live Meetings when you know your colleagues will be free. As soon as you request a meeting, the invitation is sent via email and automatically put in the calendar if accepted. See this post for more about the Outlook integration.
0
One of the great things about Live Meeting is how easy it is to use; especially if you’re already using other Office products such as Outlook. Live Meeting comes with a free Outlook plugin, which will enable you to start a meeting straight from your Outlook client. You can also use the plugin to create invitation emails, and send to whomever you want to attend your meeting. The email generated automatically includes all access details for the meeting. The attendees you’ve invited have two options if they want to join your meeting. Either they can download the Live Meeting client and install it on their Windows machine. Otherwise, they can use the web client, which can be used by anyone with an Internet browser and a broadband connection. Although this route does not allow certain features, it’s particularly useful for a webinar situation when a larger group of people may be attending without wishing to use every function of Live Meeting. Click above image to enlarge : The plugin for Outlook adds three buttons to your Outlook client which can be used to launch the Live Meeting client, or schedule future meetings. Click above image to enlarge: Once you’ve scheduled a meeting, a calendar event is automatically posted. Especially useful if you’re using Outlook’s shared calendars feature. Click above image to enlarge: Instantly create invitation emails using the Live Meeting toolbar in Outlook. This gives the exact details for your meeting to anyone you send the email to. Schedule a Live Meeting just as you would set up an ordinary meeting in Outlook. Easy!
