When are Conference Calls Better than In-Person Events?

There’s no doubt that technology is great for efficient communication, but it can never replace the quality of real human, face-to-face interaction. In personal life, people need human interaction, and there are many occasions in business that work much better when employees are in the same room.

But are there times when a phone or web conference would actually work better and be more valuable for a business? Let’s take a look at some examples of events that are in fact much better suited for online or over the phone.

Conducting the best training

Conducting training for existing employees, new hires, and remote associates is essential for any business, but the process is often costly and time-consuming. This is because staff needs to take time out of their schedule to be available throughout training, training materials need to be printed or otherwise prepared, a location needs to be reserved, and in some cases accommodations need to be made for out-of-town participants.

Conducting training through a web conference platform streamlines this process, with the potential to save a lot of time and money. Staff can use time wisely by making some portions of training live and others on-demand, offering flexibility for staff and trainees both. Material costs are reduced or eliminated, as presentations and files can all be shared paperless online. There are no travel or lodging costs for remote attendees, as they can join in to a conference from anywhere in the world.

Web conferencing platforms of today tend to be all-in-one collaboration tools that offer many more features and overall value than in-person training possibly can. Video conferences allow participants to view a live speaker or presenter in real time, and built-in slide decks bring presentations to life easily. Rich markup tools allow participants to edit and interact with documents and other media, and further interaction and feedback is made possible with polling, chat, and Q&A features.

Introducing a new product

Launching a new product or service is always a challenging game of getting the word out to as many people as possible, in as little time as possible. Many companies are eager to launch and reluctant to spend any more time, money, or resources than necessary to make the announcement after so much work has gone into preparing the product or service itself. But it inevitably takes time and money to meet with contacts all over the world for this purpose.

However, with web and audio conferencing, product launches and other large marketing or sales events are simple and can reach a global audience within a single day, if necessary. More customization is possible as well, as a conference call can be tailored to each group that needs to be in the know. Partners, resellers, customers, media, etc. can access just the presentation that’s targeted to them to quickly digest the essential information, watch demos, etc.

Live conferences also offer opportunity for more engagement and feedback. You can gauge interest with chat, polling, and other interactive features during the event, and your audience can ask and have questions answered right away. You can even follow up with more information immediately if they request it by taking advantage of file sharing features. The ability to record a conference and track who engaged with it most will also help you to keep tabs on potential leads after the event.

Meeting with remote contacts

It may seem like a no-brainer, but conference calling work best for any meeting situation between people who are spread out geographically. While flying in an international partner or a team from another hub across the country might be a nice gesture from time to time, of course it’s too costly to make a regular habit of.

What many people don’t think to take advantage of is using conferencing to keep in touch with contacts who may not be very far away at all—perhaps only on the other side of the city! Allowing those contacts who are working remotely to quickly dial into a meeting with a mobile device gives them more flexibility, support, time to devote to whatever project they’re working on at the time. It also guards against weather and personal emergencies, or anything else that prevents an employee from getting to the office.

Making mobile conferencing the go-to setup for all your meetings also saves the host time and money. All the meeting materials can be distributed through file sharing on a web conference, keeping all notes, minutes, action steps, and media in the same convenient virtual meeting space. This means that anyone who missed a meeting can quickly login to catch themselves up on the material or a web conference recording, and everyone else can return to the files whenever they need to as well, avoiding the time ordinarily required for a host to rehash that information.

Hosting a worldwide event

There’s simply no other way to reach as large an audience in person as you can with web and phone conferencing—at least not as easily or cost effectively. While a company can invite thousands of people, including international guests, to one location, one can’t expect that everyone can travel and attend in person. A phone or web conference to achieve the same purpose means all those people can more likely attend—without ever leaving their desks.

Not to mention that hosting an online event also opens up your business to markets you may not previously have had access to or thought to target. You might offer specialized webinars for different audiences, translated versions for different countries, and find new reach with online marketing to tie it all together. Recorded webinars can even sit on your website and continue to generate views and leads without any extra time or input from you after a live event.

Webcasting or audiocasting are services well-suited to very large events opened up to the public, as they can allow thousands of participants to stream a presentation or other event online. Webinars allow for a business to engage with a more focused group online, while good old fashioned phone conferencing also allows for large conferences, including international attendees, through a simple phone number.

We hope this post has provided you with the evidence that for some events, conferencing may not just be an option, but actually a preferred method over the in-person alternative. Though we believe that nothing can replace true human interaction, it’s also nice to know that there are easy ways to save on time and money that will actually provide greater value, for both your business and your clients. Learn more about our event conferencing at Conference Calls Unlimited by giving us a call today, and start hosting your own powerful virtual events.