What is Your time worth?

One of the lesser known services available as an alternative to travel is video conferencing room hire.  The Chorus Call offices have video enabled board rooms that are listed on various local and international aggregator web sites, as well as promoted to our local community and customers.  Chorus Call Australia also linked up with many local and international room hire agencies to provide a single point of contact for room rentals around Australia and the globe.  With Australia suffering the “tyranny of distance” (Anyone who has done the LA or London flights knows exactly what I am talking about) the option of renting a board room and having a high definition video conference is very attractive.

Lets look at the economics of the decisions.  Renting a site in Los Angeles will cost about $250 per hour, with the same cost here in Australia. Remember to always look for IP transmission capable rooms and the cost of transmission should be included in the cost of the room.   If your meeting goes for 2 hours, total incremental cost of the solution is $1000.  On the face of it this looks a bit expensive, but people forget to look at the opportunity cost.  Sure your economy return airfare to LA might only be $1500 to $2000, but how much is lost by the 26 hour return flight?  How much is your time really worth? What could be accomplished as an alternative to the travel?  Even at minimum wage it more than pays for the cost of the board room rentals. This doesn’t not even touch upon cabs, accommodation, meals etc...

If you can hook your business travel up with some fun in the sun or catch up with friends, great. If it is one of those meeting that has to be face to face, then so be it. The reality is that only those who don’t travel think it is glamorous.  Mostly its airports, cramped seating, bad food, time away from family and cold hotels.  We have many customers who have progressed from flights to renting  video room, to now buying their own video gear. Clearly, they have put a value on their time.

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Premium Investor Relations Services

Many people are not aware that August is one of the two times a year most Australian listed companies report earnings.  Typically this is done using conferencing service suppliers like Chorus Call Australia. 

Chorus Call both directly, and through partnerships with event managers and investor relations professionals, will hold over 100 investor and media briefings by ASX listed companies this August.  Getting these calls right is no simple task. Companies rely on us to ensure that the analysts or media covering their company can get access to their key management and ask their questions or receive the desired message.  The technology has to be right , the systems have to be tried and tested and most importantly the operators managing the call have to have extensive experience controlling the call to ensure an appropriate flow.

Chorus Call Australia and all of the global offices have focused on this business for years.  Last year the Chorus Call group handled over 2300 media and investor calls globally.  On any given day our Australian based operators can be helping on calls in Germany, Canada, Switzerland or the US, amongst just a few or our global network.  This network allows us to call on these trained staff, of the Chorus Call group of companies, when we have our peak periods in August and February every year.  Some of the other expertise we bring to the investor relations field are the proprietary systems and technology we have developed over the years to give our clients the best possible result.  Some of these include a system to view, control and adjust participant states directly from the CEO’s boardroom.  Others include a web interface that allows participants to preregister participation and questions and custom messaging to all participants.  When IR professionals are looking to put this key task into the hands of a conferencing company they should be looking directly at what experience they have in delivering these calls, because if it goes wrong it can be damaging to the company brand.

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HD Video Conferencing Experience

As businesses continue to find better ways to conduct their meetings and make business processes more efficient, technology continues to rise to the occasion and serves as a reliable partner in not only expediting processes and providing unparalleled convenience, but also steadily increasing return of investments and company savings. One of these advantageous technological advancements getting more widely used throughout an extensive range of businesses is video conferencing.

In today’s modern corporate setting where businesses are more often going global and linking with other businesses to form lucrative new ventures, video conferencing has become an indispensable communication medium. Through video conferencing, companies from opposite sides of the world can conduct their business efficiently in the comfort of their own offices, and the millions usually spent by companies for travel expenses are saved.

With such innovative and beneficial business and conferencing solutions at our fingertips, we must ensure that it is used to in the right manner to produce all the benefits it can offer. Not all members of a business may be comfortable with such innovative conferencing solutions and would prefer the old but costly methods of conducting a meeting. To make sure the experience is pleasant for everyone and consequently, easily adopted as part of a company’s standard procedures, certain steps must be followed. Below are some of these steps businesses can follow in order to ensure all members have a
positive first impression and make the most of their video conferencing service.

Before Video Conferencing
· Ensure that all members involved are familiar and comfortable with using video conferencing. This may involve self-guided education, trainings and promotional programs for easy and effective adoption to the system.
· Schedule video conferences and inform all involved people and parties ahead of time.
· Create an agenda to make sure the video conference goes smoothly and tackles all necessary topics. Share this agenda in advance so all those involved will know what to expect and think ahead of what other points they may want to discuss.
· Choose or have a facilitator who can effectively manage the flow of the meeting.
· Have all needed items ready (products, charts, etc.).
· Check that all the hardware (microphones, speakers, camera, lighting) are functioning properly and are suitable for the meeting. The camera should be positioned straight at the people involved showing their upper torso up to their head, and lights should be above the camera, not beside or in front of it.
· Dress appropriately for the meeting. Because a video conference displays all users in one screen, it can be very easy to spot differences or distracting details, like brightly coloured outfits or dangling jewellery.
· Put off or in silent mode all electronic gadgets that may disrupt the meeting.
· Recording meetings is one great advantage of video conferencing and can be very useful for any company. Before you start recording though, you must ask permission from those involved as not everyone may feel comfortable with being recorded.
· If speaking with users from another country and culture, make sure to familiarise yourself with their basic speaking etiquette.

During Video Conferencing
· Speak clearly and slowly, and properly introduce those in attendance.
· Follow the flow of the agenda and pay attention to the proceedings.
· Be polite. Do not interrupt those speaking or make distracting movements or noises. Eating would not be recommended during the meeting as this can cause a lot of noise and be very distracting.
· Try to engage everyone involved. Make them feel their importance in the meeting. Much of the success of your very first video conference and the many to follow will depend upon the users’ initial reactions, so make them feel that it is a success with their participation.
· Do not disclose private or highly classified information during the meeting, such as passwords and sensitive company information.

When you need specialists to provide your business with exceptional conferencing systems, in Australia you can call on Chorus Call. Chorus Call is the preferred supplier for many companies and organisations seeking quality, value and accommodating customer service. They provide state of the art conferencing services including video conferencing, telephone conferencing, web streaming and IR communications.

Chorus Call Australia will make sure that all your video conferencing experiences will produce nothing but positive feedback and great results.