Telepresence Foreshadowed On Star Trek

Grant's Perspective on ... telepresence foreshadowed on Star Trek.

I was surfing the other night and noticed that howstuffworks.com had a post on "Top 10 Star Trek Technologies that Actually Came True". The Tricoder was number one and telepresence was second on the list.

Below is a photo of a telepresence room. The idea of telepresence is that all participants feel like they are really meeting face-to-face. The photo below illustrates this. The people on the video monitor are at eye level with the other people in the room. The background and lighting are the same so they feel they are in the same room. The audio is ideally stereo and comes from the direction of the person who is on the monitor.

Beam me up Scotty!

Grant

Videoconferencing Return On Investment Calculator

Grant's Perspective on ... visiting Alberta and Saskatchewan virtually

Videoconferencing (VC) technology is more valuable than ever.

There are many advantages to videoconferencing and right now VC has become more valuable than ever. Typically, and simply put, in times of recession companies generally decrease costs where they can and increase training and education. We've all seen that. Facilitating VC is a resource that achieves both and I am witnessing its increased popularity from a front row seat. I help clients by designing AV systems that more often than not include a VC system and I use them in my own day-to-day work.

I think about my area of expertise and how I use VC everyday to be able to effectively communicate with my other offices (Inland AV has a TANDBERG Video Conference suite in each branch - I use it on a regular basis). Working face-to-face in a VC setting is far more effective than talking on the telephone. While I can't be in 5 different cities in 1 day, I can use the VC system and meet face-to-face with staff to discuss our projects and share design details. The company likes the superior communication and I love the fact that I'm home to have dinner with my family. As the recession comes to an end, VC will be equally important as it will help me cover Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta while never being more than half an hour from home!

See the photo below of a design session with our Edmonton office. Barry and I are talking to Chris (Edmonton general manager) while we discuss a room layout that is pictured in the second HD monitor of the VC system.



Has everyone done the ROI (Return On Investment) calculation that is found on the Inland AV website? www.videoconferenceROI.ca

I did my own ROI calculation . The results are just as expected – it does save companies loads of money and increases productivity.