Benefits of Video Conferencing

Audio conferencing is also known as Teleconferencing, is defined as the meeting held among different parties/people, there is one organizer of the meeting and the rest of the people are known as the participants in the meeting. This meeting is over the telephone and therefore, only voices of the people can be heard and the discussion happens by listening to each other. The organizer of the meeting is the calling party.

In a similar manner, if the meeting occurs over both video and audio, the meeting is known as Video Conferencing, lets learn about video conferencing in more detail,

Video Conferencing

Video conferencing is the conduct of video teleconference or famously known as video conference which allows two or more than two parties to conduct meetings and communicate. It is done by a set of telecommunication technologies, and it is two-way audio-video communication.

Meetings through video conferencing

History of Video Conferencing

In 1964, AT&T introduced the very first picture phone for Video call, it was introduced at the world’s fare, New York, and the debut of the video calls was done in 1970s by AT&T only. In 1982, the first video conferencing system was introduced by Compression labs. By 1991, video conferencing set its foot on PCs, and finally, in 2005, Lifesize introduced the first video conferencing in HD. In today’s time, video conferencing has moved from conference rooms to mobile phones and people have access to see their friends and family through HD video conferences.

Use of Video Conferencing

• There are softwares like Netmeeting that are used for conferencing, breeze is another example.
• The only requirement for video conferencing is a decent internet connection to the user’s location, the user also must have a microphone, and a camera for the video conferencing.
• Basic technologies required for a good Internet connection are a proper internet connection, browser, speakers in order to hear the audio properly, a microphone to sync the audio properly, a web camera to contribute the video.

Usefulness of Video Conferencing

With the increase of internet use nowadays, video conferencing is also used very frequently and every day there are efforts to make video conferencing for the users better and better. Mostly video Conferencing is used for Business meeting, educational purposes, and training programs, but video conferencing are now also used as a way to connect to the people who are close to us. 

Apart from having meetings with friends and family over video conferencing, there are other numerous fields where video conferencing is very effectively used currently,

• Business

One of the most important parts of an entrepreneur’s life is the discussion about the business and the progress and finding solutions to problems that are on the way, all of this is done through video conferencing. Video conferencing enable businesses to have a meet-up and to work and discuss business over a distance.

• Distance Learning

Video conferencing is a boon in the educational sector. The teachers and students can not only teach and study while seeing each other, but they can also share the document and discuss queries. A virtual class is another name for the education provided through video conferencing.

• Home offices

Now famously known as the WORK FROM HOME. Since, going a distance away from home, sometimes traveling cities and living far away from home just to earn a living has always been a tedious task. With video conferences, regular meetings and discussions easily go on regarding the work and people can easily work just by sitting at their homes.

• Legal Environment

From home to courtrooms, videoconferencing is now used everywhere. With video conferencing technology, it is easier for the witness to testify and appear in the court without actually coming all the way to the court. This is an advantage since witnesses are known to be either abducted or harmed on their way to the courtrooms in some serious cases.

• Telemedicine

There are some patients who are not able to visit the doctors personally and still need some medical advice from the doctors/specialists. In such cases, there are doctors who have opened their availability for consulting issues through video conferencing. This way a patient can virtually visit the doctor. 

Disadvantages of Video Conferencing

With a major increase in video conference technology, there is very less personal meeting and understanding among people. There are always probabilities of Network issues and time is wasted a lot due to this issue. Sometimes, with constant conference meetings and less personal contact with people, there arises more stress and less output in the work.

Sample Questions

Question 1: What are the major things necessary for Video conferencing and are all those things important for teleconferencing as well?

Answer:

In order to have video conferencing, these things are really necessary,

• Internet connection
• Browser
• Microphone
• Speaker
• Web camera

Among all these essential things, a web camera is not required for teleconferencing since, it is the meeting just on audio and people do not need to see each other.

Even if the meeting is not required to have on the internet, the only things which is required for everyone to have is a telephone for teleconferencing.

Question 2: Why nowadays video conferencing is preferred?

Answer:

With most people working from home and students opting for distance education, everyone is seeking to use the advantage of video conferencing as the benefits are exactly the same and the only thing a student or anyone else need to have is good internet connection.

Question 3: Where are the places, situations where video conferencing is required the most?

Answer:

Places where video conferencing is required the most:

• Business meetings
• Distance Education programs
• Trainings and learning courses through internet
• To meet friends and family virtually.
• Work from home.