Like professionals from industries of all types, lawyers have found that holding a video conference is a cost-effective alternative to travel. If your firm is involved in hosting a video conference, its success hinges on proper planning. Don't leave your video conference's success to chance - plan for it!
Book a Professional Videoconferencing Agency
Whether you host your video conference at your law firm or book a session at a nearby facility, make sure that you have a team of skilled videoconferencing professionals supporting you. Many litigation support firms will set up your conference room with professional, high-definition video equipment. This allows your attorneys to step across the threshold and create a telepresence virtually anywhere in the world. Leave the technical details to the pros to ensure a trouble-free conference and allow your litigators to focus on their presentation.
Schedule the Conference with Time Differences in Mind
While you may be in Texas, the other participants may be half a world away. This makes scheduling tricky. Ideally, you'll be able to schedule a time that falls within normal business hours for all parties involved but that's not always possible. If the distances are such that some participants must attend at odd hours, use a world time zone map and your common sense to determine the best compromise possible. If you are hosting important clients, you'll want to cater to your client's scheduling preferences. While it may be inconvenient for your attorneys to come in after hours, it could be the smartest choice from a customer service perspective.
Create and Follow an Agenda
Just as you'd never hold a meeting without an agenda, you should never "wing it" during a video conference. Plot out your agenda in advance and share it with all participants. This ensures that all participants are aware of the topics and time allotments; it also allows them to formulate questions or provide input. If you need another attorney to present information during the conference, make sure that the attorney is aware of what you need in advance so that he can arrive prepared.
Arrive Early for Technical Testing
Arrive early enough for technical testing. The equipment will be set up and monitored by the technician, so you do not need to speak loudly or lean forward into a microphone. The technician will give you simple instructions, such as showing you where the camera is located so you can "make eye contact," and run a couple of sound and video checks before the video conference goes live.
Stick to Your Schedule
As with traditional meetings, sticking to the schedule shows respect for other people's time. If you've allotted one hour for the video conference, then the meeting should last no longer than one hour. Refer to your agenda throughout the conference and enforce all time restrictions you've put in place. If you've built-in time at the end of the video conference for questions and answers, you can use some of this time to return to items requiring additional discussion. Not only does sticking to your schedule show respect for your participants' time, it is also important because of facility rentals. You firm and other participants may not have access to videoconferencing facilities for much longer than the allotted time. Even if you do, you may have to pay overtime charges, causing your video conference charges to exceed your budget.
With proper planning and a professional videoconferencing support team, a video conference can be one of the most cost-effective ways to communicate across long distances.
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