Why your teleconferences are absolutely rubbish (it's all about video!)

I got some rather eye-popping statistics in from Cable & Wireless today. They talked to over 4,800 consumers and businesses across the UK, India, Spain, Germany and Singapore and ended up with these results:

– Over 42% of Brits check or write emails and 32% doodle while taking part in a conference call

Well, I admit to having done similar. But only when the person on the teleconference is droning on about something I already know. Right? 😉

You’re the same too, yeah?

– 24% of the UK would be happy to deal with a Doctor on a video call

I’m surprised at this one. I have no issue with this. Indeed I’d much prefer a video call with a doctor rather than having to arse around getting to the surgery.

– Over 46 per cent of all respondents from Germany, India, Spain and Singapore check or write emails, while on average 43 per cent surf the net, 17 per cent doodle and 11 per cent have even made another phone call.

Almost every teleconference I’ve been on with more than 5 people seems to feature at least one of the parties having to ‘put himself on mute’ whilst he makes another call. I always find that rather fascinating, given you’re meant to be paying attention to the current call.

Other findings? Heh. Have a read of this one:

– Over a third of respondents in the UK still put on a formal “phone voice” when answering a call from a number we don’t recognise and on telephone conference calls

Heh. Now, I don’t think I do this. But I wonder if, subconsciously, I actually do. Shocking. I think I do.

“Ewan speaking?”

OK let’s talk focus:

– In the UK our concentration and focus on telephone conference calls begins to wane after an average of 23 minutes, but on a video conference call or in a face-to-face meeting our attention span rockets to 35 minutes, putting us on par with Singaporeans who report the longest concentration time on a video conference call at 37 minutes

On a video conference there’s next to no room for staring at the wall, is there? That 23 minute statistic will be heavily relevant to anyone who has to work through 60+ minute teleconferences every week.

– Interestingly, on regular one to one phone calls the average focus in the UK is just nine minutes, a figure our German cousins put to shame with the ability to concentrate for over 16 minutes

This is shocking. Goodness me. Don’t bother with any call longer than 10 minutes in the UK then? 😉

– 87% of Brits claim face to face contact is more likely to lead to a business decision

Aye, I buy that.

– The use of video conferencing solutions in business can save customers at least 25% on their travel costs.

Oh come on, only 25%? And the rest! What about the £12,000 business class flights? x3? 😉

I’ve seen quite a lot of video conferencing services across the years — and the best are the ‘life size’ ones where it really is like being on Star Trek. You feel like you’re actually sitting across the board table from the people in Sydney.

I will need to check out the Cable & Wireless ‘managed video conferencing‘ service and see how that works.

Meanwhile, if you’ve got some 60 minute teleconferences scheduled next week, send the ‘meeting owner’ this post and tell them to keep it to 30 minutes in order to hold the attention of the attendees…