Telepresence: The future of video conferencing is here and it's called telepresence.

Cisco Telepresence, the current leader in the field, defines it as a face-to-face "in-person" meeting experience over a converged network, empowering you to interact and collaborate real-time with people all over the world like never before.

Telepresence conferencing equipment can improve productivity and effectiveness by enhancing business communication, collaboration, and reducing physical travel. These technologies transmit life-size, high-definition images and spatial discrete audio. Now it's easier than ever to discern facial expressions for those crucial business discussions and negotiations across the "virtual table." Telepresence allows a person to feel as if they are present, to give the appearance that they are present, or to have an effect, at a location other than their true location.

The applications and benefits are endless. I'm sure many people thought that email couldn't replace mailing a letter. Can you imagine the significant time and cost benefit telepresence can have let alone the positive impact this can have on the environment by reducing travel - a huge source of carbon emmissions. From education to real time remote surgeries, this technology is proving to be a very promising, practical and extremely efficient way of communicating and collaborating. It can establish a sense of presence like no other media and connect communities like never before.

Telepresence means less Physical Travel

Not only does physical travel involve time and effort, but it can also involve a great deal of money. There is the cost incurred with airfare, rental cars, dining out, hotel rooms, taxis, etc., and also all the time lost traveling and preparing to travel where you or your colleagues could have been using that time a lot more efficiently and productively. Where business meetings once took 1 to 2 days, telepresence technology can cut that down to 1 or 2 hours. Another extremely important benefit of less travel is the impact of our carbon footprint on the planet.

Telepresence is Premium Technology

Telepresence has dramatically improved the usage and acceptance of visual collaboration by addressing the human factors of participants to create a more natural, productive and realistic experience. Unlike video conferencing, telepresence works at any scale, from the desktop to small groups to distance learning classrooms to neurological surgical education. Quite simply, telepresence lets users feel as if they are present in the same physical space with others who might be thousands of miles away. The experience is natural, comfortable, easy-to-use, supremely collaborative and as different from traditional videoconferencing as the space shuttle is to a commercial airliner.

Building Face to Face Relationships

At its core, business is about face-to-face relationships. Whether those relationships are between a board member and corporate officer, salesperson and client, or partners in a joint venture, effective business communication remains a combination of understanding, mutual advantage and trust best exercised eye-to-eye between the main participants. Also, studies have shown that both comprehension and retention are improved when you see information in addition to hearing it. Most importantly, some behavioral psychologists believe that 70 percent to 80 percent of communication is non-verbal: facial expressions, gestures, posture and eye contact, which the brain processes quickly, naturally and often subconsciously for a richer understanding of what is being communicated than through speech alone.

Sources : HumanProductivityLab.com

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