Smart Videoconferencing. New Habits for Virtual Meetings

Berglund Authority Level 3

by Jeffrey Barlow <barlowj@pacificu.edu>

Editor, Interface

Janelle Barlow, Peta Peter, and Lewis Barlow. Smart Videoconferencing. New Habits for Virtual Meetings. San Francisco: Barrett-Koehler Publishers, 2002.

Fair disclosure requires that I begin this review by acknowledging that I am related to two of the three authors: I am the former spouse of one, and the father of another. Moreover, many of our contacts at the Berglund Center were consulted in its preparation. Out of this tangle of relationships, however, there results, I hope, a sort of crudely balanced objectivity.

Videoconferencing is clearly a growth industry. The continually growing friction (and expense) of air travel alone will cause many to turn to videoconferencing. Anything to avoid those long lines and the constant humiliation, leavened by occasional moments of low comedy, now necessary to air travel in the United States. And in addition, it is obvious that teleconferencing will become increasingly important to education as well as to business.

The intended audience for this book is those with less interest in the technical side of videoconferencing than in making an effective presentation on camera. For them, whether executives, sales people, or teachers approaching distance learning, the book will prove very useful. It covers everything from how to plan to how to dress. It also has a great many cautionary tales spread throughout that can help one avoid common mistakes.

One shortcoming of the book is that it is, well, unduly long. It has a great deal of white space throughout, and some elements seem to be less necessary than aimed at reaching a specified minimum length. A quick glance, for example, at the ten pages of commonly mispronounced words will cause one to note that they seem on the whole to have a lot of "S" and "P" sounds in them and are to be avoided, if possible, while speaking into a microphone. Such an observation might well have served to replace the list with something more useful. For example, a bit more technical detail.

The section on "Useful Terms to Know" is very welcome. Videoconferencing is far from transparent at present, as many of the stories in the book show, and it is very difficult to cleanly separate technical issues from performance on camera. A clear understanding of the technical vocabulary will, if nothing else, give one an appreciation for why there are so many delays in getting all that very expensive equipment to work properly. Anyone who reads this book, however, will be much better prepared to perform effectively when everything does come together. We expect to find Smart Videoconferencing very useful at the Berglund Center as we ourselves venture into videoconferencing.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Barlow

Editor, Interface