Video Conferencing Breaks Out of the Boardroom – Watch it On-Demand

Video conferencing has changed.  What was once a very costly technology only used by large enterprise type organizations with dedicated IT departments is now easier to use and more cost effective. There are a variety of solutions to fit almost any budget.

This was the topic of discussion a few weeks ago when I joined Bloomberg Businessweek in their New York Studios for a live Video Webcast called “Video Breaks Out of the Boardroom”.  The show was hosted by Jim Ellis, Assistant Managing Editor of Bloomberg Businessweek, and I was delighted that they invited me to join Marc  Beattie from Wainhouse Research to be part of this episode.  Here is a photo from our broadcast:

The Bloomberg building was amazing and everyone I met there was extremely friendly and helpful.  We had a wonderful discussion and looked at what’s involved with implementing video conferencing including how much technical know-how it takes, how and why companies using it, what it costs, and what are some of the stumbling blocks. We also took some great questions from those that were viewing the live broadcast.

In case you missed it you can now view the entire Video Webcast live.  Just register here and you can watch the whole show.  We discussed the topic for about 20 minutes and then had about 10 minutes of Q&A.  If you’re currently using video conferencing, or thinking about it, you definitely want to catch this.

A big thanks to everyone at Bloomberg Businessweek for having me be a part of this event. I hope to join them again for future shows!

Please post a comment below and let me know what you thought of the webcast and feel free to ask me any questions you might have about using video to connect with your virtual teams and remote workers.

Join me Thursday – Bloomberg BusinessWeek Free Live Webcast on Video Conferencing

I’ve been invited by Bloomberg BusinessWeek to be a panelist on a free live video webcast this Thursday (June 10th) all about video conferencing -  I hope you can tune in! Here is the description:

Video Breaks Out of the Boardroom
Thursday, June 10 at
10am PT | 1pm ET | 6pm GMT

Video is changing how companies interact with employees, suppliers, partners and customers. It’s an important area for growth and an essential tool for global businesses.

Join us as we speak to executives and thought leaders in the video collaboration space about emerging technologies and how these tools offer so much promise for business.

• Build & sustain business relationships
• Broaden the scope of your markets
• Strengthen customer relations and loyalty

Our expert panel, moderated by Jim Ellis of Bloomberg Businessweek, includes Marc Beattie, co-founder, Managing Partner, and Co-Manager ofUnified Collaboration Practice at Wainhouse Research and a recognized expert on the collaboration services market and Phil Montero, CEO of Montero Consulting, Founder of YouCanWorkFromAnywhere.com, and the spearhead of the remote work movement for more than a decade.

Read more

Work Unchained: Free Webinar Replay, Whitepaper, and Blog Post

Work happens everywhere – virtual offices, client sites, home offices, coffee shops, airports, hotels, and any number of remote workplaces.  However, despite all the advantages of flexible work – most companies struggle when making this shift.

The biggest problem is that most organizations take an ad-hoc approach to workshifing, which has been thrust upon them. The business landscape began to change; they increasingly found themselves working across time and distance with team mates, remote offices, clients, vendors, and other outsourced professionals. And they mostly left individual employees, project teams, and offices to decide for themselves how best to conduct business. Virtual teamwork was not deliberate, and not undertaken with any real strategy.

If you’re in this boat – what are you to do? You can’t just stop the flow of business and start over with a brand new plan. But you also can’t just lumber forward and say to your people, ‘Work virtually better.’ What you CAN do is take a step back to get a perspective on your process and workflow in order to isolate and highlight areas for improvement and adjustment. One way to accomplish this is by conducting  my ICC Workflow Audit™ which helps you take a look at your needs for Information, Communication, and Collaboration in order to guide you in choosing and throughtfully apply the right technology and guidelines for your organization or team.

I recently partnered with Citrix Online to discuss this topic in a free webinar – Work Unchained: The Competitive Edge of the Anywhere Office®. We had a great turnout for the event and some interesting discussions.  If you missed it you can watch it on-demand.

For more information on how to implement the ICC Workflow Audit™, read my white paper or my guest post on their blog Workshifting.com

I’d love to hear your thoughts on how you or your organization have adopted to virtual teamwork.  Please post a comment below and share your stories and feedback!

Enter Your Quote to Win a Free Pass to an Upcoming vPanel on Managing Virtual Teams

Hello Folks  – I am going to be a panelist on a virtual event next Monday (the event described below) and the hosts have provided me with 2 free tickets to give away. So if you are interested in attending the Building and Managing Effective Virtual Teams vpanel, put your name into the hat to win a free ticket by using the comments section below this post to contribute a favorite or poignant quotation about any aspect of virtual work. It can be a famous quote, or something you heard, or a quote of your own.

You only have a couple of days, on Friday afternoon I will select 2 names at random from the contributors to each receive a free pass. I will not choose based on the ‘best’ quotes, and you only have 2 days, so don’t be shy. Just a fun way to get some food for thought and give away the tickets.

To get the wheel turning I am going to offer a great quote that I believe relates to virtual teams, and in managing virtual workers in particular:

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”
~Antoine de Saint-Exupery

and Jason wants to share one of his favorites and a classic mobile work/telework quote:

“Work is something you do, not some place you go.” ~ Unknown

Now it’s your turn. Learn more about the vpanel below and contribute a quote in the comments section of this post. Read more

Our First Flexwork Chat on Twitter

On Wednesday, February 17th we had our first Flexwork Chat on Twitter.  I was joined by Jasper
Westerway (@JasperWestaway), CEO of OneDrum, and Lokesh Datta (@LDatta) of AllCollaboration.com as well as a bunch of other great twitter folks who were eager to discuss and debate the current state and challenges of flexible work.

The discussion centered around some of the findings from One Drum’s recent flexible work study.

We discussed a number of topics including:

• How can flexible/remote working can make you more productive?
• What are some of barriers to productive remote working?
• What should businesses consider when choosing tools to facilitate remote working?

View this post on the One Drum blog for a summary of some of the key points and a full transcription is available in PDF form here (Thanks Chip!).

It was fun, exciting, and informative and we are planning to make this a fairly regular event.  It looks like we will be doing one again next Wednesday so I hope you will join us!

What is a tweet chat?
For those of you unfamiliar with this online discussion format, a tweetchat is simply an organized group chat that takes place using the Twitter platform. Participants use an assigned hashtag (in our case #flexworkchat) for their tweets during the discussion. For more information on Tweet chats check out this short article.

You can follow along, or participate, by visiting http://tweetchat.com/room/flexworkchat or simply following the #flexworkchat hashtag on twitter.

If you want to know about upcoming chats (and other events) please subscribe to our email newsletter (on the right hand side of any page of this blog) or follow me on Twitter!

Phil Montero 2.0 – Why 2 heads are better than one!

I recently entered a fun video contest sponsored by HotHardware.com and Viddler where they asked you to upload a short video telling them about your personal hardware or tech gear and why it enhances your world. The prize was a Flip UltraHD Camcorder.  These amazing video cameras shoot in HD and are small enough to fit in your pocket (a perfect addition to The Anywhere Office).  I’ve been wanting one for a while so when I saw the contest I just had to enter!  After some brainstorming with Jason we came up with a fun idea that not only highlighted some great tech but also explained the productivity boost I get from using it.  There were some very creative entries to the contest but happily about a week ago they announced me as the winner (waaahoo)!  Here is my winning entry:

If you’re not familiar with their website, HotHardware.com features computing/hardware news and reviews f0r technology enthusiasts and IT professionals. They have a wonderful active community and I highly recommend you sign up for free and join in the discussions. Read more

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (5.6MB)

Ready.gov’s National Preparedness Month 2009 Business Fact Sheet

It’s not really a ‘put on a funny hat and blow a paper noise maker’ sort of event, but September is National Preparedness Month and I thought in honor of that I would share The Department of Homeland Security’s Ready.gov Business Fact Sheet. The fact sheet is distributed as part of their Ready Business campaign and you can find more details and resources for appropriate disaster planning and business continuity at www.ready.gov.

As our contribution to National Preparedness Month we have made our on-demand teleseminar, Riding the Storm Out, available FREE for the rest of the year.  Visit this page to listen to 4 South Florida experts discuss strategies, tips, and best practices for building a simple but effective business continuity and disaster recovery plan. The whole seminar is only about an hour and is packed full of real-deal advice, and each speaker also provided supporting documents that you can download.

2009 Business Fact Sheet Follows:

U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Washington, DC 20528

Fact Sheet

September 1, 2009

READY BUSINESS

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Advertising Council launched the Ready Business Campaign in September 2004. This extension of Homeland Security’s successful Ready Campaign, designed to educate and empower Americans to prepare for and respond to emergencies, focuses specifically on business preparedness. Ready Business helps owners and managers of small- and medium-sized businesses prepare their employees, operations and assets in the event of an emergency.

• Ready Business was developed by Homeland Security and launched in partnership with U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Small Business Administration, Society of Human Resource Management, The Business Roundtable, The 9/11 Public Discourse Project, ASIS International, Business Executives for National Security, International Safety Equipment Association, International Security Management Association, National Association of Manufacturers, National Federation of Independent Businesses, and Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
• The goal of Ready Business is to raise the business community’s awareness of the need for emergency planning and motivate businesses to take action. The campaign encourages business owners and managers to: plan to stay in business; talk to their employees; and protect their investment.
• Emergencies, including natural disasters and potential terrorist attacks, can paralyze business operations. Small- and medium-sized businesses in particular are most vulnerable to these events. Having an emergency plan can help protect a company and maximize its potential to survive and recover after an incident.
• According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, small businesses represent more than 99 percent of all employers; provide approximately 75 percent of the net new jobs added to the economy; and represent 97 percent of all U.S. exporters. If these businesses are prepared to survive and recover, the nation and the economy are more secure. Read more

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