Getting together to share key information is incredibly important yet often hard to achieve face-to-face. It’s not just finding the time that’s tricky, but also physically getting everyone to the same location. After checking schedules, venue availability and travel options, you might end up with a compromise instead of the easy meeting you wanted.
This is a common issue in the healthcare industry, where knowledge frequently needs to be shared widely and quickly. It could be an internal issue – getting stakeholders in the same company into one place. Or it could be external – trying to reach hundreds of healthcare practitioners from all over the country.
What’s the answer?
The solution is pretty simple: virtual meetings.
A virtual meeting is a way to bring everyone into a single conversation, wherever they happen to be located in the ‘real’ world. Meeting organisers can schedule one at any time that suits, without having to worry about where everyone will be sitting.
Invited attendees simply log-in via a computer, tablet or mobile, at a location that’s convenient for them. They see and hear what’s happening (depending on the software being used), participating when required.
Consequently, these meetings are increasingly popular across businesses worldwide. They’re not only very effective but provide time and cost-savings too.
The right tools for the job
There are many different software choices for hosting virtual meetings. At first, this can seem overwhelming. Think about what your meeting needs to achieve. Is it a presentation? Or perhaps it’s a roundtable. Do you want everyone attending to join in? This will help narrow down the choices to what’s right for your business.
For straightforward discussions, easily available apps like Skype and Google Hangout can be useful, with the ability to do text chat, voice or video meetings. Telephone and video conferencing also work well and lots of businesses are already set up for these options.
Think webinar
If you want to do anything more complicated, like share screens or slides, a webinar may be the best solution. Webinars make it easy to focus on one or a few key speakers. You can also reach as many people as you want, from one to hundreds.
There are lots of webinar tools available, from WebEx to GotoWebinar. They each have their own tool-sets, which enable users to do things like mute panellists or offer attendees the chance to ask questions. Presenters can host polls, then download the results after the meeting for reporting purposes. You can even record webinars, which gives you the ability to let people who couldn’t make it watch at a later time.
Don’t be intimidated by virtual meetings and webinars. E4H has hosted virtual meetings for thousands of professionals in the healthcare industry over the last ten years. Contact us now and we can start working with you straight away.
Emma is Head of Marketing and Content at E4H.