One of the great business tools of the last few years that the internet has brought to the marketplace is video conferencing. This allows a group of people to be able to meet and collaborate together through sight and sound no matter where they are located throughout the world.

It should be obvious to see that there are many benefits that businesses can derive from video conferencing including being able to hold office meetings in real time without having to pay the travel costs associated to bring people from various locations together at one time. It also saves on the lost productivity spent in just traveling there.

So how do you make sure that the web conference is a success? Here are a few tips to help you plan for your next video conference session:

1. The person conducting the video conference will most likely want to arrive early, and make sure that all of the equipment is functioning correctly well before the meeting begins. You don't want to have to be fumbling with equipment problems when the meeting is scheduled to start. They should all be ironed out well in advance.

2. The conductor at the video conference should also try to pay attention to the kind of clothes that they wear for the meeting, as bright and bold colors can be very distracting and perhaps even irritating on a video screen. So try to keep clothing colors as muted and solid as possible.

3. Another common cause for irritation while video conferences are going on is excessive movement on the part of the speaker. So whoever is speaking needs to make a conscious effort to try to keep their motion and movements during the discussion down to a minimum.

4. Everyone on the video conference should be made aware that the microphones can be very sensitive, even picking up very small and inconspicuous sounds. So everyone on the conference needs to know that they should be careful to avoid sounds like tapping pencils on a desk, or other similar sounds that can be distracting. They also should be made aware that they should not try to whisper something during the meeting that they do not want everyone else to hear, as it could prove embarrassing if amplified by the microphone.

5. The main speaker of the video conference can also add immeasurably toward the enjoyment of the meeting by imagining that everyone else on the call is in the same room, and by maintaining eye contact with the video camera. This will usually result in natural gestures and a comfortable speaking style that is easy for everyone else to follow.

If you practice these ideas, they will most likely help you to conduct successful and enjoyable video conferences.

Steadman Issenburg writes on many consumer related topics including communication. You can find online teleconferencing and online web conferencing and more by visiting our communication website.