DocAndersen
Friday was a lost day for me; I went from conference call to conference call all day long. I get fried by about the 6th call. I powered through because the last couple of calls were important to me (learning opportunity). It did get me thinking; however, about the concept of virtual meetings. I started my IT career before the concept of web meetings caught on. I won’t, as I have previously talked about the various companies and solutions in the conferencing software space. Nor, as I have covered those many times, need to talk about the software. Today instead, I wanted to talk a little about the hardware. If you have an android tablet or an iPad, you have a conferencing system.
If you have a laptop, (most) you have a conferencing system. I carry a Logitech camera in my bag. My laptop from work has a camera, but it isn’t the best. The Logitech also has two microphones which do a better job of cutting noise. I do take calls that include video when I am disconnected from a network (wifi or ethernet), so the ability to send and share video over cellular for me is critical. I also have two Logitech devices at home. One is a speaker/camera system for my laptop when I am working at home. The reason I bring this up is the reality of a call I had yesterday. There was someone speaking that I needed to hear.
I put on my noise canceling headset and honestly no matter how high I made the volume, I couldn’t hear the person.
I have been working on an application for the last couple of years trying to figure out if you could notify someone that their voice isn’t reaching everyone on the call. The problem with that kind of application is the real-time requirement. IT, the application needs to have a component installed on every computer in a meeting. Webex, GoToMeeting, and Zoom all have the local software installed (there is ambient noise on your line), This would be a system that allowed your system to report to the meeting what your local volume is, but also receive from all the remote microphones what your distant volume is. That way if your connection is ok, and it is a remote connection, the system can notify the remote user that it is their problem. If it is your problem, the system can notify you!
As I said, I’ve been working on this and one other application for more than two years. I probably will still be working on it in two more years.
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Question of
have you ever been on a conference call where you just couldn’t hear the person?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
Do you attend conference calls often?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
Do you find yourself multi-tasking?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
Do you have an Android Tablet or an iPad?
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Yes
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No
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It is a great idea DocAndersen. In this advanced world, we sometimes have to ask the other person if we are audible enough on a call. It would be great if we can know this ourselves without having to ask.
thank you and I truly agree!
I am a novice when it comes to conference calls.
They are interesting realities some times.
I see what you mean.
I haven’t tried a conference but I video call my daughter most of the time. I wanted to suggest this type of conducting a meeting in our office but I have yet to test if it would be possible considering that the internet speed in our place is not yet great.
It i possible with lower speeds, but can be really bad!
I’ve never done video conferencing…
I would figure that you had an avatar, one of many you’ve shared instead of your actual face!
I’d use Evangelion’s sound only avatars…
I believe that, it would be interesting for sure.
now I want to go watch Evangelion
I used conference calls when I was still busy. I occasionally had some problems.
Thanks it seems to go in cycles
This is not something I have done. However there was a time I was on Skype and got a call from Eleanor, Warwicks sister in Australia and some family members on the sykpe. We did not get visual. I could hear everyone.
I got rid of Skype because I got some unwanted calls from total strangers,,,
I ended up blocking so many people on Skype.
A wise decision Doc, I had people ring me from all over the world and had no idea what I had got myself into.
I blocked a lot of people over the years.
I did not receive a conference call and rightly said this is another novelty for me, dear friend
They are not as fun as one would think
That’s what I do for you, I believe
I have only heard about and read about conference calling but never participated.
some are fun, some last forever.
I remember the days of conference calls. I hope the technology gets better. Nothing more frustrating than not being able to hear the other person.
yeah that is why I started writing this software but it is way too big.= for what I need right now.
On conference call , it is very easy to listen No from other party since eye contact matters.
eye contact matters, but I find lots of people do other things when listening to a call
Yes but attention divert in that case , one cannot pay attention to your exact message on conference call as compared to contact in person.
That is why my company really pushed having your video camera on! Hard to do other things when you have to look at a camera.
that;s really nice to heard from you
I have to attend conference calls daily and I can never hear. I have to hope someone takes notes. It’s a complete waste of time.
I have a friend who whispers just to see who will ask him to speak up!
Conference calling can be helpful in this way, but yes sometimes it can cause problems like not being able to hear right. Thank you!
in fact they can be very useful and very frustrating