One way a moderator can keep the data flowing is by limiting the bandwidth used by individual users. For example, the moderator (who controls the availability of features) can offer video and higher-quality audio to key executives and limit other participants to lower-quality transmissions and fewer features.
For a moderator to make a Web conference a cooperative exchange of quality knowledge, he or she must overcome two primary obstacles, according to Mary Boone, author of Interactive Management and president of the management consulting firm, Boone Associates in Norwalk, Connecticut.
"The number one issue is recognizing that people resist change," says Boone. "You need to make it clear at a visceral level how the technology you have adopted will help the users to achieve their own, and the project's, goals sooner."
Boone says you have to rethink what makes online communication work. "Start out by thinking not about what you want to say, but its effect on the other participants in the virtual meeting. For example, don't burden the other team members by sending broadcast messages." She implies that others will recognize it as a self-serving tactic that diminishes the value of the meeting.
Here, too, technology has the answers, and it's up to the moderator to apply them. The key is using personalization to make all participants part of the collaborative process. Text chats can encourage reticent employees to speak their mind. Chat, sometimes called instant messaging or pop-up messaging, can be broadcast to all attendees or directed to specific participants.
With these tools, you can create affordable online collaboration. After learning how best to do it, the rest is comparatively simple, says Sudman. In most cases, he says, you'll end up with better collaboration than occurs in actual meetings. If you can keep people interested, develop effective procedures, and assign an efficient moderator, you can prove him right.
