How2Day: Remote Collaboration Tools

Replace mandatory in-person meetings with webinars. seminar_business image by Andrey Kiselev from Fotolia.com
The possibilities of remote collaboration are expanding rapidly as the Internet becomes more accessible. With access to free email accounts, free video streaming and publishing sites and new communication software, sharing ideas is easier than ever. By experimenting with online communication and collaboration tools, you and your partners can quickly become skilled at creating and sharing text, audio and video documents.

Email is one of the most widely used forms of communication today. You can write, send and ensure a message is received within minutes. While collaborating, such a tool can help you meet deadlines and get more work done in normal working hours. Email is not only free with Internet access, but most email providers allow you to attach text, picture, audio and video files directly in your message.

Presentation software, such as PowerPoint and Keynote, provides simple ways to display information in an interesting and attractive manner. Instead of simply sending information in an email, presentation software can help you arrange your information into slides that may communicate the message in a succinct manner. Short blurbs of text, pictures, audio and video can be embedded into each slide. These presentations are pockets of information that can be sent to multiple people in a single email attachment.

With webinars, an unlimited amount of people in an unlimited amount of locations can access the same video conference, granted they have access to the Internet. Webinars are one-way conferences, where the speaker can talk directly to the audience but the audience does not have the ability to respond or ask questions. Depending on the grade of the software, text chat, audio capabilities, slide presentations and live or streaming video can be used.

Video publishing sites like YouTube provide an easy way to share videos on the Internet. By publishing your video to a public website, you increase your visibility to the general public while making the information accessible to your intended audience.

Virtual worlds, such as Second Life, have typically been used for entertainment purposes, similar to gaming. More recently, businesses have been using virtual worlds to hold meetings, collaborate and exchange ideas within the business itself and for business-to-business communication. With virtual world software, users must create avatars. These avatars are then allowed access into the virtual world and can interact with each other through text chat and voice communications.

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