Most of us spend a lot of time in business meetings - and I'm sure we all daydream once in a while, or miss part of the meeting as we check our e-mail or consult news sites. Harmless as this might sound, there's clearly something going on.


So many costly meetings...

When Googling the topic, I came across this interesting infographic which shows that there are about 3 billion meetings per year in the US alone. Yet, 71% of the meeting participants feel that these meetings are not productive. So, we knowledge workers are spending the bulk of our time in meetings that we consider unproductive.

Imagine what this loss of productivity costs an organization. At a conservatively estimated hourly rate of $50 (USD) per meeting participant, the average 5-person meeting could cost up to $250 per meeting. Or, as Group Vision estimates: each year, the Fortune 500 companies lose $75 billion on unproductive meetings. Anything but harmless, if you ask me…

From presentation to true collaboration

Over the last two decades, technology has changed the way people collaborate - from telephone and fax, to e-mail, online chat and social media. With the help of internet connectivity, microblogging, conferencing tools, groupware platforms, and more, people are working together like they never have before. But many people feel it's time for yet another revolution in the meeting space - to help us move from monologue to dialogue, from presentation to true collaboration.

We are convinced that technology can help turn collaboration into a competitive advantage for your business. And that's what we want to explore in our SWITCH blog, as we share collaboration facts, figures, trends and updates, with a sprinkling of product news from Barco's AV world.

Happy reading!

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