This blog is brought to you by the team at Blue Jeans Network. We write about video conferencing, work from home, telecommuting, mobility and startup culture.
At Blue Jeans our mission is to convert every audio conference to a video conference, but that doesn't mean that we believe that every participant in every video conference has to be on video. That's part of the elegance of our solution. You schedule your meeting knowing that each of your participants can select the best way to connect based on where they are, what they have access to, and what is going on at the time. Most people are going to choose video, because as we all know it makes for a better experience, but if for some reason they can't or don't want to, they can still join the meeting as an audio only participant.
In the year since we rolled out our service, we've found pretty consistently that about 10% of our participants join their Blue Jeans meetings on a good old-fashioned phone line. Still others join from a video enabled endpoint, but for one reason or another choose to keep their camera off for some, or all of the meeting.
So what are some good reasons to skip the video on your next Blue Jeans call?
(1) When you are driving or operating machinery
(2) When you are in your pajamas (or anything else your colleagues don't want to see)
(3) When you are somewhere with a distracting background (a crowded market, the soccer game, etc.)
(4) Anytime you are at the hospital emergency room (unless using video to show something to a doctor)
(5) While recovering from a broken nose or facial surgery
(6) When your internet connection sucks
(7) When kids or pets are in the room with you
(8) On a date
(9) In a locker room
(10) After eating Oreos
The rest of the time video is great! Yes, video enabled laptops and mobile devices have made video conferencing borderless such that we can be on video anywhere and anytime, but please, let's use a little common sense. I look forward to seeing (or hearing…) you soon on the Blue Jeans Network!
