Over the last few weeks, our staff and Partners had the opportunity to interact with customers and future customers through a series of open houses. Two events took place here in Scottsdale (at our corporate headquarters), while another was held last week just outside of Boston.

As you may have read here on the blog, one of our two Scottsdale open houses featured an opportunity to win the award-winning LifeSize® Express high definition videoconferencing system, and true to our word, we gave one away… to a very nice IT director at a local educationally-focused nonprofit organization.

For information about future open house events–where you can meet our staff and participate in a live videoconferencing session–continue visiting our blog or see the “News & Upcoming Events” section on the home page of our corporate site.

Popularity: 48% [?]

Each spring, people from all over the world partake in a ritual so excruciating that some participants actually faint, or worse—throw up—during the process itself. Similar to participating in an IRONMAN Triathlon, defending a Doctoral/PhD dissertation in front of some of the smartest people in your field may in fact be easier said than done. While each PhD candidate looks for any edge they can get during the agonizing process, future letter holders of academic letters have found that what they say is actually less important than how they say it!

Noted communications guru and Professor Emeritus of Psychology at UCLA, Albert Mehrabian, discovered way back in 1971 that people communicate best through body language. According to Mehrabian, effective communication requires a careful combination of three elements, best summed up as the “7%-38%-55% Rule”:

• 7% – Oral content (what you say)
• 38% – Vocal (tone, intonation, and volume)
• 55% – Body language (non-verbal communication)

This means 93% of all communication is lost when you can neither hear nor see the person you are communicating with (i.e., emails and text messages are some of the least efficient means of communication). With phone calls, you miss a staggering 55% of the message!

To maximize business communication effectiveness and efficiency, businesses of all shapes and sizes really should consider embracing technologies that allows for the best communication possible. This is the world in which our company (Face to Face Live) exists; at the cusp of one of the most innovative business communication solutions in recent history. With videoconferencing and telepresence solutions like those available today, you can finally have an affordable face-to-face communications experience, anywhere in the world.

Remember, they just don’t award a PhD to anyone. Be smart. Join the videoconferencing revolution today!

Popularity: 63% [?]

No one disagrees that everyone has the right to a speedy trial, but by its inherent nature, the wheels of justice do tend to turn rather slowly. And when you’re facing international litigation—the type which often requires plaintiff and defendant alike to cross one or more borders only to wait for a deposition or trial to take place on someone else’s notion of time—your costs can easily get out of control.

In an article published last Friday on Law.com, Daniel Wise of the New York Law Journal writes that the “Brooklyn Surrogate’s Court has conducted seven kinship hearings in the past two years with witnesses in distant locations, six of them abroad,” saving on international travel–by both a court staff lawyer and at least one other lawyer–by using videoconferencing.

From Law.com:

Brooklyn Surrogate Margarita López Torres, who…was elected in 2005, said she had pushed to “find more cost-effective ways” of conducting Surrogate’s Court functions “without jeopardizing quality.”

Yesterday’s hearing [sic: in Manhattan] involved claims being pressed by three maternal first cousins of Ethel Mudry, who died without a will in 2005, apparently without a living husband or children. With no other apparent heirs, the three cousins claim Ms. Mudry’s estate, valued at $270,000, should be distributed to them.

Three witnesses, including one of the cousins, testified during the hearing, which lasted more than 2 1/2 hours. Mr. Valentik, an old family friend, testified about Ms. Mudry’s family roots in Slovakia, which became a nation-state when the Republic of Czechoslovakia dissolved in 1989.

According to the article, the minimum cost of sending a Manhattan court attorney–and counsel for the public administrator–abroad is approximately $10,000, which is a fraction of what it costs to own or rent a videoconferencing system of your own for a year or more. With those types of costs, regardless of where you live, you shouldn’t be too surprised if your next deposition or sworn testimony is taken via videoconference.

Popularity: 40% [?]

Take a look at the invite off to the right and you’ll see that we’re about to host our very first Open House.

For the first time ever, the doors of our Scottsdale, Arizona, corporate headquarters will be open to anyone who wants to learn more about the value and benefits of true HD videoconferencing.

Among the many great things happening throughout the day is that we’ll be giving away one LifeSize Express videoconferencing system worth $6,000, along with one year’s worth of our unmatched Managed Service, which includes:

• Telepresence Consulting
• Bridging and Streaming Capability
• 24 x 7 x 365 NOC for Worldwide Support
• Multipoint Scheduling
• Management Support
• Technical Support
• Fault Management

If you live or work in the Phoenix / Scottsdale metro area and would like to stop by for this Friday’s Open House, please give our office a call at (480) 348-3400. If attending this week’s Open House isn’t going to work for you or your colleagues, give us a call anyway… we’re always up for visiting your location or having you swing by ours for a one-on-one meet, greet and demo.

Popularity: 52% [?]

Today, we’re excited to officially announce that LifeSize Communications has been chosen as our key telepresence technology partner. If you’re unfamiliar with LifeSize, that’s about to change. One hundred percent of the products we rent and sell are manufactured and supplied by LifeSize, an Austin, Texas-based start-up with a stable of award-winning HD quality videoconferencing equipment.

For more on this exciting development, read Face to Face Live, Inc. Names LifeSize Key Technology Partner.

Popularity: 42% [?]

Today marks a special occasion in the history of our company. For the first time ever, all of our Partners are gathered in one location–here at our Corporate Headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona–for our first-ever Spring Partner Meeting. In addition to enjoying good food and wine and getting to know one another better, we’re bringing ourselves up-to-speed on the latest thinking and strategies associated with selling and managing LifeSize™ Communication’s HD quality videoconferencing systems.

Above, our vice president of corporate communications, Darla McCormick, unveils our new sales presentation kit. Other presenters throughout the day included:

• Greg Craven, Channel Manager (Western US & Canada) - LifeSize™ Communications (Greg provided an in depth overview of all of LifeSize’s videoconferencing systems).
• Al Smith, Founder and CEO - Face to Face Live, Inc.™ (Al, our ringleader, kept us on task throughout the day and did a great job making everyone feel welcome and an important part of the team).
• Jean Lancaster, National Accounts Manager - Face to Face Live, Inc.™ (Jean brought us up-to-speed on the latest videoconferencing industry buzz words and phrases and shared a lot great information about other companies in our space).
• Andrew Adams, Corporate Counsel - Face to Face Live, Inc.™ (Andrew covered the Face to Face Live contracting process, which at the end of the day is built around the notion that contracting for services doesn’t need a long and drawn out process).

Gatherings like our Spring Partner Meeting make us smarter and better prepared to help you–our customer–make informed decisions and enjoy the benefits of HD quality videoconferencing sooner rather than later.

Popularity: 50% [?]

• Average cost of domestic airfare, car rental, meals, and one night’s hotel stay for the business traveler: $1,194.00

• Amount of CO2 emissions per trip: 3.75 metric tons

• High Definition Videoconferencing that really works: Priceless… and in the case of the videoconferencing products and services we offer here at Face to Face Live, around $700.00 per month!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock these last two weeks, you know that thousands of airline flights have been canceled due to safety and maintenance concerns. On April 9, American Airlines canceled more than 1,000 flights after grounding its MD-80 aircraft to conduct extra safety inspections on wiring. The following day it canceled 900 more, causing chaos at airports throughout the United States. The cancellations–almost half of the airline’s total schedule–came after about 450 flights had been scrapped on April 8.

Meanwhile, other airlines have canceled large number of flights for the very same reasons, including United, Southwest, Delta, Alaska Airlines and Midwest Airlines. For its part, Southwest was fined over $10 million by the Federal Aviation Administration for violations regarding aircraft inspections and maintenance (a whistle blower testified before Congress that Southwest aircraft had been allowed to fly with fuselage cracks).

What’s the business traveler to do when airline after airline can’t even guarantee its own flight plans? How about taking another look at videoconferencing? Sure, you’d expect us to say that but in all honesty, what else can you do to keep your business running and employees productive when the airlines pull the runway right out from underneath you… take the train or use smaller airports? Please… that’s not a solution; that’s a hassle just waiting to happen!

Do the math—a cost/benefits analysis—to determine how much a videoconferencing system will actually cost or earn back. Total your monthly or annual travel costs and then figure in how much of that travel could be eliminated through videoconferencing. Also calculate the loss of productivity while traveling and the additional time you need to take off work because of exactly what the airlines are doing to you now.

The business benefits are clear, as are the costs. For around $700 per month, you can equip any of your business locations with an HD quality videoconferencing solution that’s a heck of lot more dependable than any airline we know of!

Popularity: 39% [?]

There’s an interesting article in today’s Evening Telegram about the possibility of the New York State Legislature authorizing the use of videoconferencing in connection with local courtroom proceedings. The Herkimer (NY) County Legislature recently passed a resolution asking the State Legislature to allow what many states have already done… namely, to officially authorize the use of videoconferencing, as long as defendants do not object.

No one would deny that everyone has a right to a speedy trial, but by its nature, the wheels of justice do tend to turn very slowly. Part of the reason for this is that scheduling a trial and gathering all interested parties in a room is a huge challenge. Although videoconferencing may not guarantee justice, it can help those wheels turn a little more quickly.

Read “Legislature discusses videoconferencing technology” for a an overview of how and why the discussion is taking in place in New York.

Popularity: 59% [?]