WebEx Interactions: A Web Collaboration Blog by WebEx

The New Telecommuters: Where are you going?

As the buzz around skyrocketing fuel prices and travel costs continues, it’s no secret that business people continue to turn to telecommuting as a viable alternative to offset costs and carbon emissions.

As CIO.com profiled this week, companies like Chorus are allowing their entire workforce to work remotely, sparing employees from the hassle of costly commuting. And after saving over $400,000 a year, who could blame them? As Chorus demonstrates, more companies are realizing that remote training and knowledge transfer can be achieved using collaboration tools. Not a bad option when gas prices are almost hitting $5 a gallon in some U.S. cities.

But businesses aren’t the only ones hopping on board the trend, as reported on by the Associated Press this week. We are seeing that lately, a new generation of telecommuters has begun to take shape, as travel costs have fueled a substantial boom in the number of students who are now telecommuting to class. According to the AP, a growing number of students are feeling the pinch of high fuel costs on their budgets, and are enrolling in online classes in record numbers.

Work and school aside, where else can we leverage telecommuting to reduce the need for costly travel? As noted by CNNMoney.com this week, waiting until 2010 when the market recovers is a long time away – so where else can the technology take us when we need to offset our carbon emissions and find ways to cut travel costs? Well, it may not be all that useful to telecommute to your summer vacation in Bali, but it will be interesting to see what other destinations – other than school and work – that we can put on the map.

Colin Smith, Dir., Public Relations, WebEx

Teleworking Saves Gas Money... and Employees?

As gas prices continue to rise – with no end in sight – U.S. drivers are finally reaching a breaking point and seeking out alternatives to avoid spending their paychecks on outrageous fuel expenses.

A recent study referenced by InformationWeek found that if everyone who *could* telecommute did their work from home twice weekly, the country could save 9.7 billion gallons of gas and $38.2 billion a year. The Telework Exchange survey cited that 92% believe they could do their jobs from home, but only 34% actually do telework. And, eighty-four percent of respondents said they rely on their own transportation for work.

The good news is, employees can work from home twice weekly to achieve those results – without sacrificing productivity. By negotiating ways for employees to work remotely 1-2 days a week this summer, companies and employees that pay travel expenses can save hundreds of dollars a month. The situation has led many employers to realize and more firmly believe that communicating and collaborating remotely using Web office collaboration tools such as Cisco WebEx' can often be as or more effective than working in the office. And, many employers believe that the switch to remote collaboration is here to stay – even if/when gas prices go down.

More alarming for employers, 28% of those polled in the above-mentioned study said they are even seeking new jobs to reduce commuting costs. Maybe businesses should be paying even *more* attention to helping their employees work remotely?

Colin Smith, Dir., Public Relations, WebEx

Presentation Advice from an Expert

The Wired How-to Wiki has a good article on delivering dynamic presentations based on the advice of Nancy Duarte of Duarte Design. Duarte Design consults on executive presentations and keynotes, the most notable would be the presentation Al Gore delivers in An Inconvenient Truth.

Advice includes the tried and true, know your audience and memorize your message. The importance of this latter point shouldn't be confused with mistaking presenting by rote. Presenting should be a learning process, including learning from the audience so each time the presenter delivers similar material, he or she is better prepared for audience feedback and questions.

Some technical details worth noting, use 24pt or larger type, which can be seen in the An Inconvenient Truth presentation. As most of us don't have the time or ability to create high quality animations, high quality images, particularly photos, are a good alternative.

For those that build slide decks as a substitute for a memo, per corporate culture: This advice shouldn't go out the window in those instances, but slides have to be denser than Al Gore's example. Since they will be read rather than presented, they need to stand on their own. Still, Al Gore's presentation does stand on its own.

Michael Caton, Collaboration Evangelist, WebEx.