One Tool to Help You Travel Less

Deal professionals travel a lot. Attending conferences or visiting management teams across the country can send dealmakers to the airport on a regular basis.

The travel quickly becomes tiresome, using a large amount of our most valuable resources: time and money.

But, John Slater of Focus Investment Banking believes he has found a helpful alternative for much of his travel: video calling and video conferences. Although the strategy might sound like an imperfect alternative to in-person meetings, watch our below video call as Slater explains the clear benefits of swapping a few days of travel for a good video chat.

If you’re interested in giving the video strategy a try, there are some best practices and tips below, as well.

Best Practices & Tips

• Not all spaces are good for video. Just because you can video conference anywhere, doesn’t mean you should. Take some time to make sure the room is optimized for lighting, acoustics, and aesthetics.  
• Make sure you have reliable technology. Video conferences will be pointlessly inefficient if the connection is spotty or your technology is poor. One of the main benefits of a video call is getting as close to in-person interaction without the expense of time and money. Make sure you are using a good video software, an up-to-date computer, and have good bandwidth for your internet.
• Reduce distractions. When conferencing, make sure all other programs on your computer are turned off. This will prevent any unnecessary interruptions on the call and help prevent your computer from getting overloaded.
• Practice, practice, practice. Video can be a very unforgiving medium. A lot of people are very concerned about how they will appear. Take a few minutes before your first few video calls to practice with some colleagues.
• Got several people on the call? Have non-speaking parties mute.