Recently I had the occasion to be on a conference call with several members of a board of directors that I am on.

I suppose there were a dozen faceless voices on the call. To be kind it was a cacophony of noise.

Every opening sentence had to be repeated because someone else had been speaking simultaneously.

It was even worse when more then two voices were vying for the attention. It was intolerable. Why?

ZOOM and all the other video platforms.

Meetings have gone video and the remaining telephone conferences can be pinned on the host who has not made the transition yet. Not making a judgement here, just observing that sticking to the same old, same old because it is a process you know is not the most advantageous.

Seeing the faces of the participants minimizes stepping on each other’s comments because you can take the visual cues that someone is going to say something. Could be a raised hand, the beginnings of their mouth preparing to speak or even a look that communicates “I want to say something now.” Think about the millions of times you sat around a conference table and how the interactions worked. Video meetings help to preserve this, at least to some extent. Of course, being in person is something we all desire, but online video will have to suffice for now.

My point is if we have better technology then use it. The days of telephone conference calls are over, or at least they should be.

The author Greg Demetriou is the founder and CEO of Lorraine Gregory Communications, a full-service integrated marketing and advertising agency. He is also the originator of the Ask A CEO interview series found on GregsCornerOffice.com.