If you're the one responsible for organizing your company's conferences, you'll know that cost is a big factor in deciding which option to go for. In a perfect world, everyone will attend your conference in one place and at one time. Unfortunately, it can be frighteningly expensive to fly delegates in, put them up in hotels and pay for the other expenses associated with getting people to attend a conference.

You may have noticed the average cost of business-class tickets increasing of late, and one of the big reasons is thanks to advanced web technology. I'm talking about web conferencing, or video conferencing, which allows delegates to conference virtually thus saving the need to travel to a physical event. As cost becomes an ever greater factor in deciding which conference option to choose, many companies are now turning to web conferencing as a viable alternative.

The advances in video conferencing mean that multiple delegates can now watch real-time streaming of a video event. This has brought the corporate community much closer as a result. As well, the pricing of this technology has proven to be much more affordable for small to midsized businesses looking to cut costs on conventions, meetings and everything associated with long
distance travel.

With the expanding scope of web conferencing technology, audio and video can now be delivered via a broadband or high-speed connection to anyone, anywhere in the world just by having a web browser. As a result, meetings can be held and recorded so that remote staff in different time zones, who might not be able to attend the conference, can replay it at a more convenient time. Delegates are now able to use a whole host of new tools in a conference, such as present materials or collaborate on documents. This process has allowed people to work across borders far more quickly and easily than before.

In Australia alone, video conferencing software such as Web Ex is used by over 11,000 businesses. The reduced travel this has allowed will have reduced the amount of carbon emitted by thousands of tonnes. Some of the more common users of Web Ex software are in the finance and IT sections, and they use it for marketing and training purposes.