One of the issues that managers most often cite in their resistance to allowing their workers to telecommute is the need to attend meetings. Managers want to make sure that all employees can meet when needed to share ideas, update each other on important projects, and to discuss other important company business.

However, working from home does not preclude being able to attend meetings with co-workers or to collaborate with them. There are many great virtual conferencing tools that can make meetings possible, no matter where each of the participants is located. Here are five virtual conferencing tools you should consider using as an at-home worker:

Skype
Skype is one of the most popular video conferencing tools because it is so simple and it’s free. You can use it to make calls to other computers or phones, using just a headset with a microphone. You can use it to make video calls to other computers, helping you to have face-to-face conversations. Skype is a simple service that allows virtual conferencing, but it does not include features for virtual presentations. You would have to share files or links in order to look at the same thing on your screen during discussions with co-workers.

Watchitoo
Watchitoo allows you to bring together multimedia presentations and video conferencing. This means that you can all follow along with a presentation or watch video together while you are conducting your virtual conference call. The service supports screen sharing, the use of white boards, multiple video feeds and more. You can also record your session and generate a post-meeting report. The service is free for up to five people, or you can pay $39 a month for up to 25 people.

Blackboard
Formerly Elluminate, Blackboard is an online collaboration platform that focuses on enabling you to create virtual classrooms. This is an especially useful tool if you need to conduct or attend online training. In addition to video conferencing, it has an interactive whiteboard, breakout rooms and desktop sharing. Pricing depends on what kind of licensing you need, and you have to call for a quote.

Infinite
Infinite specializes in solutions for non-profits, but any business or home worker can benefit from its services. However, if you do work for a non-profit, you’ll qualify for a discount. You can use it for phone and web conferencing, webinars and webcasting. The service is entirely web-based, so you won’t have to download any software. You can decide to be billed by usage or sign up for a plan.

GoToWebinar
GoToWebinar offers solutions for webinars, which can be used to make presentations, host online meetings, make pitches and much more. It allows for desktop sharing, text chat, teleconferencing and more. The service provides web-based conferencing, so you don’t have to download anything. You can record sessions and create polls and surveys. Plans start at $49 per month.

With these virtual conferencing tools, you can attend meetings with your co-workers no matter where you are conducting business. You’ll stay in the loop so it’s like you’re working from the office even when you’re not.

What tools do you use to meet with your boss and co-workers?

Bio:
Amber Satka writes on financial topics, and her research can be read at her auto loan calculator app site. Amber is a former office manager and current mother and writer.

Without doubt, cloud computing is the biggest technology factor facilitating Out of Office work styles. But many people don’t understand it well, and that could prevent it being used to full effect.

The IT consultancy firm Ovum, as part of its “2013 Trends to Watch” series, wrote three reports about cloud computing, its effects and uses. This material is available to subscribers only, but Anthill Online has generously summarised the key principles for us. Read the Anthill article “All you wanted to know about cloud computing and didn’t know how to ask” for more – and for links to the original Ovum reports as well.

InternetProvider.org have created the infographic shown below, which summarises the survey article The Hidden Perils of Working From Home. Fear not though – the article includes several tips on dealing with these “perils” – as, of course, does our book.

Not every Digital Nomad secretly harbours dreams of being a full-time traveller, working from wherever they lay their laptop. However, some do, and the Digital Nomad workstyle does make that more feasible than most other ways of working.

Freelance Web designer Nathan Swartz wrote about taking your career on the road as a full-time traveller, offering these five key steps:

1. Organize Your Accomodations
2. Rediscover the Internet
3. Set Yourself Up for a Digital Lifestyle
4. Inform Existing Clients of Your New Hours and Availability
5. See the World!

Read the full article here.

Whereas office workers might be sent on courses or receive on-site training, Out of Office workers are often responsible for their own professional education. MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) are to education what OOO is to work; they allow you to time-shift and place-shift your learning. In this episode, Chris shares his experience with doing an online course using popular course provider Coursera.

Listen to the episode here:

Download the MP3 file here

Buy the book here (available at a reduced price for a limited time).

References:

• Chris’s blog posts about his experience
• The Coursera course about data analysis (which Chris did)
• Coursera.org
  
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When you’re working Out of Office, you often don’t get the natural distractions that come from working with others. Although some of these distractions can be annoying and harmful to your productivity, they also have some positive side effects. In particular, they prevent you from spending excessively long intervals working at your desk. This means you have to be disciplined enough to create your own management plan to prevent stress, poor posture, and overwork.

The Workshifting team has five suggestions to help:

1. Take frequent breathers.
2. Stretch.
3. Walk at lunch.
4. Play some of your favorite tunes.
5. Don’t be afraid to say No.

Read the full article here.

One of the productivity tips we offer in the At Your Convenience chapter of the book is to subscribe to the Web Feeds of your favourite blogs and Web sites. We also recommend using Google Reader to do this. Unfortunately, Google recently announced that they will be retiring Reader on July 1, 2013.

So, if like us, you use Google Reader then you’ll need to move your feed subscriptions to another tool. Google provides advice on how to export your feed subscriptions using the Google Takeaway service. If you’ve not done this already, then now is a good time. It’s quick and easy.

As for choosing an alternative tool for consuming Web feeds, there are many choices. Slashdot recently published a list of four popular alternatives to Google Reader:

• Feedly
• Flipboard
• Pulse
• NewsBlur

For what it’s worth, I’ve migrated to Feedly. My reasons for doing so are as follows:

• I can run it on my desktop PC using the Feedly plug-in for Firefox
• I can run it on my tablet or smart phone using the Feedly Android app
• It can automatically import your Google Reader subscriptions

If you use a different Web feed reader then please leave a comment.

One of the common objections to Out of Office work is that employees are less engaged when they’re not working in the office. But many organisations are finding just the opposite to be true.

Scott Edinger suggests four reasons why Out of Office workers can be more engaged, based on his own experience:

1. Proximity breeds complacency.
2. Absence makes people try harder to connect.
3. Leaders of virtual teams make a better use of tools.
4. Leaders of far-flung teams maximize the time their teams spend together.

Read the full article here.

On 22nd February, Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer made a ruling that all Yahoo staff need to be physically in the office – in other words, no more Out of Office work. The decision sparked off discussion, debate and arguments, both in the tech media and in mainstream media as well. Now that the dust is settling, we’ll discuss some of the issues around this – including productivity, convenience, comfort and collaboration.

Listen to the episode here:

Download the MP3 file here

Buy the book here (available at a reduced price for a limited time).

Initial reports:

• Yahoo! Orders Home Workers Back to the Office
• How Marissa Meyer Figured Out Workers Were Slacking Off
• Here’s the Internal Yahoo! Memo

The backlash:

• Mayer Feels The Heat Over Telecommuting
• Richard Branson Says She Got It Wrong
• 4 Reasons It’s An Epic Fail

Support for the move:

• Why Your Company Needs You in the Office
• Why Working From Home is the Worst of Both Worlds
• Let Marissa Mayer Do Her Job
• Back to the Office Policy Mends Morale
• Yahoo’s Desperate Need for Innovation

Other references:

• When Working at Home Is Productive, and When It’s Not
• 7 Great Reasons to Encourage Working Remotely
• In telecommuting debate, Aetna sticks by big at-home workforce
• Working at Home and Workplace Productivity
• What inspires your work-at-home policies?
• How Teleworking Can Improve Your Health
• 80 Percent Of Success Is Showing Up – But Where?
• Employers Using Sensors to Track Your Productivity
• What Yahoo! and Marissa Mayer Did Right and Wrong

Craig Jarrow, author of The Time Management Ninja, writes in his blog:

One of the top reasons your email isn’t getting read is because it is too long. Writing long emails doesn’t mean you are getting more work done.

Craig then lists ten reasons people write long emails:

• You don’t know what you are trying to say.
• You don’t know what you are talking about.
• Your signature is unnecessary.
• You are writing a book.
• You are spamming.
• You are rambling.
• You are forwarding a mess.
• It shouldn’t be an email.
• It should be multiple emails.
• You don’t edit your emails.

Craig then finishes with a simple message:

Make Sure Your Email Gets to the Point

You can read Craig’s article in full on his blog.

We discuss email productivity at length in the Cooperate With Them chapter of the book.