Voice Meeting Vs. Video Meetings
With remote work becoming popular by the day, you might be wondering which is the best way to have your meetings between video and voice chats. Technology is constantly changing to meet the needs of businesses and their employees. However, some tools are here to stay.
Take voice chats or what is commonly referred to as audio conferencing. It has stood the test of time as the primary way of communication even with the rise of video conferencing tools. Some people prefer voice chats over video chats for different reasons.
Here Are Some of the Reasons Why Voice Chats Win Over Video Calls:
Voice Calls Are More Popular
While video conferencing has gained popularity since the covid-19 pandemic, many people still prefer to use audio calls as their preferred method of communication. The reason for this is that voice calls are very popular among users.
Studies in the UK and the US show that people spent more than 163 billion minutes on voice calls even with the rise of video calls.
Voice Calls Are Simple to Use
Audio calls are better for holding quick conversations since they are much easier to hold. Most people easily understand jumping into a quick voice call than joining a video chat. Video chats need cameras and microphones, which is not the case with voice calls.
Voice Chats Do Not Require a Strong Internet Connection
With the simplicity of voice chats, you will not sacrifice any features other than the screen that comes with video chats. You still get the same features such as call recording, HD conference quality, among other productivity tools.
Invisibility
The best part about video calls is that you do not have to spruce up your images since you will not be seen. If you are shy, you will feel more comfortable leading a voice conversation than leading one face to face.
Opportunity to Multitask
You have to look at the screen and the person talking with video chats. This leaves no room for multitasking. However, you can easily speak to a person with a voice chat while completing another task, improving your productivity.
Fewer Destructions
You can easily be “Zoom Bombed” by a kid or your pet when having a video meeting which leads to the destruction of the meeting. With voice chats, distractions are reduced to having unwanted noises, which can be reduced by wearing noise-canceling headphones.
You Eat and Drink Without Embarrassment
We all have those meetings that we need to sit in and listen to. This can be an excellent chance to have your meal, but you cannot do so when you are in a video meeting.
You can squeeze in your lunch while listening to other people presenting, which can save you a lot of time.
The Pitfall of Video Chats
Time Wastage
Video conferencing has not been widely adopted as other conferencing solutions. According to the OWL Lab’s study on 35% of the respondent said they had installed video conferencing. The same respondents cited some problems with video conferencing, such as getting started or joining meetings, which lead to time waste.
17% of the respondents stated that starting meetings was the top issue, while most of them wasted more than 10 minutes trying to set up for the meeting. When your time is valuable, you would instead jump on a voice chat which is much easier and efficient.
Quality of The Call
Most audio calls are free while still offering the best quality. However, you will need high-speed internet to have a quality call with video calls, which is not readily available to everyone. High-speed internet is expensive and might not be available to everyone you need to communicate with.
Expensive to Install
Installing a high-quality video conferencing system is more expensive than an audio conferencing system.
Audio Latency
This is a prevalent technical issue with video chats. Audio latency is where the audio is delayed and doesn’t match the video. This makes it much harder to discuss essential issues in business, and in most cases, you will need to turn off the video and jump on to audio to start all over again.
What Are the Best Practices for Voice Chats for Your Business?
Use Remote Work Software for Your Meeting
You can use planners in software such as Trello to manage tasks so that your voice meetings can focus more on what needs resolutions and not on what everyone has done and what needs to be done. This will save you a lot of time and increase overall productivity.
Have A Clear Agenda for The Meeting and Share It Before the Meeting Starts
This means that all your team members will be on the same page while discussing any issue.
Look for A Silent Spot
If you are the team leader, you need to hold the meeting from a quiet spot to avoid destruction and your team members can hear you clearly.
Tip: Zoom Fatigue is real. It is caused by excessive eye-to-eye contact during virtual meetings, seeing your image constantly during meetings, reduced mobility due to video chats, and a much higher cognitive load in video chats.
Recognize it and design meetings that accommodate it and gather feedback from your team members on how they would like to have their meetings.
Final Thoughts
Having voice meetings is one of the best ways to ensure your team is not fatigued. If you are worried about the message not getting out, you can post your meeting minutes, share resources, or even record the meeting and share it afterward.
Voice chats are a faster and easier way of communication among your team members. It is also quite flexible since you do not have to get yourself ready to join a meeting.
