Tuesday, April 8, 2014




 Out of the Box - Events on Videoconference?

Thinking out of the box.  Today’s business, education, religious, political and entertainment worlds require constant thinking out of the box to compete with those who do.

Travel weary road warriors, security, events, trade shows, sales, training all require new competitive advantages that leverage modern technology.  The advantages of High Quality, Low-Latency Videoconference are many.

First, it is secure and encrypted.  A conference can be setup so that only authorized participants can join and no one can "bomb" a session and interrupt it.  Encryption means that it is HIPPA and military certified for security.  You have the control to set a PIN number, or lock the room so no one else can enter, or disconnect someone if they are not invited.

Second and most important reason is that Vidyo services are H.264 SVC (Scalable Video Coding).  I will spare the technical details, but that means that each connection's bandwidth is constantly adjusted to each end users available bandwidth, without affecting any other connection.  Some free services send full bandwidth for each connection to each participant.  That limits the availability to only a small number of connections.  With our conference system, whether you have 2 or 200 connections the High Def Quality is the same!  And, each user can adjust the screen for their optimum presentation.

It is quality that looks good on a computer, in a conference room or on a giant theatre screen.

 Third, is full duplex, low-latency, high quality audio.  Full duplex means anyone can talk at any time with no delay or at the same time as others - like a telephone conversation. No annoying mute or people confused by who is talking.

Fourth, we have the ability to share and chat. You can share anything on a desktop (PowerPoint, whiteboard, etc.) where a participant can double click it and see it full screen - no squinting to see it.  You can also walk around with an iPad or Windows tablet and change slides, highlight text or draw on a white board like a real meeting room!  Chat privately, or with the whole group.  (Optionally, it can be recorded in High Def for later playback over the internet, edited for content, or simultaneously streamed to up to 300 participants.)
Finally, you can connect to any device on any network anywhere.  That includes everything from pc’s to MACS, to iPhones, iPads and Android devices and any brand legacy videoconference system on a corporate campus or add in another one of a different codec at a remote campus or corporate videoconference room. (It works perfectly with 4G and is possible to hold meetings with 3G with lower frame rate.)

There are many more advantages as well. Why struggle with limited services or always be “on the road”, if very low-cost professional and feature rich cloud-based options are available?

Dave Desmarais is President & Founder of Perinata Inc., a firm specializing in cost-effective remote solutions for Communications, Broadcast and Electronic Events.
Contact Dave Desmarais at:

Phone: 864-885-1918
email: 
info@perinata.com
Website:  www.perinata.com

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

What Has Happened to Videoconferencing for Lawyers Since 2004?



What Has Happened to Videoconferencing for Lawyers Since 2004?

In November, 2004, Minnesota Lawyer published an interesting article on the use of videoconference for legal applications.  The author, Michelle Lore pointed out many of the benefits and the technological advances of the day that made videoconference reliable, effective and more economical.  http://www.joanmorrow.com/mnlawyer_article.pdf

In the nearly 10 years since that article was published, there have been many technological changes.  But, the benefits stay the same. 

·         “It’s like having (the mediator) in the room.”
·         “Frankly, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to operate it.”
·         “…they can do it on a very cost-effective basis and not have lost anything in the process.”
·         “…attorneys agree that the videoconferencing process is an effective alternative to traveling.”
·         “It’s a nice efficient way to have a mediation that might not otherwise be available.”

But, in 10 years, the difference is that the technology is even more reliable, easier to use and more economical.  It is possible now to do this at virtually no cost, with free services, assuming you have a webcam, a microphone and an internet connection. 

“Free" is not necessarily free, if there are issues with the delivery.  Free services may not be as reliable or easy to access as low-cost paid services.  Some free services are limited in the number of participants that are capable of joining the conference with bandwidth limitations.  And, if you have documents, pictures, desktop applications or video to share, you may be out of luck.

But, the biggest concern with free services is security.  Legal consultations should be conducted in private.  In a legal environment, one should ask “is the videoconference encrypted?”  Does it allow you to “lock” the room and not allow any unauthorized participants to join and “listen in”?  Does it allow you to set a “PIN” number and only pass that out to individuals you want or need in the consultation?  Does it allow you completely control the meeting as a host, by giving you control to mute participants, mute their video or speakers for a private conversation, or allow you to disconnect them if the need arises?  Does it allow you to “chat” privately with a colleague or participant?  Does it have recording and playback capability?

In 10 years, all this is now easy to accomplish – reliability, security, and features.

State of the art videoconference systems make it simple to connect, stay connected and add in as many participants as you need.  It is simple to share content and simple to privately “chat” with select participants to emphasize or clarify a point, or record the conference for future reference.

10 years ago, Michelle Lore quoted a price of $5,000 to $10,000 for the equipment to set up a videoconference facility and that limited the experience to one room and a connection to a similar codec system on the other end. 

Today, we can provide the same quality, reliability and security to virtually any device, on any network.  Whether, you are connecting to a pc, MAC, iPad, iPhone, Android Device or a legacy videoconference Room (and by the way, even telephone connected participants can join the audio portion), anyone, anywhere on the internet around the globe to join in with high quality and low-latency connections.  It is no longer necessary to have a dedicated system unless you wish to have one. 

Hosted systems with no commitment start at $24.95 per month for up to 4 participants for up to 5 hours and can be adjusted monthly to accommodate usage.  Inexpensive – effective – ubiquitous and full of features, it opens up new opportunities for legal professionals to become more effective.

Dave Desmarais is President & Founder of Perinata Inc., a firm specializing in cost-effective remote solutions for Communications, Broadcast and Electronic Events.

Contact Dave Desmarais at:

Phone: 864-885-1918
email:  info@perinata.com
Website:  www.perinata.com

Monday, February 3, 2014

Friday, January 17, 2014

To Make the Most of Trade Shows, You May Need a Friend


Trade Shows are generally a major expense for companies.  There are concerns about planning, presentation, travel, getting the “right” visitors to your booth and especially, making sure that they leave with the “desire to buy” from you.

One of the major decisions is “who to send to represent the company” at a trade show. It is unproductive and expensive to bring everybody.  Still, customers like to see friendly, familiar faces.  According to Susan Friedman in an article at http://www.conventions.net on “The Secret Weapon Every Savvy Exhibitor Should Use”: 

While starting new business relationships will always be important, a new emphasis has been placed on strengthening and maintaining existing relationships.

“Consider your current customers.  Ask yourself -- or even better, ask them, how they feel about your products and services.  How about your customer service? What makes doing business with your organization unique, enjoyable, and/or remarkable?

Sometimes customers prefer to see their trusted, local representative, who has been “so helpful” in the past.  Nowhere is this more important than in Customer Service.   

I have been in Customer Service situations my entire career, no matter the particular job title.  Focusing in on those repeat, satisfied customers is one of the best ways to create “word of mouth” referrals that typically are critical to landing new business.  At trade shows, I cannot count the times when it was important for customers to bring an observation or complaint to the show floor.  Despite all the sincere demonstrations of the show floor personnel that they will get some “action”, customers usually leave with a feeling like “maybe this time it will be different, but don’t count on it.”  They feel this way, because they know show floor personnel have many other responsibilities, they are working long hours and they tend to forget things.  They may have the best of intentions.  But, results here are not really counted.  Nonetheless, it was very important to the customer and the relationship to your company.

Also, it may be important to be nimble, accurate and flexible in presenting your product to a specific customer need.  Or, financial decisions need to be made that can make or break a sale at the trade show.  We use what we can, spotty cell phone service, conference calls or email – none of which is immediate or reliable. 

Telepresence offers robust, HD videoconferencing services that can connect to any device, any OS on any network.  What better way to contact the home office and bring your expertise into the conversation?  We event connect to any legacy videoconference system with a public IP or SIP connection. 

Whether you are in your hotel room, hotel meeting room, on your iPad, iPhone or Android device you can all be connected together with low-latency, high quality videoconference that will not drop the call and share a desktop or other materials on your computer. 

What better way to impress a customer with a service problem than to meet in a private room and put him in direct contact with the person that can assist with the situation?

What better way connect from anywhere to your home office videoconference system to make executive decisions based on factual information from your home office experts?

Holding training sessions on site during the convention?  Bring in the best experts remotely to make your training more memorable and effective – even if the presenter is a continent away.

Is this difficult to accomplish? 

No, state of the art videoconference systems make it simple to connect, stay connected and add in as many participants as you need.  It is simple to share content and simple to privately “chat” with select participants to emphasize or clarify a point, or record the conference for future reference.

Is this expensive?

It is surprisingly affordable and with so many value-added attributes, it will help make your trade show experience a success.


Dave Desmarais is President & Founder of Perinata Inc., a firm specializing in cost-effective remote solutions for Communications, Broadcast and Electronic Events.