Session 5 Workshop Oct29, 2008

Our company is going to set up a video conference with another company (they bought our company). You are going to discuss how people will be re-assign some staff to other jobs.

Preparation of the video conference:

• Before the video conference is processed, we should find a room could making a video conference and it is available during the time these two companies agree on, we also must check the equipment of that video conference room, to make sure it could work during the meeting. We should know the IP address of this video conference room, because it is necessary if we share files with each side of the conference. Then we make a decision on who could be the presenter to manage the conference of our side, and control the equipment.

Content: How to structure the video conference? Will you send material and will you have an agenda?

• We send the invitation e-mail to the merger company; determine the time for the video conference. After the preparation work is finished, our two companies could start the video conference. We will do a simple self introduction first to the company in other side of the video conference, then some one do the presentation on the re-assign job of our staffs. After the presentation, two companies together do some discussion, make some improvement or modification. When we have identical ideas, the video conference could over. We cut off the connection and restore the video conference room.
  
• We will send document of the people who are re-assign to other jobs. The document is about the introduction of people (their ability, work experience and so on) and the introduction of their new departments.
  
• We need an agenda to explain why people should be re-assigned their job, and the benefit we could earn if we do the re-assignment.
  

Closing: What will be the planned outcome, what happens if you do not achieve it?

• The planned outcome is the successful meeting: the conference holds on time in the right place; there is no connection problem during the data sharing process; the two companies make the final decision.
• Because the video meeting makes two companies could discuss "face to face", this is more efficient than a telephone meeting or discuss by e-mail. And also it save much more time compare with a real conference. At this point, if we do not achieve the planned outcome, the two companies could not communication effectiveness, we will waste more time on another conference, and people could not work on their new job.