What Are Virtual Meeting Spaces?

In the 1970s and 1980s, virtual meeting spaces would have seemed like something out of a science fiction movie. In those days, a conference meeting for a group of people in two locations consisted of phones with speakerphone capabilities and a group of people gathered around a conference table trying to communicate through their speakerphones. Technology has advanced so far that a person doesn't even have to leave his home computer to be a part of a conference.

Conferencing Resources

You no longer have to be in the same city, state or country to meet with partners, coworkers or investors. Virtual meetings make it possible for you to congregate with others who have an Internet connection. In the book "Learning in Real Time," Jonathan E. Finkelstein writes, "Virtual offices provide an online real-time venue for small group gatherings, such as office hours, meetings, tutorials, informal discussions or team collaboration sessions." File-sharing technology allows you to share documents and applications.

Benefits

Virtual meeting spaces reduce the cost of doing business. In the book "Training and Collaboration with Virtual Worlds," Alex Heiphetz points out that they eliminate travel costs and room rental costs. They also reduce administrative costs for printing and shipping because files can be uploaded and shared. There is no need for printing, faxing or shipping documents, videos and audio that can be uploaded to a computer.

Room Rentals

A sector of the commercial real estate industry recognized that home-based businesses were in need of rental space to meet with some of their clients to put forth a more professional image instead of meeting in their homes. Virtual office and meeting spaces allow members to rent office and conference rooms by the hour or sign up for a monthly subscription. They even offer mail services so small business owners and freelance contractors can have a professional address that is not associated with their home address.

Virtual Worlds

The future of virtual meeting spaces might be in the development of 3D conferencing. According to Olga Kharif's report in "Bloomberg Businessweek" these are virtual meeting spaces in which avatars are used to represent the people who are in attendance. The meetings can be held in 3D virtual conference rooms or whatever space the attendees want created for them. File-sharing applications are voice-activated in the most highly developed applications.