11 November 2009 6:38 pm
Popcorn Teleconferences
I had a brilliant thought last week. At least I thought it was brilliant.
While on a teleconference, I made a comparison between microwave popcorn and, well, teleconferences. For those who aren't familiar with large teleconferences, a bit of background is necessary.
As people join a teleconference, we have two options to announce their presence. One is to play their recorded name, so you actually know who is joining. The other, which is more widely used for large calls, is to simply beep when anyone joins or leaves.
At the start of the teleconference that I was leading last week, there was the beep---beep-beep----beepbeepbeep--beep as the thirty or so participants started to join. I wasn't exactly sure how many people were going to join, and was debating when to officially start the meeting. As the meeting start time passed, I heard the beep-beep----beep---beepbeep to announce the arrival of yet more participants. Then, slowly, the pattern changed to beep--------beep-beep---------beep---------------------beep. And, like microwave popcorn, I knew that it was ready.
