Comments on: Clear Skies for Virtual Meetings

By: Clytie Siddall

Clytie Siddall — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 08:11:32 +0000

As a disabled person, I would like to encourage event-holders everywhere to include options for virtual participation, and to consider this also an accessibility issue. I recently participated in the EFA forum on the mandatory Internet filter, and although I was keen to be there in the first place, I was surprised how much I enjoyed being there personally. Even had I been able to travel, I would have had to worry about how long I could sit up, the effect of perfumes and other chemicals, how difficult it would be to travel to and from the event, avoiding damaging accidental bumps from others, and dealing with fluorescent lights and all the background noise. Sound quality from the event improved markedly after initial fiddling, and I didn’t have to worry about any of the usual environmental and ancillary issues.

I notice I have to suggest virtual participation as people generally assume physical attendance, but EFA (for example) were very quick to take up the suggestion. As we do more of this type of event, I think more people will consider it a standard feature, and it will make participation more flexible, also helping us with time constraints.

Thanks to EFA and to Telstra for promoting virtual participation in events.

By: Turlough

Turlough — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 02:57:52 +0000

Thanks Andrew – every interaction counts.

Unfortunately I havent heard back from Joanne so couldn’t follow through.

By: Andrew OConnor

Andrew OConnor — Sat, 29 May 2010 07:07:11 +0000

I would like to congratulate Turlough Guerin for the first hand customer service he has shown to Terry. Thanks for your artical on Video Conferencing. Definately worth pursuing.

By: Turlough

Turlough — Tue, 25 May 2010 23:42:42 +0000

Thanks for your note Terry – do you think the Tele Management Forum would use web conferencing in the future or even Video Conferencing for the workshops you mention to enhance collaboration?

By: Turlough

Turlough — Mon, 17 May 2010 03:00:53 +0000

Back to your comment Joanne.

I have spoken to the Billing Team and they have asked that you send me through your account number. Please send it to my secure email address at turlough.guerin@team.telstra.com and I will foward it onto Billing.

By: Terry Valentine

Terry Valentine — Sun, 16 May 2010 05:45:41 +0000

For TMForum they run all workgroups via telecomferencing and each 6 months or so formal Team Action Week. Did various presentations for the Inferface specifications for Performance Managment Systems and seemed to work well. Certainly we had input from many different countires on a regular basis.

One of the main issues with this method is that good infrastructure is needed. This means a USB Modem simply will not stream well enough (genreally speaking). If there is not the capacity on the broadband (or ADSL) then that represents an issue. This can be especially so when time differences require us to do that type of work from home.

By: Turlough

Turlough — Mon, 10 May 2010 21:38:49 +0000

Thanks for your comments Joanne. For the first part of your comments I am chasing up with Billing to see how we could stop these bills coming to the address. Agree it doesn’t make sense to send a bill which is the cost of the stamp or even less. I’ll revert asap.

Regarding the second point on how much does it cost our environment to send a bill – that I can answer. We conducted a study to compare e-bills vs paper [bills like the ones your former tenant is being sent to your address]. The results we interesting and you are welcome to explore the findings: http://www.telstra.com.au/abouttelstra/corporate-responsibility/environment/initiatives/

In a nutshell, the study showed us that the impact of paper bills ie sent in the mail were lower than e-bills, but only to a point. If we can get more and more customers to shift to the e-bill and paper-off options, there is a tipping point where the e-bill has a lower impact on the environment.

By: Joanne

Joanne — Mon, 10 May 2010 00:18:26 +0000

Dear Mr Guerin
There are some very simple things we can do to protect our environment. For eg reducing waste. I have been recieving bills at my current address for a former tenant since end of 2008. Despite writing redirection notes on the envelope I still kept getting them. Its now 2010 and I fianlly decided to open the mail. The bills I have been redirecting back to Telstra have been for 45 cents!!!!! Have you bought a stamp recently? Do you know how much it cost our environment to produce the letter, post it, for me to redirect it and inevitable for disposal? Joanne