SONARconnects

The two most important assets that any business have are its customers and its people.  For anything to happen between these two assets, a thing called a relationship must occur.  This week I was able to be a part of a new company which is taking the ability to build relationships to a whole new level… the level of social video.

I know, I know, we have all used video conferencing to connect with people for conversations.  Why do we want to actually SEE the person we are speaking with?   Simple communication is more than just words spoken!  How many times have you used email to convey a message and had the end user not understand the email you sent?  Then you go back and forth over email trying to communicate your message.  Now picture how easy it would be if you could actually interact with that person in real time using video.  In the end, this is a time consuming process that is not very effective.  Seeing the people you speak with gives all parties involved the ability to use multiple senses when communicating, hopefully allowing for better/deeper/more meaningful communication.

ooVoo, is a new video conferencing, video messaging, and communication company that allows up to SIX people at a time to be seen on a video conference call.  Yes, you actually see the person you are speaking with in real time, not their photo or avatar.  One of the things that is most amazing is that ooVoo is free.  Yes free!  Click the word ooVoo and download it yourself.  If you would like to add me to your contact list, my ooVoo Screen Name is: Scott Dunn.   OoVoo showed me this week how far technology has come and what the true power a computer, a web cam and the Internet can provide for real time face-to-face conversations.

As part of ooVoo’s launch, their ad agency Crayon set up nightly calls with people like:  Joseph Jaffey, John Wall, Allan Cox, Mitch Joel, C.C. Chapman, Chris Brogan, George Parker and many others in the social media space.  We were able to sign up for thirty minute time slots with each of these people and participate in video conference calls.  Talk about cool?  Yes, I subscribe to these folks’ blogs, podcasts and twitter feeds.  Personally, I really enjoyed the opportunity to meet these people (face-to-face) and have the ability to interact with them from the comfort of my own office!!!!  (To see a screen shoot of one my calls with Joseph Jaffe, please click HERE.)  

THANK YOU to all of you who took time out of your schedule to facilitate these calls.  If you decide to do it again, please include me on your list of invites!!!!!  Also, if you see me online, please feel free to give me a call.

Our ability to build relationships ultimately determines our success or failure in business and in life.  OoVoo can be used to help build these relationships in ways that email, texting, and phone calls can not.  No matter how you slice or dice it, SEEING IS BELIEVING. OoVoo gives small businesses and individuals one more arrow in our quiver to help us to better communicate and build relationships.