Dropping from ASHI?

[Nolan Kienitz]

I've used GTM several times all without hiccups as well.

May be my 'luck of the drawl' ...

[bjloden]

I always wondered if a certain amount of that couldn't be done by conference calls, Go-To-Meeting, or something.

Brian G.

No Matter What Jimmy & Scott Say, We Did NOT "Trade It Out" []

Hey Brian good to hear from you.

ASHI has cut travel expenditures significantly since I was on the board between 2005 and 2008. Used to every committee would have face to face meetings and the board trips usually involved at least 3 nights stay in a hotel. Now I think most committee meetings are by telecon.

There is now more discipline in keeping face to face meeting shorter. On Friday morning I'll travel to Chicago for the April ASHI Education Inc Board meeting Friday afternoon. The ASHI board meeting will be on Saturday and I'll fly out Saturday evening. One night stay for two days of meetings. I think it is a great improvement over the old operating process. Lower costs for ASHI and I have to spend less time away from my wife. Win/win.

I've used skype. I did a few chapter interviews when I was running for office. A really great tool but it has it's limitation and it is very difficult to conduct a full up board meeting electronically.

When I was with NASA back in the 90's we spent hundreds of thousands of dollars setting up elaborate video teleconferencing rooms at the three shuttle centers, Marshall, Johnson and Kennedy. These were for our Flight Readiness Reviews and other program level meetings. It was a big waste of money because the managers, who you would think were technically savey, wanted to have everyone in the same room when making flight decisons that could and would effect lives and very high dollar assets.

I have yet to ever participate in a virtual meeting that was effective as a face to face.

We do need to always look for ways to leverage technology but I think it will be a while before we can ever go completely virtual in the conduct of our business.