Lara Nieberding

Meeting Technique:

Meet coworkers in a virtual environment

Pros:

Allows for gestures and modes of communication that are not possible in a conference call

Cons:

Requires familiarity with virtual environments and a fast Internet connection

Not surprisingly, some meetings at software-development firm Linden Lab are held within the company’s 3-D online world, Second Life. Jeska Dzwigalski, a community developer at Linden Lab, holds many of her meetings with the online community in-game, which allows her to interact with coworkers and “residents” alike. Whereas long-distance coworkers are invisible on a typical conference call, Linden Lab employees can use their on-screen “avatars” to gesture and express themselves across time zones. “Having that physicality adds to the conversation,” Dzwigalski says.