The great news is that Effective Virtual Meetings:  Seven Ways to Boost Your Virtual Meeting IQ is that it was interactive and there were a ton of questions.  The bad news is that when there are 500 people in the audience, you can’t get to them all.

Following is one that came in that I didn’t get to during the presentation:

Mary Ellen C. asks, “Do you have any tips on using video within presentations?”

Mary Ellen, video IN a presentation is a tool like any other.  Used in the right context, it can be a powerful part of your communication.

Remember that over the web, however, playing a piece of video means you’re doing something that has a risk.  You have NO control over the speed of the internet (it’s traffic, just like driving to work), and you have NO control over the two least reliable parts of the experience…the end user’s computer and connectivity.  You can’t control if they’re trying to participate on an old computer with too little RAM while they’ve got six other applications open.

Weigh what you gain versus the risks.  Using video in a live situation is very different than watching a clip at YouTube or ABCnews.com.

And check out what I said to Scot and Catherine.