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Is a conference table doomed to become useless?

Tecno : modular conference table

Tecno : modular conference table

The conference table, replaced by computers, video-conferencing and teleworking?

Recently, in an article on the Forbes magazine, David K. Williams, entrepreneur, advocated abandoning meetings to be able to create true leaders. This is a little sobering. In a time when f communication skills have been multiplied by the Internet, e -mail, PDAs, computers, social networks, is it still necessary to dedicate offices to meetings, installing costly and bulky conference table and meeting  chairs? Besides that, the price of offices in major cities often exceeds several thousand dollars per square meter.

Moreover, telecommuting and videoconferencing makes now possible to communicate effectively with colleagues or even business sites in other cities. Add to this the transportation costs which continue to rise, beacause of fuel prices and the difficulty of getting around an ever more chaotic traffic, and we can understand that it is becoming increasingly difficult and expensive meeting in order to discuss, plan and work together.

The abandonment of the conference table : not so sure, at least not so radically

Indeed, a prestigious and powerful leader in communications technology like Marissa Mayer, Yahoo’s CEO , just eliminated the possibility of using telecommuting for her employees, as it she realized that employees who use telework were less productive, and they needed just firsthand confrontation with other colleagues. A good old meeting around a conference table seems irreplaceable.

The modular meeting table reduces costs

For example, with a modular conference table like this one in the picture above, you can easily disassemble the modules for use in offices, while freeing the room used by the meeting, which will be dedicated to other uses.

I invite you to the virtual conference table to hear your opinion in this regard. Thanks.