Innovative e-conferencing tool – a solution to improve the activity and quality of interaction between speaker and audience in audio-video communication platforms.

Virtual conferencing environments and software solutions (MS Teams, Zoom, Webex, etc.) do not provide the same interaction opportunities as non-virtual environments. The Faculty of Management of the University of Primorska has therefore developed a solution that addresses this challenge with the aim of assessing, managing and improving the quality of online interaction between participants, with a focus on participant activity.

Presentation of the invention

The solution is suitable for listeners, students, employees and participants in general who take part in e-meetings, while providing important information to the moderator or lecturer. It can be integrated into popular audio-video communication platforms such as Zoom, Webex, MS Teams, etc., or it can be implemented as a stand-alone solution available for other services via an application programming interface.

The solution is based on technology for receiving, tracking and/or analysing user data, from where this data is extracted by sensors and installed digital devices.

Such feedback allows the lecturer to react to audience activity. The feedback is in the form of graphs, and can be presented for an individual participant or for the group as a whole.

Advantages

• allows the online event provider (conference manager, speaker, teacher, trainer, etc.) to assess the level of activity of participants (clients, students, students, conference attendees, etc.).
• With appropriate feedback, online meeting software solutions become a viable alternative to face-to-face meetings, saving money and time for both the organisers and the participants, while also being more convenient for the participants, as they can join the event when it is not physically possible to do so.
• The solution provides high quality feedback without providing photos/video of the participants – the camera is only used for analytical purposes, while the participants can remain “hidden”.
• Allows for more meetings (contacts) to be conducted efficiently than in conventional environments.
• The wider impact of such a solution is also to reduce the carbon footprint due to reduced travel needs of participants.