I have never been a huge morning person, my mother, many of my childhood friends, and my husband can all attest to this. I understand that some people are more productive at the wee hours of the morning, but I am not one of them. Because of this, there are a few beliefs that I have. One... the only acceptable reason to be up before 5am, or even 6am, is if you are leaving on a fabulous tropical vacation. It certainly does not seem acceptable for catching a flight for a meeting. I have become accustomed to my career in the video world and value the fact that I can be in several countries across the globe in the matter of a days time, but that I can still attempt to get my much need "beauty rest" in my own house. It's almost as if I was made for videoconferencing, and videoconferencing was made for me. (Sorry, was that too cheesy: )? )
I have friends that travel quite frequently for work, and despite what we thought about how cool this would be when we were growing up, they hate doing it. Sure you are going to amazing places, but your in a hotel, a conference, a convention, and then back on the plane. They are missing weddings, birthdays, and quite simply- quality time with their families because they are "jet-setting" from one meeting to the next. Bummer, huh?
I came across this infographic (See Below) from www.boltinsurance.com yesterday about the Rising Costs with Business Travel and found it to be quite miserably, on point. The average business traveler is a college-educated male, on a tight budget, spending about 4 days away from home at a time with an average cost of $1,837.00 per trip. And, this is happening round about 448 Million times a year. Well that seems cost effective and energy efficient for the way we live our lives in 2012, doesn't it? No, no it doesn't! As mentioned below, mid sized companies could be seeing an annual savings of $144,000 if they asked 10 employees to convert %40 of their travel meetings to video conferences. Maybe businesses aren't doing this because they don't need $144,000 in any other area? That doesn't seem likely either, does it?
(My personal favorite fact on this infographic is that if gas rates raised at the same rate as airline flights, gas would only cost $1.59, imagine!)
As for me, I will continue my mantra of only getting up before the sun if I am leaving for Hawaii, or Paris, or Disney World. If you want to join me, in the video world, not on vacation- then give the Easymeeting services a spin for two weeks, and see if we can spare you from another slice of stale Sbarro pizza in the airport lounge.
