Meeting by remote.

• Author: Meyers, Kerby
• Position: Teleconferencing takes flight

THROUGHOUT THE YEAR, THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS FOR NEWMONT MINING, NORTH AMERICA'S LARGEST GOLD PRODUCER, GATHERS IN either Denver or New York to discuss the company's operations, dissect finances and review executive management's performance.

The week of Sept. 17, the company's third-quarter meeting was booked for Newmont's corporate headquarters in downtown Denver, but the out-of-town directors never made it there. Instead, they dialed into a teleconference session from each of their own individual offices. Newmont held the meeting over phone lines in direct response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington D.C., according to a spokesman.

But the success of the meeting and continued air-travel concerns could advance the practice as standard operating procedure for the precious metals producer, which has offices and operations across the globe.

"Travel has been restricted only to trips deemed 'business critical,'" spokesman Doug Hock said of Newmont's official policy. "That means we've cut back quite a bit within North America, and international travel is very limited."

NOT ALONE

Newmont is far from alone in reassessing the necessity of travel for business purposes, according to a survey of corporate travel agents and purchasing managers conducted by the Business Travel Coalition shortly after the Sept. 11 attack.

The coalition, a national advocacy group representing customers of the business travel industry, found that 56 percent of those polled expect January 2002 travel levels to be 20 percent lower than they were the day before New York's World Trade Center buildings crumbled. Others say the falloff could be even more dramatic.

"Some of our large clients aren't just talking about reduction, they're talking about eliminating travel for their employees," said Scott McKechnie, a manager in Avaya's multimedia conferencing solutions division. "With the added security measures at airports, you're adding hours, and at times, pain and aggravation, to the business-travel process."

Still, air-travel issues have not dimmed the importance of human interaction in the business world, so many corporations are turning to remote conferencing. Linking employees and clients via spider webs of telephone networks, video equipment and the Internet has so far proven a viable option to jetting across the country.

BOOMING MARKET

Analysts estimate the remote conferencing industry will generate between $1 billion and $2 billion in revenue in...