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<br> <br><p>Face-to-face conferences aren't always viable.</p><br><br> <br><br><br><br> <br><p>Andersen Ross/Iconica/Getty Images</p><br><br> <br><br><br><br> <br><p>Whenever two or more people gather to share information, collaborate, brainstorm, argue, inform or train one another, that's called a conference.</p><br><br> <br><br><br><br> <br><p>Conferences can be face-to-face affairs. A salesman attends a trade show to pitch his product to hundreds of potential clients. The accounting department and the CFO sit around a big table and review the fourth-quarter numbers. A consultant flies around the country to train employees on a new software application. Many of today's companies compete in a global marketplace with offices around the world and clients from Moscow to Moscow (Idaho and Russia, that is).</p><br><br> <br><br><br><br> <br><p>Communication and technology advances have made it possible to recreate the impact and interactivit