Businesses are being put in the picture about video meetings thanks to a new publication.

Brighton-based Eyenetwork has launched a magazine to explain video conferencing in jargon-free terms.

Eyenetwork coordinates video meetings between customers at 1,500 affiliate bureaux in 72 countries and is Europe's largest video conference booking service.

The eight-page publication, EyeContactNews, includes advice on reducing costs for meetings, etiquette and multipoint bookings in a bid to promote video conferencing as a practical way to hold business meetings.

Eyenetwork managing director Lisa Honan said: "Video conferencing is the most important alternative to face-to-face meeting and a crucial future method of communication.

"Those of us already involved in the industry feel passionately that the Government and the media must promote it for the benefit of society.

"No publisher showed an interest in producing a newsletter for our sector so we had to produce our own practical non-technical publication."

Hove-based Anthea Ballam, who edited the magazine, said: "The environmental benefits of video conferencing are immense.

"By meeting on screen, rather than hopping a car or plane to sit around a table, people can make a genuine improvement to the problem of global warming.

"Air travel in particular is a huge polluter and the time spent travelling by plane to meeting locations is often a great waste for the company concerned.

"I do not own a car myself and it has been excellent working on a project which is so in line with my own philosophy."

The first issue of EyeContactNews was published this month with a 7,000 print run.

It is targeted at executives who have shown an interest in video conferencing.

The magazine will also be distributed through video bureaux networks and can be downloaded in PDF format from the Eyenetwork web site.

www.eyenetwork.co.uk/eyecontact.htm