A Worcester businessman is urging companies to hold green meetings' and save tens of thousands of pounds while reducing their carbon footprints.

Nick Hannant, of Samos UK, based in St John's, claims businesses can save an average of £1,600 per meeting by leaving their boardrooms empty and linking up via the Internet through state-of-the-art technology.

But most companies do not realise how sophisticated the latest web conferencing facilities are and how significantly they can cut their costs.

Mr Hannant is now launching an awareness campaign to educate local businesses on the potential benefits both to the environment and the bottom line.

Sales meetings, training sessions, project work and a great deal more can all be carried out in a virtual meeting room using IT systems which provide the same facilities as a conference room.

Each participant needs a PC, an internet connection, a telephone and perhaps a web cam. Geographical limitations do not exist. Mr Hannant said: "Traditional video conferencing solutions are expensive, lack geographic flexibility and fail to provide the tools to truly replicate a face to face meeting. This has put businesses off the idea of virtual meetings.

"However, the latest web conferencing software allows a virtual meeting to mimic a face-to-face group in almost every respect.

"Participants can take part in whiteboard brainstorming sessions, discuss plans, share, edit and annotate documents such as spreadsheets, and deliver presentations. Recent research has shown an average in-house out-of-town meeting for six people will cost a company about £1,600, if you add up mileage, subsistence and accommodation expenses and the impact of travelling time on productivity." For more on web conferencing visit www.samosuk.ltd.uk