In the early stages of a project, McGrath says it's still important to get old-school face time with colleagues: "There's nothing like having conversations in the hallway." The virtual hallway isn't yet on Leonard's to-do list, but he is working on a telephone booth-style room for more intimate chats. And he and his team are finishing a new feature that will let a presenter in one place use a laser pointer that actually projects a beam of light into the Video Wall room on the far side to point out details on a storyboard.
And Katzenberg? He's still not satisfied with how the systems perform--especially for a first virtual meeting between two people. "When you meet someone, there's that instinctive, involuntary chemical reaction, where you decide what you think and whether you trust them," he says. Replicating that interaction, somehow, is just one of his requests for the next upgrade.
Scott Kirsner (skirsner@fastcompany.com) is a Fast Company contributing writer based in San Francisco.
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