Am I talking to myself??

I am running a project right now that is spanning the globe. However it is not as exciting as it sounds. The client has precisely 16 1/2 pence to spend so I am not leaping from jet to jet, checking in & out of 5 star spa hotels, no I am harnessing the power of the internet.

Am watching all groups in China, India, Vietnam, Brazil etc live on line (conceptually amazing I accept that) and I have been Skype-ing the overseas moderators to brief them. So in theory I have done the old "face to face" briefing as I saw their faces.

However I feel as if I have been talking to myself. I am currently listening to a group that is going off on tangents. Not small "Oh that's fine" tangents but HUGE tangents, kind of like I wanted to understand bananas & they are talking about pineapples. And I cannot reach the pineapple moderator as I am not sitting merely feet away behind a 1 way mirror, I am online on another continent. So I am forced to let them waffle on off topic and pretty much waste a group until I can call her.... when she finishes!

It has only served to strengthen my resolve. You need to BE THERE to make this qualitative research lark work properly. Hey Ho.