Recently, we attended July’s Kingston Beta at the Jamaica Pegasus. Kingston Beta is a bimonthly meet up for the Jamaican and Caribbean Tech industry to pitch their startup ideas, learn, be inspired and network with like minds – so we fit right in. One of the presenters, Ramone Richards, the founder of Paperless Solutions, mentioned something we found quite interesting. Ramone stated that in his effort to eliminate the use of paper throughout all facets of his business, he distributed a video CD about his services, as opposed to a regular business card. It got us thinking about the benefits of this method and we came to a solid conclusion: that’s not a feasible approach at all.

Before you start to think we are shutting it down without examining the possibilities, let us explain why we think distributing video business cards physically instead of paper business cards is not such a good idea.

Firstly, what is the first thing you do when you get a business card? Most people will probably take a quick glance to see what the person or business is about. You are used to reviewing over all the information that is on the card immediately. If you receive a video business card, on the other hand, you will not be able to see what kind of information is on it immediately and that might be a put off.

Secondly, what do you generally do when you have finished your initial review of a business card? Honestly, some just toss it if they don’t think it’s worth keeping. But for individuals that do keep it, they tend to tuck into their purses/wallets or business card holders. Business cards are often exchanged in settings where the person has minimal access to anything else. Where would they find space to store this video business card?

If those reasons don’t compel you into thinking this is not a practical idea, consider this: what is the main reason for distributing business cards? Answer: To introduce your company and provide easy-to-access contact information. Imagine having to go through the struggle of inserting a CD into your computer (providing you aren’t using an iPad or Playbook, then you are out of luck) then waiting on it to load just to get a contact. Too much work for something that simple, right?

But don’t think we have completely ruled out video business cards as an ideal introduction method. As a matter of fact, we know a perfect way it can be used as effectively as a regular business card. Since it is a video, how about using it online? Say you want to provide a quick, short introduction of yourself and/or your business to someone online. In the physical world, you would hand them your card so why not ‘hand’ them your video business card in the tech world? They would still be able to see it immediately, tuck it away in their 'hard drive purses', if necessary and it can provide instant links for further contact (to your Facebook page and Twitter, for example) so they don’t have to worry about digging up your card when they need you. The trick to making this even more effective is to ensure that you keep it very short and you can even use Flash animation or animated gif's, that way it can be viewed on most mobile devices and used as an avatar on social networks.

So that’s our view: stick with the actual business card for physical introductions but consider using a video business card for online introductions. What are your thoughts?