The video conference is one of the least-liked parts of modern office culture.

Despite the plethora of video conferencing services -- Google Hangouts, BlueJeans, Highfive, Skype, FaceTime, and dozens more -- the first five minutes of every meeting tends to be a series of fruitless attempts to get everyone's audio working correctly. And even when it does, dropped connections, poorly timed muting/unmuting, and quiet talkers often ruin the flow.

SEE ALSO:Google's secret hardware ingredient is AI

The truth is video conferencing is hard. Layering random internet services on top of ad hoc equipment on top of users with virtually no training means you get a grab-bag of results. Sure there are sleek corporate systems, but their cost often puts them out of range of most startups.

Mashable Light SpeedWant more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories?Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter.By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.Thanks for signing up!

Will things get better for video conferencing? Or will Gen Z need to get used to the facepalm-setups millennials (and others) have endured for years? On this week's MashTalk, Mary McDowell, the CEO Polycom, whose iconic UFO-shaped speakerphones populate conference rooms worldwide, joins the podcast to talk about the real reason your office is so bad at video conferencing, the future of meetings, and whether telepresence robots are a thing.

You can subscribe to MashTalk on iTunesor Google Play, and we'd appreciate it if you could leave a review. Feel free to hit us with questions and comments by tweeting to @mashtalkor attaching the #MashTalk hashtag. We welcome all feedback.

---

Featured Video For You

---

Google's Pixel 2 and 2 XL are perfect if you don't want to spend $1,000 on a new phone

---