Shift Worldwide just announced the launch of Virtual Conference Rooms, an innovative, browser-based platform that fills the visual void existing in most, if not all other, conference calls and visual presentation tools. The product can nearly eliminate the need for business travel and costly videoconferencing systems.

I talked to Paul Trout, Shift Worldwide CEO, and Amy Westrup, CMO; they showed me around the new product. We “met” by the product’s very-easy-to-use Web cam function, which offered a nice personalization to our discussion. Not only can the new Virtual Conference Room provide virtual and other companies with “virtual face-to-face” meetings but it also empowers attendees to share documents, chat publicly or privately during a gathering, and even create together. I saw for myself how simple these features were to initiate, and use.

“People give off clues visually,” Paul Trout reminded me. Imagine, then, how helpful this concept would be for a conversation with a client or a prospect.

“Virtual Conference Rooms are built for ease of use: one-click entry, no software to download and no hidden costs. Using our virtual conference rooms, you interact with an ease equivalent to that of a face-to-face meeting,” Trout said in today’s announcement.

Where my ears really perked up, however, is when Westrup started telling me about making money with Virtual Conference Rooms. One media group – owner of daily, trade and specialty publications, is conducting a pilot of the Virtual Conference Rooms right now, conducting virtual face to face interviews, posting them to its Web sites, and selling advertising around them. We also discussed the possibility of making these virtual interviews available at no charge to subscribers, thus encouraging subscription revenue.

Professor David Brophy of the University of Michigan has partnered with Shift Worldwide to connect 15 different student teams with domestic and global companies positioning themselves for venture capital funding. “Shift Worldwide provides for continuous and tight interaction among team members, increasing productivity and the likelihood of mission success,” Professor Brophy said in the announcement.

You can see demonstrations of the Virtual Conference Rooms at VirtualConferenceRooms.com. AIM Group will keep you abreast of the progress of media companies using the new product.

Shift Worldwide is headquartered in Chicago, Ill.