It seems crazy that anyone would want to have a business meeting in second life - or at least, that’s what I used to think. Of course, like most people I know, I haven’t really experienced the place for myself, but that makes the idea of using it as a meeting place for professional concerns even more unlikely.

But then I read Susan Reynolds posts about sharing office space, designing the right online environment, and why she prefers to have meetings in Second Life to other online alternatives. And I began to think again.

Maybe this wasn’t such a crazy idea after all?

Perhaps it is because I have started using Skype and IChat for friendly business-oriented conversations and just NOT liked it. Only audio means you can’t read their body language, and on camera, I find myself staring at the backgrounds and wondering why they don’t invest in a new pot of paint.

Why go to so much trouble to look nice at a meeting in real life, and then on Skype look like something out of a B movie with bad lighting and an awkward, stiff body stuck in front of a screen?

What really pulled things together for me was catching Chris Brogan’s blog via Twitter talking about the Starbuck’s phenomenon. He asked where that relaxed atmosphere of being in a comfortable place to work and socialize could be replicated in the virtual world.

It was then I realized that if I could have a good quality audio conversation with a business colleague in Second Life, where they would look exactly how they want me to see them with the freedom of that not being necessarily in a conventional business suit - or even in a conventional body - that would indeed be a cool place to have a conversation.

And taking my fantasy even further, what if I could order a latte in that comfortable quirky online meeting place which resulted in a real-life latte arriving delivered to my door? That would be even better.

The reason I use Skype and IChat is because they are easy. But even now that the psychological barriers for me to use Second Life as a place to have genuine business conversations have crumbled, it still appears relatively inaccessible to most of the business people I talk with who may not yet even have used Skype.

If anyone out there knows how to make it easier to become part of Second Life and has a chilled out place where I can order a good latte that delivers to Forest Row, England, I wont just be popping in - I’ll book a table.