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ELECTRONIC MEETING PROCESS?
Somewhere in all this advice, you may have heard of the latest
and greatest software products that implement effective-meeting
processes electronically.
What Is an Electronic Meeting Process?
An electronic meeting process guides you through the various
meeting stages using meeting productivity software. This software
is designed to assist with the preparation and follow-up stages
of your meeting as well as the meeting itself.
How Can It Help Me?
You're probably already writing an agenda and distributing it
to your team. Most meeting productivity software take this process
one step further and allow you to store meeting goals, agenda
items and relevant files in an electronic workspace. This workspace
can then be sent to participants via e-mail to review prior
to the meeting.
During an electronic meeting, you can access the meeting workspace
to go through agenda items, goals and attached files. Some meeting
productivity software also has timers that help guide you through
your agenda items, ensuring that the meeting stays focused and
on schedule.
For those of you who've been in meetings where decisions are
made yet no one is held accountable, electronic meetings offer
a solution. Typically an area is reserved within the meeting
workspace to record all of the decisions being made, the tasks
assigned and their deadlines. Some meeting productivity software
even allows for the assigned tasks to be integrated into the
task feature of your e-mail system. At the end of your meeting,
the electronic workspace with a complete record of decisions
tasks can be e-mailed to participants, eliminating the need
to take and distribute minutes.
Benefits of Electronic Meetings
By implementing an electronic meeting process, actual meeting
time can be reduced by approximately 50%. If productivity improvements
weren't enough, consider the other benefits of covering an electronic
meeting using meeting productivity software:
- all meeting materials are housed in one location
- decisions and tasks are recorded, ensuring accountability
- permanent records of meeting files are kept
- past meeting files are easily accessible
- all meeting workspaces can be kept private and secure
Could It Work for Us?
If you and your team meet on a regular basis, you're candidates for meeting productivity software. For teams that generate and share information, need to easily follow-up on tasks and strive to make more efficient use of their time, electronic meeting processes offer another great way to make meetings more effective.
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