3 Pieces of Technology for Efficient and Engaging Meetings

Meetings have been around since the beginning of business, and have been disliked for just as long. Historically, these corporate get-togethers have had a stigma of being boring, and a waste of time. Luckily for you and your employees, the landscape of meetings is drastically changing. There are now hundreds of valuable (and often free) technological tools built to increase productivity and efficiency, while also making your meetings more interesting and engaging. After perusing the vast selection, we present to you 3 excellent pieces of technology guaranteed to improve your meetings.

Do you remember what you did with the last stack of papers you received at a meeting? You know, the printed PowerPoints, PDFs, agenda items, etc? If you are like most American workers, that stack of paper either went straight into a garbage bin, or landed in an even larger heap to await a filing day that will never come. A month from now you will need something from that meeting and will not be able to find it. You will then email your most organized coworker to try to locate a copy. Sound familiar? This is the definition of inefficiency, and surely irritates both the meeting attendee, and the host who spent time and energy creating, copying, and distributing all of those documents. Minute is a meeting planning app that solves all of these irksome issues. Minute can be used before, during, and after your meeting. Before the meeting: Create your agenda items, invite attendees, and import/share documents from Drive, Dropbox, e-mail and more. During the meeting, attendees can view the documents and agenda, collaborate on notes, and directly delegate tasks. After the meeting, updated notes and documents can be shared with attendees, along with a summary of the session. This app relieves the need to print, copy, and sort paper documents, and attendees will have continued access to everything they need in a simplified and organized location.

Every meeting has one or two eager beavers that seem to dominate the conversation. This results in one of two reactions from the other attendees: delight that their complacency is permitted; or, annoyance that their thoughts and ideas are not receiving equal attention and consideration. Wheel Decide is a free online spinner tool that allows you to create your own digital wheel for random name selection or decision making. The user can input up to 100 options, which is plenty for the average meeting. Before the meeting, quickly input the names of all the attendees. During the meeting, when you want your employees’ input on an issue, simply click the wheel and the person whose name is selected must offer an idea or opinion. This tool keeps things fresh because attendees will not know who is going to speak next. It also encourages everyone to stay engaged–they will constantly be thinking of a response in case their name is chosen.

One of the most common complaints about meetings is that they often run late. Free Countdown Timer can be downloaded on both Windows and Mac computers, and allows the user to set a large digital stopwatch. There are several practical uses for this app. The timer can be set as an overall timekeeper to help keep things on pace, or it can be used for individual portions of the meeting. For example, if an employee is scheduled to speak for ten minutes, the timer can be set in clear visibility to prevent rambling. Setting the timer for short periods of time (5-10 minutes at most) is also a unique and productive way to solicit ideas and collaboration. The creative brain loves a deadline, and an ideal application of this would be to give your employees a strict 5 minutes to brainstorm ideas on their own, and then another 5-10 minutes to share and collaborate their ideas in a small group. All of these tricks increase the likelihood that your meeting will be productive and end on time.

Meetings do not have to be tedious. With these tools, and a great staff, your meetings can be a dynamic vehicle for growth, collaboration, and innovation. Contact elm Planning today for your meeting needs