Business Effectiveness Through Technology

Business Effectiveness through Technology

Effective Meetings

June 2010

Introduction

University resources have been shrinking for over a decade. A key component to growing out of the problem includes the application of best practices for effective meetings, including the use of technology to save both time/personnel and material resources. The following outline recommends how university units can use technology to best utilize resources.

Effective Meeting Basics

• Group Participants - Identifying members who will add value and gain from participating in group.
• Scheduling – Communicate meeting time, location and attendees in advance of meeting.
• Agendas – Agendas should outline discussion areas, presenters and defined meeting goals. Whenever possible agendas and support documentation should be sent to members in advance of the meeting.
• Opening the Meeting - Clarify purpose of meeting and how meeting actions will be recorded.
• Group Ground Rules - Determine how the group will interact and clarify specific roles for each member. A best practice ground rule is to cancel meetings if no agenda items.
• Time Management - Begin and end meetings on time. Limit time on agenda items by focusing discussion to identified goal.
• Closing the Meeting - Solicit feedback from members prior to setting the next agenda. Overview of actions and assignments. Request agenda items to be covered during the next meeting.

Technology to address facilitate effective meetings

Effective meetings and the sharing of information to support meeting objectives is greatly facilitated by technology.

E-mail – Email continues to make convenient communication, eliminating the barrier that the sender and receiver be available at the same time. Email attachments can be used to facilitate information however; this strategy often times bogs down email and creates multiple instances of the same document on email servers.

Sharepoint –Sharepoint and Sharepointsecure sites allow document storage and organization through both open and restricted web addresses, respectively. Through the use of Sharepoint sites one instance of a file exists for all who need access. The Sharepointsecure area allows security to be controlled by the unit/designated user level.

Document Imaging – Multiple document imaging and document imaging indexing services are available to facilitate file management. Electronic file management, in conjunction with appropriate archive practices, eliminates the need for much operational file storage space allowing these spaces to be repurposed for strategically valuable purposes.

VoIP – The upgraded phone system allows for clear conferencing, organization wide communications for emergency purposes and directory access to employees.

Shared View – The free service provided by Microsoft, in combination with the high quality VoIP phones, off-site attendance to meetings. SharedView allows for meeting participants to all view the same computer instance, as well as release files to have meeting participants manipulate files.

Conference Room Technology – Remotely accessing meetings is directly related to the technology available in the space. Pervasive wireless, projectors and VoIP phones bring together resources to facilitate in person and remote participants.

Other Direct Communication – Utilize available instant messaging, group chats and other communication tools to facilitate and encourage committee participation.

Additional opportunities with technology -

Smartboards/Multi Touch Surface/Interactive Whiteboards– Through the use of interactive whiteboards, the university can fulfill all of the needs of a visual display without the use of consumable resources such as chalk or makers. Further, when a visual display is utilized, that display can also be sent to remote attendees, something which cannot be done with more conventional means.

Videoconferencing – IT cost services are available for interviewing or meetings without travel. On campus, Information Technology has rooms that are set up for video conferencing or portable units may be obtained from media support (ethernet connection required). External services for video conferencing are also available from a number of services including both point to point (one location to another) and multi-point television-like viewing.

Digital Signage –This is a paperless, ecology friendly method to inform of present and future events including advertising, meetings, information regarding directions and instructions and the capacity to notify of emergency situations through a digital monitor.

Closing Summary

The University of Louisville has provided a strong infrastructure for technologically supported meetings. Wireless and VoIP are the basics allowing departments to supplement other key components. Effective meetings utilizing technology facilitate meeting attendance regardless of campus and other time management issues facing participants. The use of technology also supports sustainable initiatives such as paper reduction, travel reduction and better use of personnel resources. It is recommended that committee chairs/group leaders and other key support personnel be provided training on key technologies so that they can lead the effective use of resources.

By Melissa Long Shuter, Business Affairs, in consultation with Information Technology for the How to Reduce Paper Work Group, June 2010

Sources: