How Technology Can Make Your Meetings More Productive

As technology has grown, we’ve seen the emergence of new tools for facilitating meetings. These tools can make meetings easier to lead and more engaging for everyone in attendance. Considering this, here are a few ways technologies can get your team on the same page and make your meetings much more productive.

Use Live Survey Software in Meetings

Want to know more about your employees and get valuable insights into their feedback? Run a live survey. There are many different survey configurations when you use a reputable live survey tool – including the option to launch individual surveys at any point during the event. Your attendees can also go through them individually, and as replies come in, all meeting attendees can see the results update in real-time. This maximizes the effectiveness of conference polling technology.

Video Conferencing

In today’s age, video conferencing has become a “new norm,” and it’s a common standard in an ever-increasing remote work environment in business.  But not all video conferencing applications are created equal.  Pick a group video meeting service that comes with features that will engage your members, such as live chat.  Also, include visuals in your video conferences, as these tend to be far more engaging than members watching talking heads on a screen. To be sure, video meetings can be a brilliant way to connect with remote workers and even workers in other countries.  When conducted thoughtfully and to engage attendees, video meetings can also boost your business meeting productivity.  

Use Interactive Projectors

Interactive projectors will help you engage with your audience in any room and will make your presentations a truly memorable experience. If you’ve been in a meeting or a presentation, you might have dealt with the frustration of missing files that someone else has on a drive or their laptop, which prevents the show from getting on the roll until those files are accessible. 

Fortunately, advances in projection technology mean devices are available that will make sharing files in meetings easier and more interactive. So no more lagging times or waiting on access files when projecting a meeting or business seminar. Interactive projectors are the perfect solution for businesses that need interactive group collaboration. They display files for everyone to see and allow teammates to edit documents together. Truly, interactive board technology is a clever way to make business meetings more engaging and productive.

Use Smartphones Smartly

While there are many advantages to having a smartphone, they can be a distraction in meetings. Instead of putting it away and turning your attention to the people around you, use your phone as a valuable tool by relying on personal assistant apps and scheduling apps on your phone. 

These apps can help with scheduling and will remind you when something comes up. So if you’re worried about forgetting important tasks from your to-do list, why not put them on your smartphone? These virtual assistants are not only great organizers, many apps provide team member access to your schedule so that all meeting participants are on the same page. 

Use Project Management Software

Whether you work in a small business or a large corporation, it can take time to keep track of notes from meetings. Instead of saving those thoughts to a Word document on a single computer, why not post them in your company’s project management (PM) software? This way, everybody has access to the important details, and nobody forgets anything.

Meeting planning can be cumbersome, but programs like project management software make it easy for everyone involved. It even allows you to create virtual to-do lists and have members at the meeting take notes. PM software also has the capability to instant message other employees in the workplace. This way, everyone knows what must be done in order to be prepared for the next set of tasks.

Conclusion

As technology advances, we should see many more ways to improve productivity in business meetings. However, it’s important to remember that no matter how advanced your technology is, the number one factor in having stimulating and productive business gatherings is to take a personalized approach to your meetings.  Pay attention to your attendants, and know your audience.  Your power of perception to discern and anticipate your attendee’s needs is the key secret to high-performance, meaningful, and constructive meetings in the workplace.