Three Jobs for the Meeting Facilitator

Start with an agenda. Ask your manager what (s)he wants on the agenda.  It’s also a good idea to send an e-mail to the meeting participants, asking them what they’d like to see on the agenda.
If you have any issues you’d like to see discussed, put them on the agenda,too.  Perhaps you’ve read an interesting article in an industry publication or heard about something a competitor is doing. Put it on the agenda.  As the facilitator, you can use these tidbits of information as ice breakers, too.
Include everyone in the meeting. As you move along the agenda items, be sure to solicit input from everyone who’s logged in.  If someone hasn’t contributed to an area, ask him or her to summarize what the others have said.  In that way, everyone will feel a part of any decisions that are made.
Last, set a time limit for each agenda item … and stick to it!

Keep the meeting on track. The main reason facilitators are necessary is because meetings have a habit of getting off track, taking too long and not covering what needs to be covered.  A good facilitator takes care of the details, watches the times and makes sure everyone’s opinion is heard.

If you are planning any brainstorming sessions, be sure to keep them positive and encourage everyone’s input.  Remember that brainstorming is not a time to judge ideas. It’s a time to put everything on the table. Even the wildest, craziest ideas can sometimes trigger a workable solution, so you don’t want to discourage anyone.

Summarize agenda items before moving on. Once you’ve completed an agenda item, summarize everything that was discussed as well as any assignments that were made. Leave no dangling ends as you move to the next point.

Send out meeting notes. Write a summary of the entire meeting and send it to everyone who attended as well as those who should have been there but couldn’t, such as your manager. Get it in their hands within three days of the meeting, then encourage the participants to get back to you if they notice any discrepancies.

How to Choose An Online Meeting Provider

We small business owners have to be careful.  We need to invest in growing our business, but not waste a cent.   Web conference software can help, if you understand what to look for.

Often, owners are afraid the service will cost too much. They worry they might get locked into a fee for something that doesn’t do what they need. Sound familiar?  If so, read on.

The good news is that web conferencing vendors have pricing plans geared for small business owners. For example, Webex’s MeetMeNow prices out to as low as $39 a month for an unlimited number of meetings (15 participants per meeting). The other top-tier companies (Cisco, Adobe) have similar plans.

The trick to deciding whether the finances make sense is to figure out what you’ll save.   Are you traveling to meetings? Internet web conferencing will save travel dollars.  Are you always pressed for time?  Web conferencing lets you be in “two places at once.”  When you calculate your savings in dollars and time, you’ll probably agree that web conferencing is a good investment.

Next, determine what features you absolutely must have.   If you’ve used internet conferencing before you probably already know what you need.  If this is new technology to you, take advantage of free trials to see which of these features make the most sense for you.

• Audio Conferencing: If you’re interested in VoIP calling (calling over the Internet) you’ll want to check whether the vendor provides this.
• Video Conferencing: If you have a webcam on your PC and are comfortable using it, you’ll want a vendor that allows for video streaming.
• White Board: Virtual whiteboards are a great tool.  Your group works together to draw out a new concept, just as if they were in the same room.
• Annotating Documents: Do you want to read and edit documents together?
• Number and Size of Meetings: We like a plan that allows unlimited meetings.  Some vendors will limit the number of participants per meeting, but how often do you need more than 15 people on a call anyway?

Bottom line: You’ve got everything to gain and nothing to lose by taking advantage of online meeting vendors’ free trial offers!