The Dos and Don’ts of Effective Meeting Management

The Dos and Don’ts of Effective Meeting Management

by | Nov 23, 2020 | Meeting management software

Meetings are important for any business. They help make decisions that contribute to the company’s growth. However, not all meetings are effective. According to a recent report, on average, professionals worldwide spend two hours a week in pointless meetings.

Since meetings involve the time of various people, they should be effective and purposeful. Whether you are running a meeting for the first time or you have conducted meetings before, make sure that everything is prepared.

Here are the dos and don’ts of effective meetings that can help you make your meetings meaningful.

1. Do prepare
An effective meeting is well-structured. A meeting without a clear objective means wasting team members time that could otherwise be spent on other productive tasks.

Here are some ways you can prepare for your meetings:
•Set up an agenda: create a well-designed agenda mentioning the action items and the person responsible for each action item. Meeting agenda management software can automate and simplify the process of agenda creation while saving your time and effort.

• Distribute the agenda in advance: once you have created the agenda, share it with your team members ahead of the meeting. This will enable your team to understand the purpose of the meeting and come prepared.

2. Do leverage useful tools
Technology has benefitted businesses significantly. Although many organisations and clubs still rely on a manual meeting management processes, an automated solution can help save time, money and effort in preparing and managing meetings.

The best online meeting software like meetingTRAC offers complete meeting management solutions – such as quick scheduling of meetings, creation and distribution of agendas and minutes, easy follow-ups, automated task reminders and more. It saves your time and money spent on meeting management, thereby enabling you to focus on what matters most in your club or business.

3. Don’t invite everyone
Meetings with too many people get off track. Research from Stanford University suggests that no more than seven people should be invited to a meeting. The effectiveness of a meeting declines rapidly when more than seven people are involved.
• Send an invite to team members who are to be involved in the meeting
• Only invite people who can contribute to what is on the agenda
• Leverage meeting and agenda management software to automatically invite your participants

4. Do not limit the communication
The key to an effective meeting is participation from each team member. However, engagement can be affected if you fail to create an environment with open communication.
• Encourage participation from each attendee
• Build trust in the meeting room and invite creative ideas.

meetingTRAC for Efficient Meeting Management
meetingTRAC is smart and easy meeting management software that automates scheduling and agenda templates, allowing minutes and actions to be recorded and distributed electronically in realtime.

meetingTRAC lightens the load on clubs, businesses, volunteers and community groups by saving time, reducing stress and empowering clubs and organisations to get on with what really matters. In addition, meetingTRAC helps save money in preparing, running and reporting on meetings.

meetingTRAC meeting agenda management software is easy to integrate into any organisation, can run on any computer or mobile device and does not require any software download.
Sign up for a 7-day free trial to explore how meetingTRAC can help you drive efficient meetings.

4 Signs you need Meeting Management Software

4 Signs you need Meeting Management Software

by | Nov 19, 2020 | Meeting management software

Meetings are crucial for clubs and organisations. They help drive decisions that fuel business growth.

Even in today’s digital era, many organisations follow a manual practice of meeting management. This requires significant time, money and effort. Instead, many organisations have shifted to meeting management software.

Meeting management software is equipped with tools that automate and streamline meeting management tasks – such as scheduling meetings, creating and distributing meeting agendas and minutes, and following up on meetings and action items. Meeting management software saves time, money and effort in preparing, conducting and reporting on meetings.

Here are some signs that you need meeting management software:

1. Limited time and resources
Your people and your time are resources that are limited. It is important to ensure that the right resources are allocated to the right tasks. With a manual meeting management process, so much time is taken upcarrying out meeting management tasks manually. This prevents your people from focusing on other important tasks that matter the most.

Meeting management software automates and streamlines the meeting management process, leaving team members with sufficient time to concentrate on important, productive tasks that contribute to business growth.

2. Manual creation and distribution of agendas
Agendas are crucial since they give direction to meetings. Team members who follow manual meeting management processes waste most of their time in preparing and distributing agendas.

Meeting agenda management software allows automatic creation and distribution of meeting agendas. Complete meeting management software like meetingTRAC provides custom agenda templates that can be quickly populated and shared with team members electronically in real time.

3. Manual recording of meeting minutes
Meeting minutes are a great wayto track the progress of the decisions made during a meeting. Meeting minutes provide clarity on who is accountable for the jobs and action items assigned during the meeting. Recording meeting minutes in detail requires significant time and effort.

Meeting management software like meetingTRAC provides easy-to-populate minutes templates that facilitate the recording of minutes. These templates can be instantly shared with attendees. This saves time and frees people up to spend time actually accomplishing business results, not merely spending more time on paperwork.

4. Manual filing
Businesses often need to refer to older meeting files, either to make decisions or check what was decided in the past. With paper-based files, it can be challenging and time-consuming to sort files. Adding to this problem is the inability to access meeting files when team members are outside of the office.

meetingTRAC meeting management software provides centralised access to meeting files that can be accessed anytime, from anywhere across the globe.

meetingTRAC for Efficient Meeting Management

meetingTRAC is smart and easy meeting management software that automates scheduling and agenda templates, allowing minutes and actions to be recorded and distributed electronically in realtime.

meetingTRAC lightens the load on clubs, businesses, volunteers and community groups by saving time, reducing stress, and empowering clubs and organisations to get on with what really matters. In addition, meetingTRAC helps save money in preparing, running and reporting on meetings.

meetingTRAC meeting management software is easy to integrate into any organisation, can run on any computer or mobile device and does not require any software download.

Sign up for a 7-day free trial to explore how meetingTRAC can help you drive efficient meetings.

Features to look for in Reliable Meeting Management Software

Features to look for in Reliable Meeting Management Software

by | Nov 11, 2020 | Meeting management software

Meeting management software automates and streamlines the process of meeting management – from scheduling meetings to creating and distributing meeting agendas and minutes to accessing meeting files. This helps clubs and businesses save time, money and effort in preparing, running and reporting on meetings while enabling them to focus on what matters most – running great organisations.

However, not all meeting management software is the same. To enjoy the true benefits of meeting management software, you need to find the right meeting management software. Here are the features that you should look for in a meeting management solution to choose the right software for your organisation.

1. Easy creation and distribution of meeting agendas
An agenda is one of the crucial elements of a meeting. It directs the meeting and defines the action items that need to be discussed in the meeting. Creating and distributing a meeting agenda manually can be laborious and time consuming.

An online meeting management solution should provide agenda templates that can be easily populated and distributed among team members ahead of the meeting so that team members come well prepared for the meeting.

meetingTRAC meeting management software provides custom agenda templates that can be easily created and shared with team members electronically in real time.

2. Easy-to-populate meeting minutes
Meeting minutes are essential to keep track of what was discussed in the meeting and to gauge the progress of achievements.

Meeting minutes recording software should provide easy-to-populate minutes templates that can be quickly shared with team members so that everyone can stay on the same page.

meetingTRAC provides meeting minutes templates that can be quickly populated and distributed among team members via email.

3. Centralised access to meeting files
Clubs and businesses will need to access meeting files, sometimes long after the meeting is finished. Paper-based files are hard to sort and access, especially when you are outside of the office.

A complete meeting management system should provide a centralised repository of meeting files that can be accessed anytime, anywhere.
meetingTRAC meeting management software is equipped with a centralised filing system that provides online access to meeting agendas, minutes and files. Users can seamlessly access these files, even on the go.

meetingTRAC for Efficient Meeting Management
meetingTRAC is smart and easy meeting management software that automates scheduling and agenda templates, allowing minutes and actions to be recorded and distributed electronically in realtime.

meetingTRAC lightens the load on clubs, businesses, volunteers and community groups by saving time, reducing stress, and empowering clubs and organisations to get on with what really matters. In addition, meetingTRAC helps save money in preparing, running and reporting on meetings.

meetingTRAC meeting minutes recording software is easy to integrate into any organisation, can run on any computer or mobile device and does not require any software download.

Sign up for a 7-day free trial to explore how meetingTRAC can help you drive efficient meetings.

Top 5 benefits of Meeting Tracking Software

Top 5 benefits of Meeting Tracking Software

by | Nov 5, 2020 | Meeting management software

There are many parts to conducting a meeting–scheduling, setting and sharing the agenda, discussing action items, taking and distributing minutes, and following up on the decisions made during the meeting. Achieving all of this manually can be laborious and time-consuming. This is why businesses are switching to meeting tracking software for meeting management.

Meeting tracking software automates, expedites, and streamlines the meeting management process. It offers the following benefits to users.

1. Keep everyone on the same page
A centralised, online meeting management system can help clubs and businesses to eliminate manual handling of tasks related to meeting management. Meeting software creates and distributes meeting agendas and minutes, manages meeting files, and more.

All team members can use meeting tracking software to quickly gain access to a centralized repository of meeting agendas, minutes and documents. Furthermore, the system can notify team members of meeting agendas and minutes, which means no more excuses for incomplete action items!

2. Round-the-clock access to information
Some clubs and businesses still prefer to use notepads and whiteboards. A major drawback of this is inaccessibility of these files to all team members.

The best meeting management software can enable team members to access important meeting files anytime, from anywhere. Simply upload a photo of your notes on notepads and whiteboards, as well as other digital documents, to meeting management software and nothing will be lost again.

3. Automated documentation
Creating meeting agendas and minutes manually requires significant time and effort.
By using centralised meeting tracking software, team members can quickly create accurate documents that can be shared with others electronically, in real time.

4. Better productivity
The effort and laborious processes involved in managing meetings manually results in high utilization of people’s time. Switching from labor-intensive work to the best meeting management software can save considerable time, enabling team members to focus on what really matters.

And, when it comes to business, time equals money. If you save four hours a week by switching to meeting management software, this will add half of a working day that can be devoted to core operations.

5. Easy integration
Integrating meeting management software into a business is easy and quick. With software like meetingTRAC, you need not download or install any software. meetingTRAC can be easily integrated into organisations of any type or size, without the need to invest a large amount of money. Additionally, its user-friendly interface makes it easy to use for even the non-tech-savvy.

meetingTRAC for Efficient Meeting Minutes Recording
meetingTRAC is smart and easy meeting management software that automates scheduling and agenda templates, allowing minutes and actions to be recorded and distributed electronically in real-time.

meetingTRAC lightens the load on clubs, businesses, volunteers and community groups by saving time, reducing stress, and empowering clubs and organisations to get on with what really matters. In addition, meetingTRAC helps save money in preparing, running, and reporting on meetings.

meetingTRAC meeting tracking software is easy to integrate into any organisation, can run on any computer or mobile device, and does not require any software download.

Sign up for a 7-day free trial to explore how meetingTRAC can help you drive efficient meetings.

Understanding meeting minutes and their importance

Understanding meeting minutes and their importance

by | Oct 23, 2020 | Meeting management software

Clubs and businesses conduct meetings every day. Decisions made during meetings involve significant time and money, and impact on each organisation’s growth. Meeting minutes are written records of what was discussed and decided in meetings, what actions need to be taken, the people responsible for actions and their timeframes. Since minutes provide a summary of meetings and help direct what needs to be done to gauge progress, they are of great value.

Recording efficient meeting minutes is easy with online meeting minutes software. Complete meeting management software like meetingTRAC provides custom minutes templates that can be easily populated and electronically shared with the attendees in real time.

What should meeting minutes include?
Meeting minutes should include all the information necessary to track the outcomes of the meeting.

• Date, time and location
Adding date, time and location ensures that the minutes are recorded in context and that there is sufficient evidence about when decisions were made.

• Purpose of the meeting
Outlining the purpose of the meeting provides a quick and easy reference point when reviewing meeting minutes in the future.

• Decisions made
Meeting minutes should include details of all decisions made during the meeting – whether big or small. Any key points made along with the decisions should also be mentioned in the minutes.

• Action items
Record the next steps in your project, who you have assigned these steps to and the deadline for each action item.
Businesses can leverage online meeting minutes software to record efficient meeting minutes quickly and easily.

Reasons to record meeting minutes
Here are some important reasons why meeting minutes are recorded:
• Establish accountability
All too often, people participating in follow-up meetings find out that no action was taken on the decisions from the previous meeting, which accomplishes nothing but another meeting! Meeting minutes help assign responsibility to team members, leading to better results.

• Provide historical records
Meeting minutes establish a written record of events that transpired during meetings. They provide traceability of communication and assignment of action items.

• Set due dates
Meetings lead to actions that have to be completed within a certain time frame. Without written records and reminders, it is easy to forget when something was supposed to happen. Meeting minutes provide complete information about action items, the people responsible for the actions and the deadline for each.

• Capture highlights for those who didn’t attend the meeting
Other meetings or appointments regularly prevent people from attending your meeting. The minutes captured using online meeting minutes software can be shared with relevant team members electronically, including those who were unable to attend. This helps absent team members to gain insight into meeting highlights and find out if they are required to achieve any action items.

meetingTRAC for Efficient Meeting Minutes Recording
meetingTRAC is smart and easy meeting management software that automates scheduling and agenda templates, allowing minutes and actions to be recorded and distributed electronically in real-time.

meetingTRAC lightens the load on clubs, businesses, volunteers and community groups by saving time, reducing stress, and empowering clubs and organisations to get on with what really matters. In addition, meetingTRAC helps save money in preparing, running, and reporting on meetings.

meetingTRAC online meeting minutes software is easy to integrate into any organisation, can run on any computer or mobile device, and does not require any software download.

Sign up for a 7-day free trial to explore how meetingTRAC can help you drive efficient meetings.

Common problems with meetings and how to overcome them

Common problems with meetings and how to overcome them

by | Oct 15, 2020 | Meeting management software

For any successful organisation, meetings play a great role when it comes to decision making or devising a growth strategy. Unfortunately, when these meetings are poorly conducted, it can not only lead to a waste of time but also impact the organisation’s bottomline.

The following are the common problems that organisations usually face while running meetings and how these problems can be addressed.

Problem 1: Lengthy and directionless discussion
Meetings often lose track, with attendees discussing topics completely different from what was intended. This wastes participants’ time and leads to no results.

Another problem that plagues meetings is lengthy discussions. When this is the case, meetings run for a longer time and turn into boring talk-fests that lack productivity.

Solution: Have an agenda
Create a well-designed agenda that includes the action items that need to be discussed in the meeting, along with the time allotted to each action item. Distribute the agenda among the participants ahead of the meeting so that everyone knows the purpose of the meeting and can come prepared. Having an agenda will help you ensure that the attendees discuss only the action items mentioned in the agenda for the stipulated time. This will help prevent the meeting from going off the track.

Meeting tracker software with complete meeting management tools can help you easily create and distribute the meeting agenda among your participants while saving your time and effort.

Problem 2: Late attendees
Organisations waste considerable time and money when meetings do not start on time. A meeting scheduled for 9:00 am is likely to start at 9:10 am or even later. This delays tasks and decision-making processes, hindering growth.

Solution: Develop a rule to encourage starting on time
You can have a rule that anyone who does not join the meeting on time would have to fulfill a condition to enter the meeting. It could be anything – like singing a song of their choice. It would be fun, and at the same time, it would encourage your participants to be present for meetings on time.

You can leverage meeting attendance tracking software to keep a record of your participants.

Problem 3: No follow-up
Following up on meetings is as important as having an efficient discussion during the meeting. No matter how productive your meeting was, it would be of no use until you follow-up and gauge the progress of your accomplishments. Unfortunately, many meetings are conducted without any follow-ups, and it is difficult to recall who was responsible for what.

Solution: Record meeting minutes
Meeting minutes keep a record of what was discussed during the meeting, what was to be achieved, and who was responsible for achieving those goals. Well-documented meeting minutes should be shared with attendees after the meeting and a person should take charge of following-up on action items.
Meeting tracker software can streamline and accelerate the process to create and distribute meeting minutes among your team members.

meetingTRAC for Efficient Meeting Management
meetingTRAC is smart and easy meeting management software that automates scheduling and agenda templates, allowing minutes and actions to be recorded and distributed electronically in realtime.

meetingTRAC lightens the load on businesses, clubs, and community group volunteers by saving time, reducing stress, and empowering clubs and organisations to get on with what really matters. In addition, meetingTRAC helps save money in preparing, running, and reporting on meetings.

meetingTRAC meeting tracker software is easy to integrate into any organisation, can run on any computer or mobile device, and does not require any software download.

Sign up for a 7-day free trial to explore how meetingTRAC can help you drive efficient meetings.