Three Applications to Improve Business Meetings

Although few people enjoy them, regular business meetings are a necessity in the workplace. They are meant to provide workers with an opportunity to plan, share ideas and disseminate information, but they can sometimes devolve into counterproductive wastes of time. Fortunately, thanks to advances in productivity-conscious technology, the answer to more efficient and productive business meetings may be right at your fingertips.

Smartphones are an invaluable business tool. Data from Consumer Pulse, Google/Ipsos and ExactTarget show that approximately 20 percent of smartphone owners utilize add-on software programs for business transactions. However, you can go beyond these simple business transactions. By using the following three apps, you will see that this technology can be just as useful in the boardroom.

Less Meeting

Less Meeting puts the focus on efficient time management, helping you prioritize tasks, simplify your agenda and cut down your business meeting time by up to 18 percent. Users report being 80 percent more likely to follow best business practices for effective meetings when using Less Meeting. The compliance is due to Less Meeting's automated to-do lists, which drive accountability, enabling meetings to be more successful and run more smoothly. Less Meeting syncs with Outlook, iCal and other programs for added efficiency. Both PCWorld and Lifehacker recognize Less Meeting as outstanding for improving business meetings.

Meeting Assistant

Meeting Assistant for iPad has a sleek user-interface that helps you easily organize reminders, contacts, calendars and agendas. It catalogs meeting participants using profile cards so that you can put names to faces with ease. Use the quick notes feature to record minutes and send them out immediately after the meeting. Use the subscription feature to add attendees, companies and even business information from Dun & Bradstreet to your meeting agenda. Meeting Assistant is an effective way to improve organization and efficiency in business meetings.

GoToMeeting

GoToMeeting is made for business people on the go, allowing them to connect to meetings remotely from anywhere. GoToMeeting is a subscription-based, online virtual meeting platform that includes video conferencing, VoIP and telephone. GoToMeeting allows you to schedule and attend meetings, webinars and training events right from your phone or tablet. It includes interactive tools for taking tests, answering polls, asking questions and monitoring attentiveness. The iPad version of GoToMeeting includes video conferencing, a virtual highlighter and a whiteboard for an even greater degree of interaction. You must have a paid subscription to host meetings, but anyone may download GoToMeeting and connect to meetings for free.

An estimated 33 percent of employee work time is spent in meetings, but with innovative technology, that time can be cut down considerably. These three apps help you organize relevant information before, during and after business meetings, reducing time spent and streamlining the meeting process considerably. Swipe and tap your way into the future of business meetings.

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