There are many jokes about the function of business meetings that appear to be saying that such meetings are a waste of time for those attending. However, nearly all businesses still hold them; often on a regular basis (e.g. the monthly sales meeting, etc).
It’s Not The Meeting; It’s What Takes Place There
A one on one meeting with your boss might not be overly pleasant but; from management’s viewpoint it is probably productive. Unfortunately, humans are a chatty bunch and, when you get several of them together in one room; there is a tendency for the talking to get off subject – i.e. not productive and time wasting. If the organization is large enough to have employees operating at long distance from the meeting room, their flights and hotel room charges need to be factored in when considering the need for the meeting.
Take Away The Travel & The Physical Presence
If no one is actually present; how do you have a meeting? The answer is simple and has grown out of a much older method whereby the one on one telephone call was enlarged to become a conference call between several people. Early conference calls worked but were somewhat cumbersome and not really suited for anything more than fairly short discussions. Video conferencing was an improvement; but, the early examples required each member of the group to be in a specific place in front of a camera.
VOIP calling with audio and webcams enabled each person to be in front of their own computer which could be at any location anywhere in the world. Having a meeting without all being in the same room was possible but did get a little disorganized at times.
Programs VS Apps
Maybe it’s just a quirk of human nature; maybe there is a technological reason for it; but, I am personally clueless as to why I run programs on my laptop (such as a VOIP program for my business conference calls); whereas when I run something similar on my smart phone it is called an app? Be that as it may, I have discovered the perfect meeting app for smartphones that enables an (almost) unlimited number of people to engage in a meaningful meeting to hear what the main speakers have to say and, in real time, make their own contributions. The Meeting App not only connects us all together; it organizes matters so that we all perform in a more focused and productive manner throughout the “virtual†meeting.
