Meeting Management Software 2021: Complete Guide

Meeting management is a step by step process involving various components including planning, managing and effectively harnessing results as an outcome of the meeting. All these components have to work in perfect sync for the meeting to be deemed successful for an organisation. Neglecting any of these steps can lead to poor results and a spate of additional meetings to make up for lost time and shifting of goalposts or agenda for the firm.

What is Meeting Management Software?

Since meetings are so vital in the life of an organisation, then it must be made cost-effective and organised in a way that no unproductive time is spent by employees.

The success or failure of a meeting can be charted out in four stages namely agenda, preparation, flexibility, and follow-up. An efficient Meeting Management Software helps teams or individuals of any size seamlessly achieve all four aspects. It aids to successfully plan, organise, run, and record results during meetings.

A few characteristics that are common to meeting productivity include scheduling and invitations, agenda-setting and distribution, note-taking while a meeting is on, timers, recording action items and decision tracking, and minutes generation.

Meeting Management Software enables the modern workforce to easily automate traditional meeting settings to virtual ones.

Paperless Meetings

A big plus of using a Meeting Management Software is that offices can do away with the large volume of paper being used during meetings to record and share the proceedings. Instead, a digital pack can be shared with approved teammates who can then view it on any device. Less paper translates into more cost savings and less storage which is a big win for any office.

Increased Security

Every business today places cybersecurity at the heart of its operations and this especially true for meetings- where many pivotal decisions and discussions are had. With Meeting Management Software, companies can make everything accessible online with the help of cloud computing and add access controls to avoid the company information from falling into the wrong hands.

Improved Collaboration

Meetings must be inclusive and inspire participation from all involved. This could be done by an array of features provided in Meeting Management Software like video demonstrations, whiteboard presentations, sticky notes where team members can jot down relevant observations, or add details in real-time and share it with the team. This not only keeps the meeting an inspiring place where new ideas and paths can be forged but also one where result-oriented strategies can be developed.

Synchronised Information and Real-time Updates

Plenty of changes and updates happen pre- and post-meetings. So rather than use a paper trail or emails to keep everyone in the loop, Meeting Management Software helps provide regular updates virtually to all the team members and allows them to access data, files or information shared at the meeting. This lets teams keep abreast of the latest decisions and save valuable time in syncing their work with the deliverables discussed at the meeting.

Simplified Note-taking

With the traditional office culture changing rapidly, the transcribing of the minutes of a meeting remains an important feature for companies even today. With a feature like automated meeting notes, Meeting Management Software ensures that every observation, interaction, and the decisions that were taken in a meeting is recorded, shared, and archived, so that the usefulness of the meeting is achieved and nothing manages to slip through the cracks.

Improved Participation at Remote Meetings

Today companies have teams joining in for meetings from different parts of the world and time zones. With the help of the right Meeting Management Software, companies can ensure that every team member can participate equally, thereby saving time, cost to the company by allowing everyone to keep pace with the development of a project or task, regardless of location or time-zone.

Improved Action Item Tracking

Meeting management software also facilitates productivity using tools such as agenda creators and consensus trackers. Team members who attended the meeting should be able to take notes in meetings, assign tasks, and send follow up information to everyone, and gather feedback when necessary with a click.

Consider the following aspects before choosing Meeting Management Software:

Security

A good Meeting Management Software is usually backed by leading security standards with a secure data centre that is located within the region or country of the company’s headquarters. The security protocol should be in sync with the stipulated legal regulations of the country and its legal system.

All-in-one Application

A bankable Meeting Management Software is one that offers a wide array and scope of features - including creating agendas and goals, adding files, including dial-in information, taking notes in meetings, assigning tasks, and sending follow up information to everyone and gathering feedback when necessary. Every participant must be able to take notes within the application to track the ideas and interactions that took place in the meeting and send pertinent notes to all participants with a click.

Integrations

Meeting Management Software must be able to integrate with audio, video, and web conferencing tools, while also operating as a stand-alone application. It should also be able to integrate seamlessly with other cloud-based applications used by the company as well.

Pricing

The vendor should be able to offer flexible pricing plans that include a whole range of comprehensive solutions like being able to host one-on-one meet-ups to the popular AMA’s (Ask me Anything). These options may include meetings for 10 to 200 attendees, from a single host to an unlimited number of hosts, one meeting room to unlimited rooms, and be able to offer the facility of audio and video conferencing, to advanced features.