If you want to do more, MeetingSphere lets you build an agenda meaning a sequence of workspaces selected and configured for the task at hand. Say, you need to find and understand possible solutions to a problem. For this, you might want to Brainstorm possible solutions, then Rate the solutions on ‘Effectiveness’, then Discuss the most ‘effective’ solutions regarding their feasibility, implementation and unintended consequences. Then produce the report and mull it over before making a decision or agree the course of action with the group then and there.

Meeting ‘process’ sounds grand and produces great results but is nothing more than organizing the steps you need to take from where you are to where you and your group need to be: Present, if you need to push information. Use Brainstorm to expand the possibilities (ideas, facts, opinions, whatever). Use Rating to narrow things down and prioritize. Use Discussion to drill into matters and to build consensus.

Focus on what's relevant

However simple or complex the steps in your meeting are, you probably want to produce and process reliable information.

In a conventional meeting, this isn’t trivial: Participants may not say what they really think, which means everybody has to spend energy on second guessing everybody else. The question ‘What do they really mean?’ inevitably leads participants to think a lot about ‘who said it’ at the expense of evaluating what is being said. Participants may also not share fully what they know, or even dress up the facts. Which means that the understanding of the situation or the options is likely to be incomplete and distorted. Facts and opinions that are withheld cannot be discussed, options not considered, and so on. Traditional ways of dealing with this involve expert facilitation skills and extra time both of which may be in short supply. Worse, they do not work online.