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The next-generation business meeting: from i-lands to flexible meeting landscapes

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Abstract

Meetings are an important form of interaction in business settings. However, meetings are often not held in a way that makes all participants feel engaged. Meeting support systems try to overcome this obstacle by helping meeting participants in the meeting workflow. This paper takes a complementary approach by distinguishing between different perspectives of good meetings: the peopleware perspective, the generic groupware perspective, and the roomware perspective. It is argued that all these perspectives have to be considered simultaneously when heading toward an ideal meeting system design. The paper presents excerpts of a pattern language that empowers users to improve their meeting. Besides this, the pattern language can be considered as a tool for the designer. After showing, how both groups made use of the patterns, the paper finally presents LivingAgendas, a meeting support system that can accompany the meeting participant through the meeting life cycle.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank our colleagues of the MAPPER project, especially Hilda Tellioğlu, who shared her insights from ethnographic studies in MAPPER with us. Special thanks are due to all members of the EuroPLoP07 writer’s workshop where a previous version of our meeting patterns was discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. FernUniversität in Hagen, Hagen, Germany

    Till Schümmer & Joerg M. Haake

  2. Teambits GmbH, Darmstadt, Germany

    Peter Tandler

Authors
  1. Till Schümmer
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  2. Peter Tandler
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  3. Joerg M. Haake
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Till Schümmer.

Appendix: Additional thumbnails of meeting patterns

Appendix: Additional thumbnails of meeting patterns

Action Item

Write an action item list during the meeting. For each action item, agree on someone responsible and define a due date. Optionally specify who can support the responsible person solving an action item. Review the action item list at the end of the meeting to get everyone’s confirmation about agreed tasks (Nodding Dog). Track status of action items in next meeting or define a date when to report next about the progress. The pattern helps to improve Reliability, Clear Goals, Efficiency, Focus, and Results.

Activate!

The pattern provides guidance on choosing those methods and tools in meetings that support a high level of concurrent activity for all participants (and supporting the interaction with technology). This pattern addresses the Communication property and the Participation property.

Be Prepared

Communicate what kind of preparation is required for participating in a meeting and ensure that participants can do this preparation, e.g., by providing access to preparation material or adding preparation tasks to the participants’ calendars. It addresses the following properties: Discipline, Information, Efficiency, Focus.

No Discussion

Label agenda items that have the goal of confirming a decision for which a significant consensus already exists with the term “No Discussion”. Link the item to a prepared decision. As long as no one objects, simply Vote on the prepared decision during the meeting. Having the pattern in place improves Efficiency, Focus, Communication, and Results.

Present Without Presenting

To prevent that meeting time is wasted on repeated presentations (and long PowerPoint shows), you can create the presentation beforehand and attach it to the corresponding agenda item of the meeting (It’s My Agenda, It’s My Meeting). Ensure that everyone sticks to the deadline to upload input material. Ensure that everyone is prepared (Be Prepared) and has read all input documents. Prepare questions that you will then discuss during the meeting. The pattern focuses on these properties: Information, Efficiency, and Focus.

RSVP—Repondez s’il Vous Plait

Collect commitments for participation in order to decide whether or not all required participants are present for a specific agenda item. Share the information of planned attendance with the group. The pattern focuses on these properties: Discipline, Participation, and Results.

Setup and test the tools in time before the meeting

Check the meeting space early enough before the meeting in order to setup and test all tools needed and prevent problems with making the technology work at the participant’s devices. Plan some time to substitute broken components. Have spare parts at hand (e.g., a second projector in case the lamp is broken) or plan and prepare fallback solutions. The pattern addresses the Context property.

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Schümmer, T., Tandler, P. & Haake, J.M. The next-generation business meeting: from i-lands to flexible meeting landscapes. Univ Access Inf Soc 11, 239–258 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-011-0239-7

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