The meeting dilemma

Back in 1976, Michael Doyle and David Straus, authors of the classic How To Make Meetings Work, calculated that there were 11 million meetings in the U.S. every day, with executives spending 50% of their time in them.

20 years later in 2005, Microsoft's survey of 38,000 people worldwide identified unclear objectives, lack of team communication and ineffective meetings as the three most common productivity pitfalls . People spend 5.6 hours each week in meetings and 69% feel meetings aren't productive.

Amongst the key issues identified:

• Poor meeting mechanics - Lack of meeting agenda or objectives, poor chairmanship
• Key players missing, late-comers, uninterested attendees
• Data Overload or Drought - Too many ideas bouncing around, no materials provided prior, lack of preparation
• Unclear Roles and Responsibilities - Who's supposed to be doing what?
• Problem Avoidance - Everything's fine, or, there is nothing we can do about it.
• Solution Avoidance - "What did we decide to do?"

Tele-commuting and virtual teams further reduce the likelihood of key participants attending. Then add distractions from laptops, iPhones, emails and SMS. They may make us 24x7 and reduce our CO 2 footprint, but it certainly doesn't make meetings more productive.

How can AV help?

Many of these issues need to be dealt with by management leading by example, an open trusting culture, and policy and process tuned to make it easier to do it the right way rather than taking meeting short-cuts.

There are a range of audio visual technologies that can provide the foundation for meeting improvements. Here's our top 6 ways where Audio Visual technology can help:

"People remember 10% of what they hear, 65% of what they hear & see." Gone are the dim projectors requiring a darkened room with people falling asleep, or poor image quality giving people a head-ache		Display considerations
Sometimes presentations are too scripted with little interaction; sometimes the team's thoughts need to flow. We have tools to assist and to capture that thinking.		Interactivity
If people can't attend in person, then maybe the meeting should go to them.  Video Conferencing / Tele-presence isn't the only solution.  Voice conferencing and Application Sharing can be easily set-up.		Conferencing
Maybe people can't attend at that time, and meeting minutes don't tell the whole story. With conferencing tools in place, recording becomes straightforward.  And no-one can argue "who said what"		Recording
Control systems remove the hardly used functions and manage the integration complexity of the technology.		AV operation & control
Ever had everyone sit around for 5 minutes whilst the presentation is set up only to find a key piece of technology lets you down.		Installation

Making it happen – Our Service Approach

If you have already assessed the above issues and have set the AV budget for your meeting room, board room or training room, then we'll be able to easily document your needs.

If instead organisational needs must be fully determined and there are multiple stakeholders involved, then a consultative approach may be more appropriate. This lets you take a more holistic view of the needs, an appreciation of those potential areas of benefit, a formal assessment of needs and a mapping to budget. Refer to our AV Consulting section for details.

With the AV needs properly defined, we are able to determine the optimal "bang for buck" solution and give you a properly costed solution to fit within your budget.

Financing may allow your objectives to be achieved sooner than thought possible.

An Installation that enhances your meeting experience

There is a lot to consider for a successful installation - aesthetics, building integrity, electrical, occupational health and safety, overall cost and impact on normal operations. There can be a lot of pressure to cut corners - We don't!

Once the proposal is accepted, a Project Manager is assigned to the installation. An internal "Scope of Work" document is prepared to ensure all technical and procedural aspects are covered before install work starts. This may require a visit from the project manager to undertake a Site Inspection. We work with your liaison person to schedule work either during or outside of work hours.

Click here to find out more about how we control installation quality.

Training and after sales support

Depending on your needs, ECAV provides training ranging from basic hand-over of equipment through to specific training on key technologies such as interactive whiteboards.

Our workmanship is warranted for 6 months and the products we provide are all Australian-sourced giving you full manufacturer's warranty.