Digital Technology to Plan and Organise Meetings

• E-mail


  A very quick and easy way of communicating with participants, sending documentation etc. Meetings can be set up quickly and group addresses can be created for regular meetings.
• Electronic diaries/calendars


  These are particularly useful for setting up meetings and making automatic entries into the participants' diaries. The organiser of the meeting can view the participants' diaries and choose a common 'free' date and time, send invitations by e-mail and, upon receipt, the details are entered in everyone's diaries.
• Videoconferencing


  This is a very useful tool for meetings when participants are spread across various locations and travel time is an issue. Using a VC system eliminates the need for people to actually be there, whilst still allowing full participation, as users can see each other and simultaneously work on the same document.
• Audioconferencing


  The ability for a number of parties to speak to one another is useful, especially if the nature or length of the discussion does not warrant a face-to-face meeting. Loud speakers are often used for larger meetings to enable everyone to be heard and take an active part.
• Collaborative white-boarding


  Allows for people at different locations to view and operate the same computer programme simultaneously over a computer network. One computer acts as a host for a particular application, which everyone else can then see on their screens.