Formal, operational and procedural meetings for professional associations, staff groups or student councils can be conducted online using a combination of tools. The benefits of meeting in this way are many.

• Participants can be located anywhere they have access to the Internet.
• Travel times to meetings are reduced.
• All participants can comment as much as they like on items
• No one Person dominates thinking and speaking.
• Individuals can be ‘whispered to’ if need be to clarify points or special requests regarding meeting behaviour.
• The transcript can be saved for generating minutes from the meeting.

Using a chat room and web based meeting room for participants maximises the level of communication and interaction by participants. Participants meet at the same time in a chat room and use a web meeting tool or forum for people to read more detailed reports and minutes prior to the meeting or afterwards.

Dates to set

Notify participants of the meeting and agenda as you would for a face-to-face meeting of the chat meeting start time and finish time as well as the due time and date for lodging reports to web site meeting tool

Setting a time for lodgement of reports 30 minutes prior to the synchronous part of the meeting gives participants’ time to read the material prior to joining the discussion.

For example
7:00 pm Meeting commences
7:00pm – 7:30 pm Report reading time
7:30pm – 8:30pm Synchronous chat room meeting
8:30pm – 9:00pm BYO coffee and informal chat time

Role of Chairman

As in a face-to-face meeting the Chairman leads the event and manages the agenda. To clearly show who is chairing the meeting you can add chairman to your identity via the options tab in the chat program. eg Deb-chairman. Participants should be welcomed as they enter the room. If the meeting is underway it is a good idea to let the participant know what is being discussed. This can be done by whispering to them by selecting their name in the list of participants. Let them know the agenda item and invite them to make comment when they are ready.

Standard items like apologies, business arising from the last meeting, correspondence and reports can be worked through as you would in a face-to-face meeting. With minutes, and reports written and posted to the meeting web space the synchronous discussion can focus on questions to the relevant Person or elaborations on issues.

Open an agenda item by providing brief background information and asking the group to comment, from their perspective, and make comment on the ideas of others. If you have information on items on the agenda that is lengthy it is a good idea to pre type them in a Word document then cut and paste the text into the chat input textbox to speed up the process. Limit paragraphs to 8-10 lines. If the information is longer it should be posted as a report to the meeting web space. If you are thinking as you type and have a few lines of text to add to the discussion type a line then add … and send (enter) it on the chat floor for participants to start reading your thoughts. The … signals that there is more coming on this line of thought.

Once an agenda item has been opened for discussion allow participants time to make comment and comment on the ideas of others. Use a different colour text to open the topics to help the group navigate their way through the meeting. Through scanning the replies clear impressions can be gained on what the participants think about an issue.

When the discussion becomes repetitive it is time to move on. Call for last comments on the matter. Take a vote if necessary and announce the next topic. It is just as useful in this environment to allocate time for discussion on an issue to ensure that the meeting keeps moving.

Voting on motions

To put the motion to the group create a poll to record the vote.

Type #poll then the motion in the chat input textbox.

Participants click on the thumbs up or thumbs down to have their vote counted.

To close the vote type #poll-

Note: only the administrator of the chat room can create polls

For secret ballots participants could whisper to the Chairman by selecting their name from the list

What to do as a participant

As a participant you will be asked for your views on issues and while you will be able to contribute any time once called to do so by the Chairman, you will also be able to read all the views of others and make comment as well. Don’t wait to be called on unless that is specified by the Chairman. Post comments until the Chairman puts up a message that it is time to move on. Comments appear in order that they are posted so conversations will not be grouped together.

It is easy to be misinterpreted in this environment because of the absence of visual cues such as gestures and facial expressions so avoid jokes and sarcastic comments. Just say what you mean and even add an emoticon or two if you feel that you are being misinterpreted.

When you reply to a comment open with their name so that they easily see your reply.

The following excerpts are from a monthly board meeting of a professional association demonstrating features of participating in a meeting online. (reprinted with permission) Ten people attended this meeting from locations all over Queensland – Cooktown, Townsville, Warwick and Brisbane. The bold comments are annotations.

Chairman: Lets get this meeting going
Chairman: The first item on the agenda is the new web site … ( … indicating more to come)
Chairman: Person B is investigating the colour issue but we need a list of other changes … (opening comments on the agenda item)
Person A: Does anybody have any ideas for the graphic/photo in the top right Corner?
Chairman: Well we have quite a few suggestions … (winding up the discussion)
Chairman: I will ask XXXX about a graphic designer and talk more with XXX about that part … (…indicating more to come)
Chairman: Re the information organisation I might be able to twist an arm there but if you have any suggestions re this Person let me know asap
Chairman: Next update … is the list situation (new agenda item)
Chairman: Hello Person B (late arrival)
Chairman: We have been discussing the email lists (let them know what has been going on)
Chairman: I have given everyone the short story … ( … indicating more to come)
Chairman: what is the latest?
Chairman: Well that is a good list for Person C … (closing a discussion) any other general business
Person D: Townsville MM workshops went well. GIDGITS evening a great success … (…indicating more to come)
Person B: do I sense an article there?
Person D: Found keeping up-to-date with registrations difficult though.
Chairman: Any suggestions here Person D?
Person D: Person B (replying to a question) have something written already on GIDGITS and have also sent some material to Person E
Person B: wonderful
Person D: Chairman (replying to a question) - I found out later in the process that when someone registers an email is sent to X and Y. Should go to the local Chapter too.
Chairman: Will look into that for you …
Chairman: Any other business
Chairman: In that case we will close the meeting but hang about for a chat if your dinner is not getting cold.
Person F: *stomach growls*
Person G: Goodnight all (indicate that you are leaving the chat floor)

Web based meeting tools are available in the Learning Place communities while chats and forums are available in the communication section of the Learning Place.