NextUp...Keeping Your Meeting on Schedule

Do you find it hard to keep your meetings on schedule? Do attendees tend to go on "birdwalks"? NextUp is a very simple online tool to keep you on schedule.

Simply go to the website. No account is needed. Name the meeting. List the agenda items. Assign a time limit for each one. Click to start your meeting and watch the timer count down the time remaining for the current agenda item.

Meetzi Helps Organize Meetings and Keep Them on Schedule

We know that a meeting should have a purpose.We know we should prepare an agenda and distribute it before a meeting. We know we should stick to that agenda.

With all of that knowledge, why are there still so many bad meetings? What can we do about it?

Meetzi is a free online tool that can help. Prior to the meeting, Meetzi allows you to do each of the following:

1. Define the purpose of the meeting
2. Build the agenda including the person responsible for each item and time allowed
3. Invite the meeting attendees
4. Attach documents to the meeting invitation
5. Establish a dollar per hour value so that you can see how much the meeting is actually costing in terms of people's time

During the meeting, Meetzi does each of the following:

1. Displays the agenda, complete with the presenter for each topic and allotted time
2. Keeps up with the time so that you can see if you are on schedule

After the meeting, Meetzi allows you to send notes to all meeting attendees. Not bad for a free resource. Give Meetzi a try!

"NextUp" Keeps Your Meeting on Schedule

Don't you hate meetings which drag on and where people take their own little "bird walks"? NextUp is a very simple website designed to keep meetings running on schedule. To use the site:

1. Go to http://nextup.info.
2. Enter the name of the meeting.
3. Enter each agenda topic and the time being allocated.
4. Click "Create Agenda."
5. When it's time to start the meeting, click "Start the Meeting."

The timer starts, and you watch the time tick second-by-second on the first agenda item. When the timer reaches zero, it starts ticking on the next item. There is no buzzer to signal "time up." If one agenda item is finished early, there is no way to jump the timer to the beginning of the next item. The site simply runs on a computer screen somewhere in the room as a subtle reminder of how many agenda items are left and how much time is left on the current item and those to follow.

Oh, and best of all, the site is free. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

What are your biggest problem areas in meetings? How do you overcome them?