Better meetings with Teamnotes

One of today’s biggest time thieves are meetings, according to research from Norwegian business leaders. Teams and organizations are also complaining of wasted time and money due to unnecessarily long meetings. Teamnotes is Omega’s contribution to improve meetings.

The first of four training courses on how to use Teamnotes, organized in cooperation with Vindafjord Employers-forum, was held this week.  The course participants are Torleiv Åreskjold from Favo (to the left), Aslaug Østrem Nesheim, Gjertrud Lunde and Kjersti Reiersen from Omega. The course organizors are Arne Jon Myskja (standing to the left) and Bjarne H. Gjellesvik from Omega IT-arkitekter. Photo: Torleif Heggebø/Medvind24.no.

Arne Jon Myskja from Omega IT-architects explains: If we are going to create good, efficient meetings, it is not enough to concentrate on just the meeting in itself; we need to focus on the preparation and follow-up of the meeting too. Meetings are not just a drain of money, but important for building organizational culture and is a management tool where important decisions are made. Sharing information and having a good sharing process is essential for efficient project flow and proper use of competency in the company. In Omega, we wish to contribute with Teamnotes to give businesses, teams and organizations better use of the time spent in meetings.

Teamnotes is free and has been available online for the past few months. Around a hundred people have so far taken advantage of this opportunity and utilized the tool. It is now time for a broader launch of the cloud-based application, and an introduction to the use of the product is needed.

Training courses offered by VAF

Vindafjord Employers-forum (VAF) will in November offer four courses for potential users of Teamnotes. Managers of meetings and attendants are the target group for the courses. The course organizers are IT-architects Myskja and Bjarne Gjellesvik from Omega.

- In this course we will focus on improving meetings and explain how Teamnotes can contribute to the preparation, execution and follow-up after the meetings to allow more efficiency, says Myskja. The course participants will learn how to add documentation and how to include participants both before and after the meetings.

- Participants will also learn how to assign actions, post decisions, and finalize a report immediately after a meeting. The report is then shared and approved by the attendants online, and will lay down the groundwork for future follow-up and improvements for the next meeting, says Myskja.

«Smart» meeting reports

In traditional meeting reports, there is no connection between the actions assigned and the people who are supposed to perform them. After a handful of meetings it can become a challenge to find all the assignments you have been given through different meetings. This is where the “smart” meeting report can be the solution.

- In Teamnotes all the actions are in a database and can be retrieved easily with a complete list with all of your tasks, even if these are scattered in several different reports. Each action point can be registered with a deadline for completion and the attendants will be notified of uncompleted actions, says Myskja.

Teamnotes connects meetings to make it easier for the participant to find detailed information, actions and decisions in reports from earlier meetings, and it gives you the overview you need to plan the next meeting.

- The tool is available for everyone, and it is up to the mangers and attendants to introduce the meeting-culture which enables more efficient meetings and less waste of time and money, says Myskja.