The end of meetings (part 5 ) and the rise of of web 2.0 and social media

In social media and the meeting industry we are already seeing more and more do-it-yourself solutions as technology and transparency make it easy for a person with few skills and contacts to set up online meetings, events, conferences or seminars. Virtual meeting and collaboration tools will provide an alternate meeting platform replacing face-to-face meetings in some situations. An example is Skype where users can set up chat rooms to meet and discuss for instance project issues and I foresee that Google Wave will be next big tool used for virtual chats and meetings.

Virtual meetings will never entirely replace live ones. But the technology certainly has a place within face-to-face meetings.  With the fast growth of interactive and social networking tools it had become apparent that the traditional meeting, with Powerpoint presenters talking in front of a passive audience, has reached its end. We are already seeing Web-based peer-to-peer and audience-to-presenter interaction  being integrated in live meetings. Mobile phones have become interactive tools for sending text messages to presenters or to the large screen (‘back-channels’).

Meeting planners are increasingly learning how to use these tools to enhance their meetings and create interactive conversations between participants before and after a meeting or event. The biggest issue is that meeting organizers and presenters are not yet used to dealing with attendee real time feedback from social media (like for instance ‘backchannels’). Traditionally they get feedback after the meeting, like through evaluations. Learning to work with social media, and respond in real time is something people will have to learn.

Now it’s about how can technology complement physical meetings to increase engagement and reach to a virtual audience. This type of “hybrid meeting” can be as simple as Twitter conversations to as extensive as a virtual conference (or even presence in Second Life). Combining the two (offline and online) will produce high-performance meetings.