Over £2,500 saved on one meeting - by working
smart
In this case, six senior staff were due to travel from Southampton, Suffolk, London, Essex, the Midlands and Scotland - for a three hour meeting with no overnight costs.
Even though half the meeting delegates were already in the London area, the estimated cost was £2,841 entailing 1330 miles of travel. Then it snowed ... hard ...
At
our suggestion the meeting was moved online,
primarily justified because of the weather and
the fact that key individuals were very busy
and may not have been able to spare the time
for the face-to-face meeting.
We facilitated a combination of live voice conference backed up by live text chat and access to common resources. Additionally, we could have incorporated video links, desktop sharing and a communal whiteboard on which we could all collaborate.
We facilitated a combination of live voice conference backed up by live text chat and access to common resources. Additionally, we could have incorporated video links, desktop sharing and a communal whiteboard on which we could all collaborate.
Over
half of the steering group members attended the
meeting from their home offices and so had
additional documents and other resources to
hand. Not to mention refreshments of their
choice whenever they were needed. What’s
more they didn’t even need to dress
specially for a business meeting!
The meeting cracked along at a good pace and was completed in under 2 hours. Members were immediately able to check the chat transcripts which formed the basis of the meeting minutes.
A sub-group continued discussion to resolve specific action points while they were together. The others were able to resume other work immediately and had access to the ongoing conversations in an on-line discussion forum.
Total
cost of on-line meeting was
£600 for
member time.
Saving £2,241 including
27 hours of travel time plus
1330 miles of
carbon emissions.
The meeting cracked along at a good pace and was completed in under 2 hours. Members were immediately able to check the chat transcripts which formed the basis of the meeting minutes.
A sub-group continued discussion to resolve specific action points while they were together. The others were able to resume other work immediately and had access to the ongoing conversations in an on-line discussion forum.
What is the true cost of meetings you attend?
Could we help reduce both your costs and carbon emissions whilst offering a more effective form of meeting?