So you finally have live meeting up and running and you start to tell everyone it is working and available. The boss takes you up on using it for a meeting and comes back saying this sucks. Now you begin to wonder if it is all it is cracked up to be. What do you do?

Since I work with live meeting all the time there are some things I have noticed that may make conducting a live meeting more successful.

Live meeting is not the same as having all the users in the same room.Nor is a confernce phone the same as having everyone in the same room. So why do people continue to treat it the same. this is just not possible have you ever been on a conference call when you are the remote caller and there are 10 other people in a meeting room with one of those cool polycom phones. And multiple conversations start up in the room YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW ANNOYING THIS is it is a complete waste of time. you can not tell who is talking and what is important. Live meeting is no different. so here are some ground rules to conducting meetings using technology this is not just about live meeting but the examples will use live meeting.

1. Set ground rules
1. only one person talks at a time
2. No pen tapping
3. No dragging your computer across the table (this is an ear killer)
4. No typing (set your computer in your lap and tap the keys lightly
2. Set 2 people up as the presenter. In case the real presenter is remote and loses connectivity. the other can quickly take over
3. Set a person up to help the remote users. have them watch the icons to see if status changes.
4. pre stage documentation
5. Setup the live meeting before hand have handouts ready make sure presentation is uploaded. Shareing your desktop powerpoint is a process killer.
6. Play with it before the first meeting
7. If video does not work well move on.
8. Mute everyone but he speaker initially
9. if you are a remote user mute your mic before you join.

These are just some of the guidelines I like to use. I will post more as time permits.