Reduce travel time by meeting via conference call and/or internet.
COST: If the phone call lasts one hour the meeting cost remains $196 but will not have travel costs associated with it. If the meeting time is thirty minutes, then the cost is $84. Although there are
no travel costs, there may be a telecommunication and equipment cost related to using phones and a conference call or net meeting service. This cost varies among services where a toll-free number and code may be used for calling in. If meeting attendees are on-the-road and using their cell phones for the call, there may also be a cost related to their cell phone minutes.
BENEFIT: Understand that reducing the travel cost also does not mean the meeting is a better investment because it may still remain ineffective. To make sure the meeting is still efficient; publish an agenda with established timelines to keep topics and timeline on track. After the conference call is completed, the attendees can quickly get back working with customers or giving more effort to the business.
IMPROVEMENT: To make the meeting more effective, create an agenda for each meeting and send it to the attendees along with the meeting instructions. Make sure the agenda shows how much clock time that each person is allotted and what part of the meeting will be group discussion or problem solving activity. Make sure attendees who have individual time on the agenda understand what is expected of them by providing guidelines for their topic or a standard progress report format they should use so that it is easier for everyone to follow along and understand.
mdhmathi