Janet -
I work with a Groupware product that permits - actually it raises
to a new level of productivity - groups to participate in working meetings
by remote dialup. Members agree in advance to participate in a foundation
[brainwriting] exercise for a set period, say from 8AM to noon on a given
day. Then depending on the nature of the problem, planning needs, or
decision, subsequent exercises are accessed to manipulate the data. For
many of the exercises, groups members can act independently of one another
- they need not convene, or "do" their meeting at the same time.
Depending on how you set up your network, the phone call can be a
local or 800 number call. In any event, the expense of conducting such a
meeting is considerably less than the costs involved in getting people to
and accomodating them at a single site. When finished, each group member
has the capacity to print a record of the proceedings which can include
next steps, among other things.
There's much more, but I'll stop here. If you'd like to discuss
this further, I'd be happy to expand. If this is appropriate for the
whole list, Rich, I'll trust your judgement as to where the conversation
goes.
--John Prins 203.483.0737 (phone and fax) Prins Associates prins@admin.aces.k12.ct.us Branford, CT 06405