Business Management Daily

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At Progress Energy’s quarterly “compliments and concerns” meeting, senior administrative assistant Amy Finelli uses a template for minute taking.

As a result, she can quickly send out notes after the meeting “because I don’t have to figure out how to organize the topics. And it looks the same each time I send it out,” she says.

Finelli isn’t the only one using timesaving meeting tactics. Some people spend eight hours a day in meetings. So any tip that helps speed up front-end or back-end work can be a lifesaver.

In today’s fast-paced, downsized economy, we’re all asked to do more with less. Office technology can help. But who’s got the time (let alone the money) to learn a bunch of new programs? Fortunately, there is an answer: advancing your skills on the programs you already use every day. 77 Technology Tips to Boost Office Productivity

Here are a few more of Finelli’s power tools for meetings:

Bring your laptop. “You can type a lot quicker than you write,” she says, “though most savvy admins already know that.”

Block out time the day after a meeting to finish your notes. For note-heavy meetings, Finelli reserves time to finish her minutes—by the following day, at the latest. “Your memory will be fresher and the notes will be done faster and easier.” She also sets an internal deadline for having minutes distributed.

Provide nameplates and tent cards. Finelli keeps a Word template for the nameplates.

If it’s a large meeting or if anyone is new, “it’s helpful to have nameplates for all employees so everyone knows whom they’re talking to.” 

Use ergonomic equipment. “Remember to take your footrest, wrist rest, keyboard and chair when taking notes,’’ Finelli says. “It helps!”

Use these “tricks of the trade” on Word, Excel, PowerPoint and web-based applications to shave hours off your workweek.
77 Technology Tips to Boost Office Productivity

Keep a recording device ready, to relieve the stress of capturing every detail as it happens. They can be particularly useful for impromptu meetings, when you haven’t brought a laptop.

For example, the ThumbTack is a mini-microphone that plugs into the headphone jack of an iPod nano or touch. ($13; www.switcheasy.com).

Save a running list of meeting tips. Finelli shares her tips list with other assistants on her team and asks them to add their best practices.

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• 9 amazing double-click tricks
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• Keeping network-clogging spyware off your computer
• Useful tips for taming the e-mail inbox monster
• 4 Word techniques that will have you designing like an artist
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• Tips for faster, more precise Google searches
• 4 things you never dreamed that Excel could do – but it can!
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