Web Meeting Software Pioneer Facilitate.com Announces FacilitateExpress, New Facilitator Tool Puts Effective Meetings Within Everyone's Reach

Selecting the right meeting technology is the first step; the challenge many enterprises face is getting people to embrace it. The latest release of FacilitatePro web meeting software meets the challenge with a new facilitator interface called FacilitateExpress.

Our challenge was to streamline the facilitator screens while still delivering the rich functionality of brainstorming, voting, analysis and reporting. Thanks to the input of our customer advisors, we've now delivered on our goal to give beginning facilitators a tool that they can use right away with only a few minutes of orientation.

San Francisco, CA (Issues Wire / PRWEB) March 5, 2008 -- FacilitatePro 10.0 offers online meeting leaders an ultra-simple facilitator interface that provides the core benefits of anonymous idea generation, prioritizing and action planning without the bells and whistles."Our customers asked us to give them an entry point that would facilitate the deployment of our collaboration software across the enterprise," said Julia Young, Vice President at Facilitate.com. "Our challenge was to streamline the facilitator screens while still delivering the rich functionality of brainstorming, voting, analysis and reporting. Thanks to the input of our customer advisors, we've now delivered on our goal to give beginning facilitators a tool that they can use right away with only a few minutes of orientation."

Robert Peterson, CIO at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, agrees that the new release of FacilitatePro hits the mark. "We found that people are more likely to adopt a new tool if it's both easy to use and relevant to the work they do. FacilitateExpress delivers on both counts. The robust functionality of FacilitatePro is delivered through an interface so instinctive that a user can utilize it immediately and receive the instant gratification that is so important in measuring success. We expect to see broad use in a wide range of collaborative meetings, online forums and team projects."

Release Highlights

Grab and Go Simplicity
FacilitateExpress is a brand new facilitator interface designed for beginning and occasional meeting facilitators to use the brainstorming, prioritizing and action planning features of FacilitatePro with minimal training.
- One click creates a new conference, adds an agenda topic, creates a participant user id or generates an email invitation.
- One click allows facilitators to move their sessions from brainstorm to voting to action planning modes.
- One click drags an idea into a theme box or category.
- One click generates a complete conference report, including agenda, brainstorm session output, voting graphs and action plans.
- One click opens a short online video tutorial that guides the user through the steps of setting up and running a meeting.

Growth Path for Facilitators
Facilitators can choose to add features at their own pace simply by selecting a more advanced facilitator interface. Once meeting leaders are comfortable with Express, they can step up to Express Plus, the same simplified interface with the addition of some of our most popular viewing and editing options. Some will choose to transition into full-fledged FacilitatePro facilitators, with additional features and customization options for more complex problem-solving and decision-making meetings.

Easy Access to Meetings Anywhere
A single click automatically generates an email with the conference participant user id, password and a hyperlink that takes participants directly into a meeting agenda, individual discussion topic or survey. Send the email to your participants or place the direct access hyperlink into a presentation, web page or blog.

Follow Me Keeps Everyone on the Same Page
Facilitators know that valuable meeting time is often wasted making sure everyone is paying attention, especially when the meeting is virtual. Follow Me allows the meeting owner to control where the participants are in the agenda at any time. Knowing that the group is all together leaves facilitators free to focus on the substance of the meeting.

FacilitatePro web meeting software increases collaboration and meeting effectiveness with tools to capture, organize, prioritize and document ideas from everyone. Participants post their ideas to a shared electronic flip chart for everyone to see. They build on the ideas of others with text, attached documents, images and web links. The meeting leader transitions the group into decision making by turning the flip chart into a voting ballot, selecting from a variety of voting schemes designed to reach consensus. Instant voting results and graphs provide a visual assessment of the level of agreement. Once decisions are made, the action planning mode turns the electronic flip chart into a simple Gantt chart. For more information visit our live software demonstration site or download a product overview.

About Facilitate.com
Facilitate.com is the developer of FacilitatePro, web meeting software designed to enhance innovative thinking and decision making. Since 1996 Facilitate.com has provided collaborative software and techniques to a broad range of clients in industry, government and education, in the US and abroad. FacilitatePro provides online tools for surveys, brainstorming, prioritizing, polling and custom voting, action planning, and reporting.

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