www.EffectiveMeetings.com tackles meeting issues in corporate boardrooms worldwide

Calgary, Alberta --- May 6, 1999 --- SMART Technologies Inc., the industry pioneer in meeting information management technology, launches EffectiveMeetings.com, an online solution to meeting mismanagement. With meeting efficiency estimated to be under 48%¹, companies are clearly wasting millions of hours and billions of dollars in inefficient and ineffective meetings each year. Many meeting rooms are technology wastelands, lacking access to either computer-based information or collaborative tools that are commonplace outside the meeting room. At EffectiveMeetings.com readers can access helpful, relevant information on a variety of meeting-related topics with the click of a mouse. This e-zine focuses on the importance of bringing technology into the meeting room and provides strategies for the successful implementation of that technology.

The premier issue of EffectiveMeetings.com explores a variety of topics, including basic meeting techniques, meeting myopia, calculating the cost of meetings and profiles of companies that have improved the quality of their meetings. In upcoming issues, EffectiveMeetings.com will examine tips and techniques for presentations, team collaboration, meeting facilitation, training, technology, ergonomics and more. Feature articles will cover topics ranging from creating an agenda to managing difficult personalities in the meeting room to enhancing creative thinking. Each issue will address specific meeting themes, respond to reader questions, provide advice from the Meeting Guru and offer valuable information from today's best meeting sources.

"With over 11-million business meetings every day in the United States, effective meeting management is critical," says Nancy Knowlton, president and COO of SMART Technologies. "Decreasing employee frustration by increasing the effectiveness and value of meetings directly impacts the bottom line. Incorporating the tips and techniques available on EffectiveMeetings.com will mean additional dollars and productive work hours for organizations worldwide."

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1. Robert B. Nelson and Peter Economy, Better Business Meetings (Burr Ridge, IL: Irwin Inc., 1995), 5.

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