Remote Electronic Voting, Discussion Management, and Citizen Engagement
COVID-19 FORCED INNOVATION IN LEGISLATIVE MEETING SOFTWARE FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT
From easy meeting setup, agenda management, and documentation to visualization of all procedures, OpenMeeting Technologies’ city council and county board meeting management software is helping streamline local government meetings by brining visual order and automatic documentation, from gavel-to-gavel. Each tool within our platform has a variety of purpose-built features, and today we’ll be sharing a few of those with you.
Bringing Order to Chaos
The power of the Meeting Manager becomes evident when the gavel falls and your legislative meeting is called to order. Meeting Manager automatically guides the flow of the meeting and keeps everyone on track. It provides a simple point-and-click interface that allows clerks to progress through all of the required procedures on the agenda. It also facilitates instant electronic roll call, presents the visual agenda items, and manages all parliamentary procedures, including motions, seconds, amendments, and voting.
This central process is automatically managed and creates an orderly meeting environment that allows city council and county board meeting members and participants to stay on topic and keep the discussion going, rather than worrying about ensuring that the proper rules and procedures are being followed. The OpenMeeting legislative meeting software reduces the stress that many clerks feel to direct and apply proper procedures and sets the tone for a better, faster, easier meeting. And when the meeting is over, OpenMeeting automatically produces a record of all proceedings, with timestamps, making meeting minutes a snap.
Making Parliamentary Process Easy
While facilitating quality discussion during meetings is important, there are certain procedures that need to be followed in order for the board to make their critical decisions about items on the agenda. It’s up to the Board Chair to make sure that proper procedures are maintained, and the Discussion Manager helps with this detailed responsibility.
With complete control and a simple click, the Chair is able to present, manage, and advance procedural actions. The Discussion Manager guides the Chair through the meeting and ensures that nothing is missed and everything complies with board rules. The Chair is able to focus their effort on guiding the tone and quality of the meeting rather than getting lost in tedious concerns of procedural compliance.
Improving Citizen Engagement in Virtual Meetings
One of the most important features of the Member App is the real-time, simultaneous, single-click voting. When it’s time to vote, board members are shown a simple interface that only requires a single click. We call this interface WYSIWYN – what you see is what you need. Since all board members are voting at the same time, this saves time and removes undue influence. The results are tallied and displayed immediately, with all details recorded and timestamped automatically. Everything is clear and accountable, and this streamlined process saves invaluable time. The Public Display is shared in the board room and in the virtual meeting. In both cases. but especially in remote and virtual meetings, sharing the public display helps board members and the public see what is happening as they follow the action.
Seeing is Believing – Following the Action
In a typical city council or county board meeting, citizens do their best despite technological and environmental challenges to follow the meeting. Unfortunately, audio alone is not sufficient to ensure that public participants are able to understand and comprehend what is being discussed and when the board has moved to new topics. This makes the simplicity of the Public Display a powerful tool for board meetings. The ability to show what is currently being discussed and what legislative action is being taken within the agenda keeps citizens engaged and on track. Citizen engagement is improved as the public uses the Public Display to follow the legislative action. This reduces potential confusion and frustration from concerned public onlookers and makes for a more positive and productive meeting experience.
The Digital Voting Solution You’ve Been Looking For
OpenMeeting Technologies is the digital board meeting solution you’ve been looking for. With one powerful platform, you’ll have easy meeting setup, agenda management, automatic documentation, visualization of all procedures, and more! Your board members, citizens, clerk, chair, and everyone else involved will thank you!
BETTER, FASTER, EASIER MEETINGS!
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Our modern, simple-to-use, visual applications help ensure that all of your meeting procedures and actions are automatically documented and displayed as they occur during your meetings. Request a demonstration and let our team show you how OpenMeeting is the solution to help your meetings run better, faster, easier.
