FAQ

OpenMeeting Technologies is a privately held Minnesota-based company that provides legislative meeting management software to councils and boards. With roots in local government solutions, OpenMeeting understands the challenges local government leaders face and the solutions required to successfully deliver services to the public.

OpenMeeting is proud to be a midwestern company located in the City of St. Cloud, Minnesota. Our work ethic and values are reflected in our Minnesota-nice approach to supporting our customers and each other. 1265 Kuhn Dr Suite 140, St Cloud, MN 56301.

OpenMeeting Technologies is a legislative meeting software for council and board meetings. The OpenMeeting solution, comprised of four integrated components, enables electronic voting, discussion management, a voting display and agenda management.

Legislative meeting management software helps councils, boards, commissions, and other public bodies manage every stage of an official meeting. It can streamline agenda preparation, approvals, electronic roll call and voting, discussion, public comment, meeting displays, minutes, streaming, and public access to meeting records.

Unlike general business meeting tools, legislative meeting software is designed around the procedures, transparency requirements, and documentation needs of government meetings.

OpenMeeting Technologies is purpose-built for legislative meetings and designed with clerks and government staff in mind. It combines modern agenda and minutes management, electronic voting, request-to-speak, public comment management, meeting displays, streaming, and automatic documentation in one easy-to-use platform.

OpenMeeting Technologies is also known for its straightforward implementation, intuitive experience, flexible configurations, and highly rated customer service. The system can support anything from one specific meeting need to a complete before-, during-, and after-meeting solution.

OpenMeeting takes privacy and security very seriously. We are SOC 2® compliant, and our systems adhere to development best practices to ensure that all data are protected. All information within OpenMeeting is private and will never be shared with any third parties.

Yes, OpenMeeting Technologies is SOC 2® compliant.

SOC 2 compliance confirms that OpenMeeting’s systems and internal controls have been independently evaluated against recognized standards for protecting customer information. This gives government organizations greater confidence in the security, availability, and integrity of the technology used to manage their meetings and records.

Yes, OpenMeeting Technologies offers government-grade legislative broadcasting designed specifically for public meetings.

The streaming solution can support live meeting broadcasts, on-demand recordings, searchable public records, accessible viewing, captions, and integration with meeting agendas and other OpenMeeting tools. This creates a more complete viewing experience than a basic camera livestream by helping the public understand what is happening throughout the meeting.

Streaming can be purchased as part of a broader OpenMeeting solution based on an organization’s needs.

Yes, OpenMeeting can integrate with some compatible existing agenda systems, allowing organizations to retain their current agenda management platform while adding OpenMeeting tools such as electronic voting, request-to-speak, meeting displays, public comment management, automatic documentation, and streaming.

OpenMeeting also offers its own complete agenda and minutes management solution for organizations that want to consolidate their meeting technology into one platform. Integration options depend on the existing system and the organization’s desired workflow.

OpenMeeting is used by public-sector organizations of many sizes, including:

• City and town councils
• County boards and commissions
• School boards
• Special districts
• Public authorities
• Government committees
• State and local government associations
• Other legislative and public governing bodies

The system can support a small council, a large county board, multiple committees, or an organization managing many different meeting groups.

OpenMeeting provides connected tools for the entire legislative meeting process.

Before the meeting

Staff can create agendas using reusable templates, collect and organize agenda items, collaborate with departments, manage approval workflows, attach supporting documents, prepare meeting packets, publish materials, create meeting and agenda-item checklists, and accept public comment registrations.

During the meeting

OpenMeeting helps staff and members conduct an efficient, organized meeting with electronic roll call, motions and seconds, electronic voting, request-to-speak, automatic speaker queues, public comment management, speaker timers, agenda progression, real-time meeting displays, and government-grade streaming.

Meeting members can follow the agenda and complete meeting actions through the OpenMeeting app, while staff manage the meeting from an intuitive administrative interface.

After the meeting

Meeting actions are automatically documented as they occur, helping staff produce finished minutes in minutes. Staff can review and customize the minutes, publish meeting records, archive supporting materials, provide on-demand video, and make agendas, votes, minutes, transcripts, and recordings easier for the public to access and search.

Because the tools work together, information captured before and during the meeting flows directly into the final minutes and public record, reducing duplicate work and improving accuracy.

Agenda management refers to the process of organizing and managing legislative agenda items for city council, county board, and school board meetings. This can include tasks such as creation, collaboration, approval, and publishing.

More advanced legislative agenda management systems are cloud-based and include workflow automation.

Agenda management refers to the process of organizing and managing legislative agenda items for city council, county board, and school board meetings. This can include tasks such as creation, collaboration, approval, and publishing.

More advanced legislative agenda management systems are cloud-based and include workflow automation.

Modern agenda management like OpenMeeting can help to ensure that meetings are productive and efficient, by ensuring that all necessary topics are covered and that there is a clear plan for the meeting. It can also help keep participants on track and focused and provides a record of the meeting for later reference. The OpenMeeting Technologies system includes automatic production of meeting minutes and record keeping. 

Electronic voting refers to the use of electronic devices, such as computers or tablets, to cast and count votes in an election or decision-making process. Electronic voting systems can be used in place of traditional paper ballots or hand-counted votes.

There are several different types of electronic voting systems, but most involve the use of a computer or device to cast and count votes.

Voters may be required to register or verify their identity before casting a vote and may be able to cast their vote using a touch screen or other input device. The votes are then recorded electronically and can be tabulated and reported in real-time.

Electronic voting systems offer a number of benefits compared to traditional voting methods. They can be more accurate, faster, and easier to use, and they can also be more secure against fraud or errors. Electronic voting systems can also make it easier to tally and report the results of an election or vote.

A vote tally display refers to the use of technology to display the results of a legislative vote in real-time. This can include the use of screens or other visual displays to show the current tally of votes as they are being counted.

Vote tally display systems provide transparency and accountability in a legislative meeting by allowing elected members and all participants to see the current results as they are being cast. It can also help to build trust in the process by allowing people to see that their vote has been accurately counted.

Council and board discussion management organizes and facilitates discussions and debates among council and board members during city council and county board meetings. This may involve setting an agenda, allocating speaking time, recognizing requests to speak, and ensuring that all members have the opportunity to participate in the discussion.

Council and board discussion management are important for ensuring that meetings are productive, efficient, and fair and that decisions are made based on thorough and balanced discussions.

Discussion management systems can make it easier for members of a legislative body to participate in discussions and collaborate, even if they are not physically present in the same location.

They can also allow for the efficient organization and management of discussions and can provide a record of the conversation for later reference.

We can move as fast as you want us to. We typically like to allow a month from implementation to go live. There is little, but some technical setup, and depending on priorities, we’ve had customers set up, trained, and live in just a few weeks!

OpenMeeting operates with a customer-centric philosophy. Our customer experience is central to everything we do, and our goal is for customers to love our solution and our people. From onboarding to training and support, all the way to adoption and even advocacy. OpenMeeting’s customer success can be reached 24/7.