The most effective and important meetings always include one vital element: engaged employees.

Your office is a team, and if your teammates are falling asleep in a meeting or not contributing to the conversation, your organization is not running as efficiently as possible.

So how do you keep your employees from becoming disengaged?

Assign team members meeting responsibilities.

Giving someone a job to do during a meeting is an almost immediate way to keep that individual member actively engaged in what is happening. Assign simple tasks for your team to assist you with, such as setting up the displays, bringing refreshments, being a timekeeper, or someone to help keep discussions from going too far off-track.

Talk less. Foster discussion more.

A lot of employees dislike meetings because they do not feel like they have a real voice in how their company proceeds. Help them feel like their input and thoughts are valued by spending less time talking. Once you’ve given the high points on a topic, instead of being the main person talking, try to foster discussion amongst your team. The more they talk, the more involved and engaged they will be in not just the outcome of the meeting, but following through once the meeting is over.

Let team members run parts of the meeting.

Another way to give your team members more engaging responsibilities is to surrender the lead on a discussion to them. Use the assets of your team. If someone in your office is a master of a subject related to your goals and tasks, give them a heads up and let them run that part of the meeting. They’ll have stronger answers to questions and it shows a level of trust in your team.

Request feedback after the meeting.

Every group of people works differently. Be sure to gather information and feedback about what your team members liked, or disliked, about a meeting. Ask them one on one, or ask for information using anonymous surveys. If your team all seems to be saying the same things, take their input and make adjustments to how your meeting flows.

Intel announced at the Intel Partner Connect event in Aurora, CO last week that it has named Newline Interactive, a leading supplier of interactive touch screens and innovative software that increases productivity and enables collaboration, as its 2019 Internet of Things Solutions Alliance Partner of the Year.

Newline was chosen as Intel’s America’s Market Ready Solution MVP for pushing several large-scale deployments of their TRUTOUCH X Series unified collaboration system, an all-in-one interactive display that utilizes built-in videoconferencing equipment and powerful Intel processors to provide more users with better collaboration in the workplace.

Intel Partner of the Year awards are bestowed upon partners in their Internet of Things Solutions Alliance program who have demonstrated an excellence in marketing, training, technology platform design, and integrated solutions sales.

“We are truly honored to receive this prestigious award from such a great technology partner,” said Chris Bradford, President of Newline Interactive. “I believe this award is proof positive that the partnership between Newline and Intel is meeting our goal of delivering world-class, market-ready IoT solutions to customers all over the globe. The large number of repeat deployments of the TRUTOUCH X Series is a great gauge of customer satisfaction with the solution.”

Beginning their partnership in 2018, Newline and Intel sought to bring an all-in-one solution that met the needs of an evolving market. As the demand for fast, efficient, and innovative collaboration grows, the TRUTOUCH X Series sees validation from the market that users want products that are powerful, utilize cutting-edge technology, and are designed for ease of use.

The Newline TRUTOUCH X series was recently featured on the latest edition of Intel’s Market Ready Minute.

The TRUTOUCH X series is an all-in-one collaboration solution ready to make your meetings more efficient and productive. It combines an interactive multi-touch display with built-in videoconferencing equipment.

This all-in-one solution enables simplified collaboration and streamlines videoconferencing in any business.

Check out the video and find out why companies love the TRUTOUCH X series!

Not sure how to keep your office running as productive as possible? Try these ten tricks to keep yourself more focused and more efficient during your work week.

1. Stay up to date with what’s happening in your industry.

   Don’t get stuck in the trap of wasting time trying to catch up with your business. Follow industry blogs, news channels, social media, and even podcasts to stay on top of what is happening in the world around you.
2. Break big projects into smaller tasks.

   Giant tasks look daunting and often like an unclimbable mountain. Break that mountain into smaller, more digestible chunks and you will find yourself racing to the top every time.
3. Surround yourself with productive people.

   Hire employees and team members who strive to give 120% every day. Having productive people around you reaching their goals will help inspire you to do the same.
4. Focus on real solutions, instead of temporary fixes.

   If you are always chasing after a temporary fix, you will never find the long term solution.  Take the time you need to create a reliable solution that won’t need a temporary fix after it goes out.
5. Aim for 30 minute meetings.

   The shorter your meetings, the sooner your team can get back to work making your goals a reality. It’s that simple.
6. Be ready to say “no”.

   Don’t be so eager to please you make promises you can’t reliably keep. Save yourself the stress of over-commitment by remembering it’s okay to say “no” every now and then.
7. Use more collaborative technology.

   Technology exists to make our lives easier. Use apps and devices that are simple and easy to use to save time in your day to day office workload.
8. Follow the 5-minute rule.

   If a task takes less than 5 minutes to complete, don’t procrastinate. Do short, simple tasks immediately to free up that space on your “to-do” list again.
9. Get rid of the clutter.

   Messy desks make for messy minds. Keep yourself distraction free and more organized by removing things from your desk that just stand in your way.
10. Keep an optimistic attitude.

    Your outlook affects everything. Stay positive, even when you’re stressed, and not only will you not slow down the people around you with your negativity, you’ll give yourself a boost to get even the most discouraging projects finished on time.

As collaboration between offices across the country or the world become more common in today’s businesses, videoconferencing plays an important role in a company’s everyday routine.

But while we may think navigating videoconferences should be easy, are you doing everything you can to make your video calls as professional as possible?

Here are a few tips on how the best way to videoconference while maintaining a strong professional appearance for your company:

Test everything before a call

Check your microphone levels to make sure that your speech will be heard at a reasonable level so everyone can understand you. Make sure that your camera angles and lighting are bright enough so that you can be seen clearly. If the meeting software you are using is new to you, test out the program beforehand to make sure that you know how to mute yourself, adjust sound and any other useful tools you may need to use without having to take up conference call time to fumble with settings.

Dress and act as if you are meeting in person

While it can be tempting to wear more comfortable clothes that will not be seen on camera, such as pajama pants or athletic shorts, make sure to always dress professionally. Not only will you be prepared in case you have to unexpectedly stand up or move around, it will put you in the right frame of mind for a business meeting.

Introduce yourself when you talk

Some videoconferencing systems will show the name of the person who starts speaking, but those who are using a conference line to call in will still like to know who is speaking. Introduce yourself briefly at the start of the call, and again when you begin talking after a decently long period of not speaking to remind everyone who you are.

Avoid distractions

Don’t check emails or text during a conference call. Make sure that the area you are physically occupying is clean and work appropriate, and that your hand is ready to hit mute in case of any loud background noises that might appear. Move as little as possible, including hand or head movements, to avoid drawing any attention away from others or your own words.

Speak clearly and calmly

Shouting to be heard over a videoconference will make others turn your volume down, putting you at risk that your thoughts will not be heard at all. If someone says they cannot hear you, instead of raising your voice, make sure that you are speaking directly into the microphone and adjust your audio levels. Always speak in a calm, clear manner, looking directly into the camera to let people know that you are completely engaged in the conversation.

As collaboration between offices across the country or the world become more common in today’s businesses, videoconferencing plays an important role in a company’s everyday routine.

But while we may think navigating videoconferences should be easy, are you doing everything you can to make your video calls as professional as possible?

Here are a few tips on how the best way to videoconference while maintaining a strong professional appearance for your company:

Test everything before a call

Check your microphone levels to make sure that your speech will be heard at a reasonable level so everyone can understand you. Make sure that your camera angles and lighting are bright enough so that you can be seen clearly. If the meeting software you are using is new to you, test out the program beforehand to make sure that you know how to mute yourself, adjust sound and any other useful tools you may need to use without having to take up conference call time to fumble with settings.

Dress and act as if you are meeting in person

While it can be tempting to wear more comfortable clothes that will not be seen on camera, such as pajama pants or athletic shorts, make sure to always dress professionally. Not only will you be prepared in case you have to unexpectedly stand up or move around, it will put you in the right frame of mind for a business meeting.

Introduce yourself when you talk

Some videoconferencing systems will show the name of the person who starts speaking, but those who are using a conference line to call in will still like to know who is speaking. Introduce yourself briefly at the start of the call, and again when you begin talking after a decently long period of not speaking to remind everyone who you are.

Avoid distractions

Don’t check emails or text during a conference call. Make sure that the area you are physically occupying is clean and work appropriate, and that your hand is ready to hit mute in case of any loud background noises that might appear. Move as little as possible, including hand or head movements, to avoid drawing any attention away from others or your own words.

Speak clearly and calmly

Shouting to be heard over a videoconference will make others turn your volume down, putting you at risk that your thoughts will not be heard at all. If someone says they cannot hear you, instead of raising your voice, make sure that you are speaking directly into the microphone and adjust your audio levels. Always speak in a calm, clear manner, looking directly into the camera to let people know that you are completely engaged in the conversation.

In a word: yes!

EdTech apps, software, and devices can make learning in the classroom more engaging and interactive. But educational technology is still technology. When using EdTech, whether it is a basic calculation app or a more in-depth blogging platform, data is being input by both teachers and students, and sometimes that data can be sensitive and full of private information.

Keeping your school’s network and infrastructure safe and sound is vital. So we found a few tips to help keep your school’s information confidential.

Tip #1: Encrypt everything!

Anyone can intercept or take a peek at your network traffic over an open Wi-Fi connection. An easy way to block these interferences is to encrypt all of your data. Put passwords on your network’s Wi-Fi and require logins (with strong password requirements) in order to access the system. And use full-disk encryption on any computers and laptops your school uses or sends home with students.

Tip #2: Teach computer safety and security

A breach can still happen even if you lock your network down tight. Educate your staff and students to never login to websites that are not secure, such as websites that do not use HTTP. Other useful information, such as how to avoid phishing sites and not placing any real personal information online will boost your school’s security, as well as teach good technology safety for your students’ future.

Tip #3: Avoid the Cloud

While cloud technology is useful for storage and collaboration, make sure that everything that gets sent to a c loud system or third-party system is encrypted. Any un-encrypted data sent to a cloud storage system can be accessed by the provider, making it vulnerable.

Tip #4: Ask security questions about the EdTech before buying

Find out before you buy whether a device will be safe to setup on your network. Talk to the edtech providers and ask them important questions about the data their programs will be collecting, such as:

• What information does the app/software/device collect?

• Who can see, access, change or delete the information being collected?

• Why is this information being saved?

• Where does this information go? Are the cloud solutions and databases secure?

Tip #5: Stay up to date with updates and fixes

Update your software and computers often. Most breaches come from known vulnerabilities in a system. Keeping your systems up to date with the latest patches will make these types of easy breaches harder. Make sure to keep your anti-virus and protection software up to date and routinely scanning for potential problems.

As digital learning slips into more and more class classrooms, starting from elementary school and going all the way through high school, students gain more opportunities to work on digital class projects and assignments.

These assignments, from simple presentations to more involved media projects, have been a staple of a student’s more hands-on learning through the hands. But the advent of making these projects digital now gives those students an additional perk: the ability to create an online, digital portfolio of their work.

Instead of having a project only be saved as a solitary piece of paper, or something captured on developable film, assignments can now be saved to a cloud storage system like DropBox and videos can be published on an easily shareable platform like YouTube. Having a long collection of their work can better aide a student when it comes time for the infamous college application process.

Students planning to get into more hands-on fields, such as Film or certain types of Art and Science subjects, have a new method of saving their work as they grow. When those students start applying to colleges or technical schools, they will have a long backlog of videos and digitally saved projects that they can submit with the rest of their application to show off their learned finesse over the years.

With proof of their technical skills, students almost instantly become stronger candidates for their top choice schools. It is one thing to list off your accomplishments on paper, but having hard evidence, such as digital projects, can do nothing but boost a student’s credibility.

Turning the classic classroom projects and presentations digital also prepares your students for the future. More businesses and fields of study are going digital as well. Giving students more opportunities to explore the digital tools available to them not only challenges them, not only keeps them more engaged, but grows their technical and motor skills all at the same time.

As educational technology becomes more prominent in the classroom, many schools have taken to creating a 1 on 1 ratio between students and technology. Whether they are computers, laptops, or iPads, teachers have found great success when each student in their classroom has their own individual device to work on.

These devices are normally pre-loaded with all of the required apps and software that the student will need, locking down the ability for students to add anything additional that might distract them from instruction. And these programs have seen an increase in student engagement and interest in the coursework.

Not only are students more tuned into the work at their fingertips, teachers saw that student had an easier time communicating with their teachers about questions or issues with assignments. Having a digital tool like the phones and other devices that they use at home helped them better relay their problems.

With online coursework and digital quizzes and tests, teachers could spend less time grading and more time giving real-time feedback to students, saving them time to focus more on student instruction and less on reading over and constantly grading papers.

Costs also went down, as replacing an app on an iPad, instead of replacing a full digital camera set, costs next to nothing but the time it takes to download. CD players, speaker systems, scanners, and recorders that all used to need to be physical equipment, all go digital and immediately remove the old lines in an invoice, freeing up your budget to take on additional school projects.

Being able to provide direct instruction using technology is a boon to classrooms all over the country. And as more and more schools take on 1:1 projects, edtech will continue to show a marked improvement in overall course effectiveness.

A common assumption is that to stand out from the competition educational technology must have lots of different features. However, this can lead to making their product confusing for a new user or require an excessive amount of training time before the technology is able to be used effectively in the classroom.

Educators need technology that is user-friendly and quick to learn. While some training will never go amiss, your product should be easy for someone to interact with and quickly pick up how to integrate their new tool into their daily lessons.

Schools tend to have some hesitation investing in more complicated technology. Teachers already have a lot on their plate to juggle, between assisting students, creating and tweaking lessons, and more. Spending hours learning how to use an overly complicated tool sounds like the time investment might not be worth the reward.

Simplified devices stand a stronger chance to truly transform a classroom. The easier and friendlier the technology is to learn, the more likely even the most hesitant educators will take to using those tools in their classroom.

So how do you make sure that your EdTech tools are easy to use?

Decluttered User Interface

Having lots of bells and whistles can be useful. But if the interface is cluttered or overly complicated, this can intimidate users and confuse them. When a teacher needs to be efficient with their time, having to comb through rows and rows of different options looking for one item can be a deterrent to future use.

Simplify

The best tools are intuitive to use. The faster your learning curve, the less time it will take for anyone to be able to walk up and begin utilizing the EdTech effectively. So if a substitute teacher needs to take over a lesson, the ideal scenario is that they can walk into the classroom with little to no instruction and be able to keep the students on course.

Customization

If a user interface is customizable, users can quickly condense their tool bars down to the most productive features. This helps declutter the UI as well to make it easier to find the tools that you need.

The last thing you want your students to do is stop paying attention in class. Even the dullest subject or most information packed lecture can be spruced up by adding an interactive element to your lesson.

Replacing your chalkboard or whiteboard with a large, interactive display may be the best tool in your arsenal. Here are some creative ways that you to quickly bring your students’ attention back up to speed.

1. Interactivity breaks up the traditional lecture

Lectures are useful when you have a lot of material to cover, but we understand that temptation to start dozing off. Today’s students respond better and retain more when that information is broken down into smaller, more manageable chunks.

By inserting moments for your students to come up and point out or interact directly with the board, it keeps the pace of your lesson moving along nicely, giving your students time to process what you have talked about so far, and getting them involved and moving again before going back to new information.

2. New technology peaks student interest

New gadgets usually prompt a sense of curiosity and interest, which can keep your students more involved in your lecture as they watch and learn not only the information you are giving them, but how you are using the tools on hand.

More visual elements that come with the latest educational technology are also designed to appeal to different learning types. Students who are more visual or hands on learners will gain a great deal more from a more interactive classroom.

3. Real time responses keep students more engaged

Your students can fill in and respond to changes on the interactive display in real time. No need to slow down and wait for students to write their answers down and pass in their worksheets in as orderly as possible.

Have them come up and present their answers and write out their answers or calculations on the screen. Their marks and annotations show up instantly and for the whole class to see. This way, the entire class can also work together to produce the right answers, fostering discussion.

The last thing you want your students to do is stop paying attention in class. Even the dullest subject or most information packed lecture can be spruced up by adding an interactive element to your lesson.

Replacing your chalkboard or whiteboard with a large, interactive display may be the best tool in your arsenal. Here are some creative ways that you to quickly bring your students’ attention back up to speed.

1. Interactivity breaks up the traditional lecture

Lectures are useful when you have a lot of material to cover, but we understand that temptation to start dozing off. Today’s students respond better and retain more when that information is broken down into smaller, more manageable chunks.

By inserting moments for your students to come up and point out or interact directly with the board, it keeps the pace of your lesson moving along nicely, giving your students time to process what you have talked about so far, and getting them involved and moving again before going back to new information.

2. New technology peaks student interest

New gadgets usually prompt a sense of curiosity and interest, which can keep your students more involved in your lecture as they watch and learn not only the information you are giving them, but how you are using the tools on hand.

More visual elements that come with the latest educational technology are also designed to appeal to different learning types. Students who are more visual or hands on learners will gain a great deal more from a more interactive classroom.

3. Real time responses keep students more engaged

Your students can fill in and respond to changes on the interactive display in real time. No need to slow down and wait for students to write their answers down and pass in their worksheets in as orderly as possible.

Have them come up and present their answers and write out their answers or calculations on the screen. Their marks and annotations show up instantly and for the whole class to see. This way, the entire class can also work together to produce the right answers, fostering discussion.

The classroom is ever-changing. As time and technology slowly tweaks the way today’s students learn and adapt to new information, the best teachers are the ones who think outside of the box.

Innovative educators constantly adapt old learning strategies and lesson plans into something modern students can learn from and grow.

Educational technology is a great way that you can spice up your classroom, but it is not the only way. We found 10 things that innovative teachers do that fuel their student’s success.

1. Prioritize what is most important to your student’s future.

Innovation requires a level of honesty with yourself, especially on your goals and what is realistically possible. If you prioritize teaching the skills and lessons that will be the best for your students, you’ll worry less about trying to get everything into your lesson plans and focus more on the topics your students are more invested in.

2. Teach your students to find reliable sources.

The old school library has become outdated. Now, knowledge and information are at your students’ fingertips with search engines. Learn the ins and outs of online searches and teach your students how to effectively find reliable, useful resources during their online sources.

3. Know what tech and apps are out there – and what they are best used for

New educational apps can be exciting. But make sure that the time it takes to learn a whole new app and system is worth the end result. Avoid using new apps just because they are new and look cool. Make sure that your students learn something throughout the whole process from start to finish.

4. Be flexible but keep your high expectations

Students like a challenge. When a task is too easy, they will grow bored and start tuning you out. Having high expectations for your students’ abilities lets you keep them constantly challenging themselves to grow. But avoid the trap of becoming inflexible. Bend where you need to, and only as far as you need to.

5. Don’t let restrictive standards be an excuse for less engaging lesson plans.

Rules are rules but standards can be more like guidelines for your lesson plans. Avoid creating lesson plans limited by administrative standards. Take those initial guidelines and use them as your starting point in your lesson planning. Look at your topics from all angles to find ways you can branch off from the normal lessons and create a plan that will continue to engage your students.

6. Don’t be afraid of failure.

Ultimately, innovation is about failure. Educators, as well as students, learn more from failing than they do from always getting things right the first time. Innovators take risks, and when something doesn’t work as expected, they tweak their plans and lessons as they go along. Don’t be so afraid that a lesson has a chance to not go as planned that you refuse to try something new. Your students are worth the risk.

The classroom is ever-changing. As time and technology slowly tweaks the way today’s students learn and adapt to new information, the best teachers are the ones who think outside of the box.

Innovative educators constantly adapt old learning strategies and lesson plans into something modern students can learn from and grow.

Educational technology is a great way that you can spice up your classroom, but it is not the only way. We found 10 things that innovative teachers do that fuel their student’s success.

1. Prioritize what is most important to your student’s future.

Innovation requires a level of honesty with yourself, especially on your goals and what is realistically possible. If you prioritize teaching the skills and lessons that will be the best for your students, you’ll worry less about trying to get everything into your lesson plans and focus more on the topics your students are more invested in.

2. Teach your students to find reliable sources.

The old school library has become outdated. Now, knowledge and information are at your students’ fingertips with search engines. Learn the ins and outs of online searches and teach your students how to effectively find reliable, useful resources during their online sources.

3. Know what tech and apps are out there – and what they are best used for

New educational apps can be exciting. But make sure that the time it takes to learn a whole new app and system is worth the end result. Avoid using new apps just because they are new and look cool. Make sure that your students learn something throughout the whole process from start to finish.

4. Be flexible but keep your high expectations

Students like a challenge. When a task is too easy, they will grow bored and start tuning you out. Having high expectations for your students’ abilities lets you keep them constantly challenging themselves to grow. But avoid the trap of becoming inflexible. Bend where you need to, and only as far as you need to.

5. Don’t let restrictive standards be an excuse for less engaging lesson plans.

Rules are rules but standards can be more like guidelines for your lesson plans. Avoid creating lesson plans limited by administrative standards. Take those initial guidelines and use them as your starting point in your lesson planning. Look at your topics from all angles to find ways you can branch off from the normal lessons and create a plan that will continue to engage your students.

6. Don’t be afraid of failure.

Ultimately, innovation is about failure. Educators, as well as students, learn more from failing than they do from always getting things right the first time. Innovators take risks, and when something doesn’t work as expected, they tweak their plans and lessons as they go along. Don’t be so afraid that a lesson has a chance to not go as planned that you refuse to try something new. Your students are worth the risk.

Small business owners face lots of everyday obstacles in order to compete in today’s market.  As technology grows and expands into deeper integration with business, small business owners meet new challenges that technology continues to produce.

But no need to throw in the towel yet. We’ve compiled a few of the biggest problems technology can cause for a small business, and how to overcome them.

Problem: Lack of Information Technology Knowledge/Help

New technology may seem complex and confusing. Many small business owners have little experience with technology and can easily feel overwhelmed trying to sort through all of their options and going down a list of what items may be necessary to install to get their business up and running.

Solution: Use Search Engines to Your Advantage

While researching your options takes time, search engines like Google and Bing are your best and cheapest alternative to hiring an IT company to handle setting everything up for you. With a few moments of research using appropriate keywords, you can easily find the answers to any questions or issues you might have or run into.

Problem: Unable to Scale IT Needs as the Company Grows

After your business takes off, your website or internal storage may no longer be sufficient to handle your needs. As you hire new hands, you may not have the right services available to add new email addresses for your employees or email storage left.

Solution: Prepare Ahead of Time

Plan ahead as best as you can. If you only need 3 email addresses right now, but your service provider offers a choice to more, choose more. Choose a website provider whose servers can handle a lot of visitors at once and shows a willingness to adopt new website tricks. Planning and preparing for your business’ success is not just a good mindset to stay in, but a good technology strategy.

Problem: Training New Employees on Your Technology

If your CRM, email, or internal databases use a confusing, or not as user-friendly system or interface, it can be hard to get new employees up to speed quickly. Instead of taking care of other business matters, small business owners might end up spending more time than they’d like answering technology questions.

Solution: Collect and Record All How-To Information

In your research, make sure that you evaluate how helpful and useful a product’s support system is. The more helpful a product’s support is, the easier it will be to turn to them for advanced help. Keep a collection of all help, support and how-to information you might have been provided

Problem: High Cost of Technology

Technology is expensive. All the small costs add up over time, and most technology needed to keep your business running require monthly or yearly subscriptions. If your software or hardware is proprietary, it can limit your ability to find cheaper alternative solutions.

Solution: Research and Invest Wisely

Research is once again your friend. Before you put money down, be sure to check on how effective a product is or that it will not cause more headaches than it will fix. Shopping around also can help you find the harder to find at first glance, but more affordable, alternative. Be wary to not buy everything you think might be helpful or just looks impressive. If cost is a concern, invest only in what is most important to your business’ long term goals.

One of the best features to come from a more collaborative workspace is video conferencing. With more interactive technology and better broadband services, video conferences became the foremost way to include other members of your team in your meetings, especially when not everyone is able to be in the same physical location.

Integrating video conferencing into your regularly scheduled meetings comes with many benefits. Here are some ways the it can help improve your business.

Reduced travel costs

The first benefit is the most obvious. If you can video conference into your meeting, you do not have to worry about additional expenses that team members, who regularly are not inside your normal office, whether they work from home or frequently travel for business, might accrue traveling to be a part of your meeting in person.

Prevents meeting delays

Someone running behind from a previous appointment who won’t be able to get to the conference room in time? No need to wait for them to arrive, go ahead and just conference them into the meeting from afar. Keeping your meetings starting and stopping on time are integral to your productivity.

Bring in more experts and trainers

When you need an expert’s opinion on a topic or need to hold staff training on a specialized subject, video conferencing allows you to bring in additional people to help your team without worrying about traveling expenses. Video also allows your team to visually follow what an expert or trainer might teach, instead of just listening, especially when the training is more hands-on.

Quicker decisions

When you are able to pool every member of your team into a single conference call, you no longer have to wait until you talk to the people who couldn’t make it. With everyone able to converse, no matter their physical location, your team can make those final decisions faster.

Expand your customer service opportunities

Video conferencing does not just benefit meetings; it can also greatly benefit your success with your clients. Call in to walk your customers through any support assistance they might require. Or give demonstrations over the video conference on how your product works and what it can be used for. That extra push to provide better service improves your company’s brand and reputation all across the board.

Keeping strong employees around is an integral part of your business. By increasing your employee retention, you can spend less time and costs training to get new employees up to speed. Your business runs more efficiently when everyone involved fully understands how each piece of the puzzle works.

While some factors employees list for quitting are beyond an employer’s control, such as moving to follow a spouse, there are several ways that increasing the level of collaboration inside of your office can help improve employee morale.

We took a look at some of the most common reasons employees quit and found ways that you can utilize state-of-the-art technology to keep your best employees happy and satisfied with their work.

Failure to engage their employee’s creativity

Employees want to be intellectually and creatively challenged. If they feel like they are bored or left unchallenged by their work, or have a lot of busy work, it might start them looking elsewhere for a stronger challenge.

Adding new technology to your office may help engage their curiosity again. Giving your employees a new tool that will help them get their more tedious tasks out of the way quicker, and on to more challenging tasks will keep them more intellectually stimulated.

Feeling like their contributions are not welcome or are not appreciated

Your office is a team. When a member of the team feels like they are not contributing anything to your goals or that their feedback is not valued, they themselves do not feel like a valuable asset to the team.

Including more collaborative equipment in your meetings can be a solid way to highlight the importance of your employee’s voices. Let them annotate and give concerns, suggestions and feedback in real time. And be sure to write on a screen or recording the meeting to show that you are listening to their input.

Time not valued or respected

Holding more efficient meetings, or even allowing employees to video conference in, can help reduce the time your employees spend sitting in a meeting room and not actively working towards finishing their list of day to day duties.

Instead of being forced to work overtime, or adjust their family or business travel schedules to make sure that they are in the office at meeting time, incorporate video conferencing and allow them a bit more room to breathe and not rush around.

More collaborative technology may not solve all of the reasons a good employee may choose to leave, but integrating more interactive technology can be a step in the right direction to reduce your turnover rate.

It’s not hard to have an unproductive meeting. Bad meetings cause employees and managers alike frustration and anxiety, and the longer these inefficient meetings drone on, the longer your team is unable to get back to work and making progress on their projects.

If you want to frustrate your employees and hold long, agonizing meetings, be sure to follow these tips:

Learn how to use complicated meeting technology right at the start of the meeting.

If the collaboration technology you use for your meeting is too easy to use, or too user-friendly, it won’t take as long to get set up right before a meeting. So instead of starting on time, you’ll need to take a few minutes not talking about the purpose of the meeting to get everything configured and learn how to interact with your collaboration tools.

Don’t have a set agenda, just ramble on.

Outlines for a meeting’s agenda help keep a team too on track to end a meeting on time. Having an agenda make the whole conversation more focused and engaged. It’s better to just ramble on with your train of thought than keep yourself focused and on task during the whole meeting by having a reminder of the meeting’s goals.

Review previous conversations and add nothing new.

To have a bad meeting, it’s best to take a while to get to the point of your meeting. Reading over the last meeting’s notes is a great way to slow down the momentum of your team. That way they can hear what items are still on their to-do list that they could be doing right now instead of sitting in a meeting. If you don’t add any follow ups or additions to these notes, your team will feel like you’ve had a meeting just to remind people of what your last meeting was about.

Don’t make any decisions during the meeting.

A good meeting is all about discussing your options, gathering information and coming up with a solution or game plan. So to have a bad meeting, make sure that you never walk away with a clear sense of what you will be doing next. Your team won’t be sure how to quickly proceed with your plans until either your next email or meeting.

Good meetings are important to your organization. Don’t make the same mistakes that breed bad meetings. Plan ahead to save time, and use technology that is easy and quick to pick up do you can start on time.

Meetings help your team get on the same foot and figure out your goals. But don’t keep them too long, since it’s only when the meeting is done that your organization can start working to meet those goals.

The world is moving to the cloud. With cloud-computing programs like DropBox, Apple’s iCloud, and Google Drive, more and more individuals and businesses find that moving to a cloud service can solve several technological hurdles.

From a cost or hardware perspective, cloud services are a great aide to businesses. With these tools, companies no longer need to buy individual and expensive servers to store all of their important files and data.

Package plans from cloud services offer as much storage as a business could need, leaving your company without having to worry about server maintenance or hardware malfunctions. And with no in-office servers to maintain, you save money by not needing to hire out specialists when an issue arises.

Everyone in your office can connect easily to the cloud system of your company’s choice. Usually the only thing required is Internet access and logging in to the company account. No need to learn any complicated server setup to find the documents they need.

Cloud computing has walked hand in hand with an increase in business collaboration. Employees can access files from anywhere, more than one employee can access the server and file at the same time. Several cloud services, such as Google Drive, allows multiple people to work on a single file at the same time.

The days of a single person working on a document, saving it, emailing or printing it off for the next person to work on, can be safely put to rest. Now, all members of a project can access the individual files at the same time, working collaboratively in order to finish their tasks quickly and more efficiently. And without having to worry about opening or working on an outdated version of the document.

There are never enough hours in the day to get everything checked of your “to do” list. So how do you find ways to maximize the work you get done during business and not cut too many corners or start producing sub-par products and projects.

We’ve compiled several quick tips to help you cut time corners without reducing your productivity.

1. Avoid heavy multitasking

Multitasking is a great skill to have to balance all of your open projects, but take time to focus on a single project without distractions. This reduces the chance for errors that multitasking can cause when your brain is trying to solve 5 problems at once.

2. Prioritize your checklist frequently

Go down your “to-do” list and evaluate how much of a priority each individual item is and adjust accordingly. If something needs to be completed by a sooner deadline, make it a higher priority item even if it seems small enough that you could wait a little while.

3. Set a time to leave

If you keep telling yourself that you can just stay a few minutes later to finish a product, you will work with less urgency and efficiency than if you have a hard deadline time in which to get your items finished for the day.

4. Don’t hesitate to delegate

If part of a project is not your forte, and someone else on your team can finish that piece in a faster, more efficient timeframe, do not be ashamed to ask for assistance. Don’t waste previous time flaying about learning how to do an item that your team members could help you with or teach you about.

5. Eliminate distractions

If you are easily distracted, set down your phone or close browser tabs you no longer need. Distractions can start off taking just a few seconds, but it can break your concentration away from your tasks long enough to make picking things back up again much harder.

6. Plan your days in advance

Start your day by writing up the day’s task list. After you adjust for priorities and deadlines, you will know exactly what you need to focus on for the day, setting the rest aside until you get to the next day.

7. Work in chunks

Brain breaks are necessary to prevent tiring yourself out. Find the optimal amount of time you can work on a single project before you start to lose focus. Take short 5 minute breaks to stretch your legs, refill your coffee cup, and prepare for the next stretch of productivity.

Information is meant to be more than just taken in; information is meant to be used.

Educators have used projects to help students not only retain the information in a certain lesson, but also as a way for students to actively show their understanding of a topic. Long term projects that require research increase a student’s knowledge of a subject to a much deeper level.

Projects have a lot of appeal as well for actively engaging all types of learners, especially more hands on and visual learners. And with the growth of interactive technology in the classroom, you can turn your ordinary lecture lessons into class-wide interactive projects.

Lectures are useful when you have a lot of material to cover, but we understand that temptation to start dozing off. Today’s students respond better and retain more information when that information is broken down into smaller, more manageable chunks.

By inserting moments for your students to come up and point out or interact directly with the board, it keeps the pace of your lesson moving along nicely. Breaking up the traditional routine will be something that your students remember and it can also keep your lessons from becoming too long for their attention span.

Instead of having worksheets to hand out after a short lesson, try giving your students small projects that they can use their phones, if they have them, or school computers or tablets to complete. Take your normal assignments and find a way to make them digital. Here are a few ideas.

• Turn a simple PowerPoint presentation into a short video about the subject that students must work together to create.
• Have students use social media to reach out to experts and government officials to help them answer questions for a worksheet.
• Pair up with another class in a different school to set up a Skype pen pal or homework help system.
• Use collaborative software, like Google’s Drive and Docs, for students to work together to write a report.
• Research and find apps that focus on a particular course subject that corresponds with your lessons for your kids to play with.