Read more
In America, 55 million meetings are conducted on a weekly basis. Whereas the total number of meetings held annually in America, surpass well above a billion. That’s right, America meets a ton!
That means more than a quarter of the total time of an average American working in an organization is spent attending meetings. In 2017 Cisco reported that 37% of employee time is spent in meetings.
How much of that total time spent in meetings is actually productive?
According to a report by Attentiv, 63% of the total meetings held annually are conducted without an agenda. Goes without saying, ill-planned meetings lead to ill-achieved outcomes.
Planning your meeting, managing it and then conducting it strategically to achieve a solid outcome from the meeting is all part of meeting management.
Modern workforces have automated their traditional meeting platforms into virtual meetings, with the use of meeting management software.
Meeting management software has been a tremendous help in enabling teams to achieve myriad of goals within a cost-effective approach. However, even the modern methods of conducting meetings have their downside; patchy network, technical issues and choppy video, to name a few.
Which is why we have gathered a list of the 12 best meeting management software that your team will most definitely enjoy meeting within.
Table of Contents
The Top 12 Meeting Management Software of 2018 (Click to view):
1. nTask
nTask is an emerging task management software that streamlines meeting management with on-going neighboring activities like end-to-end project management, team management as well as risks and issue management.
With nTask you can schedule meetings containing:
- Clear concise agenda
- Start Time
- Linkage to a Task
- Duration of period
- Date of meeting
- Recurrence period
- Discussion points
- Follow-up actions
- Decisions
nTask is compatible with many different devices and equipment, including iOS and Android.
Once the meeting has been scheduled, the organizer can manage control over which attendee can edit and make additions to meeting material (i.e. agenda, discussion points decisions and follow-up actions)
Merits:
- Easy to use interface that facilitates editing the Meeting Schedule whenever necessary
- Sends email reminders of meetings to every team member
- Allows meeting materials to be shared for review by other team members
- Allows organizer to share minutes of meeting with each participant
- Send meeting invitation to unlimited team members
- Unlimited number of meetings in the FREE version
Demerits:
- Is only a meeting management software that can be used to schedule and manage the outcomes of the meeting.
- Doesn’t contain video or audio call feature to facilitate virtual meeting conferences
2. Cisco WebEx
WebEx, a product of Cisco is an enterprise favorite! Known widely for its impressive video conferencing, and webinar hosting feature, businesses of all sizes find it extremely supportive for collaborative purposes.
The WebEx Meeting Center is a built-in tool in the software that allows users to schedule and host meetings ahead of time.
You can schedule a meeting using two set of options. If you’re short on time, and all you need to do is quickly schedule a meeting with its name, attendees, date, and duration, then use the Quick Scheduler. On the contrary, you can use the Advanced Scheduler that lets you set an email reminder for the meeting and select its recurrence period. An additional reminder on the phone can also be setup using the ‘Call Me’ feature. This will send a reminder call on your phone before the meeting is about to take place.
All you need in order to invite a member to a meeting is their email address.
Key Features:
- Brainstorm & Chat Tool – Communicate with team members in a private room. Gather and monitor real-time polls from the team
- Editing, Recording, and Playback – Record meetings for future reference with a secure password. Playback the meetings on any device to re-visit the discussion
- Floating panels – Share your screen with members sitting across the globe, while managing online meeting simultaneously
Merits:
- Send easy meeting invitations from phone calls, SMS, email or IM.
- Cross-platform functionality that assists users to join the meeting from Mac, Windows, Linux, Solaris and any mobile device.
- Share and edit files in a meeting, once the host of the meeting provides access to chosen attendees for making changes.
- Switch instantly between devices while on-call in a meeting
- Desktop integrations that allow scheduling meetings from MS-Office, Lotus, and other IMs.
Demerits:
- Limited types and size of files that can be shared
- When scheduling a meeting, no place to set an agenda or design a meeting plan
- Expensive if you need 10+ members in a meeting. $39/ user monthly
- Meetings can’t be linked to tasks or projects
3. Meetin.gs
Meetin.gs is easily the most supportive meeting management software a team could use.
It is designed to organize, streamline and align your meeting management load with an interactive interface and visually attractive notification system.
There is so much that you can manage about your meetings using Meetin.gs and that too in the simplest possible way.
Meetin.gs provides numerous integrations with social communication tools (skype, google hangout, Microsoft Lync, your own conferencing solution). These integrations extend out to your calendar, address book and Customer Relationship Management systems (CRM). So, you can schedule a meeting with whomever you want from anywhere, using the easy-to-use ‘Schedule’ button present on various services.
Meeting.gs Features:
- Create and edit agendas for team attendees
- Create and edit action points to send team attendees for follow-up, post meeting
- Centralize meeting agenda, files & images on a single page for easy visibility and accessibility for the other team members
- Send meeting reminders and inform participants to confirm their availability for the meeting
- Manage notifications sent to team attendees and manage their control of making changes to meeting materials
Merits:
- Send unlimited meeting invitations to people using the integrated address book feature
- Track the timeline of each meeting that is scheduled, taking place or has finished
- $12/ organizer monthly
- Create multiple meeting schedules for various objectives
Demerits:
- Is only a meeting management software, doesn’t provide video or audio call feature
4. Fuze – Meeting Management Software
Fuze is another cloud-based meeting management software that is ideal for both large and small businesses alike. It provides a stellar variety of features to modify your meeting management experience at an affordable price. Fuze is designed to assist all sorts of business communications: video conferencing, content sharing, webinars, group chatting and screen sharing.
Key Features:
- Enterprise Security – All meeting facets are strictly encrypted to ensure team data & information are secure.
- Cross-platform integration with every browser and compatibility with all types of devices
- Simple, user-friendly interface to assist unified communication between the team
Merits:
- Strong audio and video reception
- Allows users to share all types of files and of all sizes, from anywhere
- A free plan that allows unlimited meetings with teams ranging up to 25 members
- Has its own mobile app so users can join meetings from their mobile phones
Demerits:
- Meetings can’t be scheduled ahead of time
- Meeting agenda, follow-up action, and discussion points can’t be created for participants’ insight
- Meeting reminders can’t be sent
- Meetings can’t be linked to tasks or projects
5. GlobalMeet by PGi
Everything you need in an ideal meeting management software, you can get it in GlobalMeet by PGi. Well, almost everything. It is one of those meeting services that were built keeping end-user functionality in mind. It enables you to enhance the quality and productivity of your meetings and how you manage them. By far the most number of participants that any software can allow in a meeting is GlobalMeet. You can invite more than 120+ participants in a meeting on a paid plan.
The virtual rooms in GlobalMeet are large and user-friendly, with clear panels containing big buttons for users to navigate everything on a single window.
Meetings in GlobalMeet can be scheduled in two ways. One way is to use the Schedule feature on the software application. You select the date, time, duration and select your participants email addresses. The invitation is sent to the participants via email with the URL of the meeting given in it.
The software has an Outlook integration, so you can send meeting invitations from your Outlook account. All you have to do is use the GlobalMeet toolbar on your Outlook account.
In GlobalMeet, there is a File Library that lets you access your files, images, documents of all sorts without having to enter the meeting. It stores all your data and information shared during a meeting. You can also move your files around in different folders by simply dragging and dropping them to the intended destination.
Much like Cisco WebEx, users you can conduct surveys and polls to gather feedback from their users during or outside a meeting. Users can create MCQ questions or essay questions, and then edit or delete them whenever they want.
Key Features:
- Share screen, files, videos and meeting records with the rest of the team
- Online meeting management for viewing meeting reports, adjusting participant and control preferences and access meeting materials
- Passcodes for participants to provide access to make changes to meetings’ quality
- Whiteboard feature to enable team or individual brainstorming, summarizing meeting endpoints, discussion of plans & strategies. The host can allow access to other participants to his/her own whiteboard for collaboration.
Merits:
- Lets you transfer your meetings to another device (iOS, Android, Tablet, smartphone) without losing connectivity.
- Full control over webcam video feeds and audio speaker at any point during the meeting
- Maximum number of meeting participants in a single meeting (as much as 100+)
- Instant notifications for each event taking place during a meeting
- Engaging interface with accessible and easy to maneuver toolbars for each function
Demerits:
- No meeting reminders
- No meeting agenda
- No meeting recurrence
- No linkage of meetings to task
- No breakout rooms for private or individual discussion
6. Eztalks Meeting
Eztalks meeting is also a cloud-based meeting management software. It is unique and versatile, allowing businesses to schedule meetings as well as conduct them on an instant need basis. [5]
Eztalks provides a comprehensive platform for teams to communicate using their HD video and audio conferencing, creative whiteboards, cross-platform integrations and real-time chatting.
Eztalks aims to make meeting management and meeting assembly hassle free by providing quick access to meetings. You can send meetings invites by email or by sharing the meeting link with your attendees. The attendees don’t have to register for an account in order to accept the invitation, they can simply log in using their browser and enter the meeting.
Scheduling a meeting in Eztalks is equally simple. The host assigns a title to the meeting, date, time, subject of the meeting and details to let the participants know of the agenda.
Key Features:
- Allows sharing – screen sharing, whiteboard sharing, file sharing.
- Record meetings to review later or consult for future reference
- Compatible with all devices
- HD video & audio service
Merits:
- Simple to understand and use interface
- Permits control over meeting participants
- Allows team members, associates and clients to quickly join the meeting without registering
- Enables both organizing and conducting a meeting
Demerits:
- No reminder of the meeting
- No recurrence of the meeting
- No linkage of the meeting to a task
7. ClickMeeting
If you are looking for a meeting management tool that is easy to use, does not require huge volumes of storage and gives you a good user experience, ClickMeeting is for you.
This tool makes it to our list of top meeting management software due to its simple yet powerful interface.
Clickmeeting is an online tool created to make online meetings, video conferencing and webinars super efficient. This tool gives you the option to communicate with people across multiple locations and different time zones having different operating systems.
It is highly recommended for teams that need to constantly communicate from remote regions or businesses that cater to clientele globally.
You can collaborate with peers and customers effectively through options that help presenters connect with attendees. Whether you need to deliver uninterrupted, smoothly streamed presentations or need to hold a meeting on an urgent basis, Clickmeeting gives you a great user experience.
Plus, you have an option of sharing videos from other resources and share screen for improved communication.
ClickMeeting plans start at $ 30 per month for 25 users.
Key Features:
ClickMeeting offers the following features:
- Audio and video conferencing
- Whiteboard
- Waiting room with agenda
- Desktop Sharing
- Moderated chat (for Q&A)
- Private, one-on-one chat
- Simultaneous Chat Translation
- Webinar Statistics
- One-click Recording
- Address book
- Customized Invitations
- Polls, Tests and Surveys
Merits:
- Super easy to use i.e. set up a meeting and connect clients.
- Can handle large numbers of participants
- Availability of a virtual storage for files transferred during conferencing
- Option for professionals can customize screen
- Offers great pricing for a basic webinar and meeting service
- Easy integrations with other tools.
- Offers a free trial.
Demerits:
- Does not include break-out sessions.
- No option for removing meeting attendees during the meeting.
- No options to schedule recurring meetings.
- No inactivity time-outs in the meeting follow-up features.
- No phone support.
- Toll-free conference lines are not available.
8. Lucid Meetings
Lucid Meetings is yet another meeting management tool that just won’t let you down. With so many features to avail, it makes it to our best meeting management software list due to its comprehensive list of features for holding meetings by small teams and grand enterprises alike.
This tool comes with guided instructions for key meetings and lets you arrange audio calls and video conferencing. With action items and follow up features, the team knows exactly where to take the project forward after the meeting. Also, it helps keep the meetings on streamlined and prevents any overlapping conversation through speaker queues.
You can share information, add attendees and define meeting roles without a hassle. Lucid Meetings comes with a free trial and variety of pricing plans depending on the number of hosts. Paid plans start from $ 19 per month for 1 meeting host.
Key Features:
You can make use of the following features with Lucid Meetings:
- Action Item Tracking
- Agenda Management
- Attendee Management and meeting roles
- Meeting templates
- Board Meetings
- Committee Meetings
- Internal Meetings
- Invitation Management
- Materials Management
- Meeting timers
- Speaking queues
- Meeting Preparation Tools
- Minutes Management
- Post-Meeting Tools
- Built-in audio with call recording
- Audio transcription
- Scheduling
- Voting Management
- Expert-designed meeting agendas
- Decisions, issues, action items
- Automated meeting minutes
- Complete meeting history
- Meeting effectiveness reporting
- Web conferencing
- Document presentation
- Screen sharing
- Calendars
- Reminders
- Action items and follow-up,
- Reporting,
- Ratings and feedback
Merits:
- Ease of use
- Comprehensive feature list
- Multiple, flexible plans for pricing depending on the size of teams
- Free trial for all plans
Demerits:
- Does not have meeting room booking
- Does not include travel management
9. Less Meeting
One of the most important aspects of having an effective meeting is covering all dimensions on the agenda within time. When meetings go beyond the time allotted, attendees start losing focus and there is a chance of the meeting going off track.
We have picked Less Meeting as one of our top meeting management software because of its color-coded, time tracking feature. Less Meeting helps in keeping your meetings productive through meeting time visualization.
It lets you set an overall timer before the meeting starts, giving each element on the agenda its own time limit. When the meeting starts, the timer placed at the bottom of the agenda starts keeping you in check of the time spent.
If the meeting goes up to 5 minutes beyond the time limit, the timer turns yellow and beyond five minutes it turns red.
Other than its efficient timing feature, Less Meeting allows you to cater to necessary meeting management functions by offering features such as creating notes that can be arranged through drag and drop, document and file sharing, action items, meeting objectives.
This tool also lets you keep links to previous agendas so you don’t have to go back and forth through records with relevant objectives. It also allows for integrations and plug ins so you can work with your existing tools without having to start all over. Plus, in case you cannot access the tool online, you can store your notes to later be synchronized on access to the internet.
Less Meeting offers a free trial and paid plans starting from $12 per month.
Key Features:
Less Meeting helps you carry out effective meetings in less time through the following features:
- Invitation Management
- Create agenda easily
- Efficient meeting timer
- Minutes Management
- Note capturing and tracking
- Photo capture
- Audio with call recording and playback
- Meeting scheduling
- Decisions, issues, action items
- Automated meeting minutes
- Sync meetings with calendars
- Reminders
- Action items and follow-up
Merits:
- Ease of use
- Comprehensive features list
- Offers free mobile apps
- Security through meeting encryption
- One place for meetings regarding different projects
- Parking lot feature to store ideas
- Offers a free trial
Demerits:
- Does not have video conferencing
- Does not have screen sharing
- Short recording time
10. Meeting King
Primarily a task management tool, Meeting King is designed to arrange your workflow around meetings. Meeting King allows you to schedule meetings, prepare an agenda, manage meeting and prepare post-meeting follow-ups and action items.
You can also add notes, share information and assign tasks to attendees through meeting minutes. A unique feature about this top meeting management tool is that it helps you hold a meeting on multiple topics related to different departments. You can write notes and tasks, which can afterward be filtered out for the relevant department. Another great functionality Meeting King gives is the availability of a single view to overseen meeting details of multiple meetings. This is especially useful if you are managing multiple teams and projects.
Meeting King comes with a free trial and paid plans start from 9$ 9.95 per month per user.
Key Features:
With Meeting King, you can hold efficient meetings with the following options:
- Easily create meeting agenda
- Standard agenda templates
- Agenda template creation
- Efficiently write meeting minutes
- Meeting minutes templates
- Share files and documents
- Assign tasks while taking meeting notes
- Comments on tasks and minutes
- Collaboration on tasks
- Powerful search for meeting minutes
- Manage meetings and tasks by project, department and person
- Simplified calendar view
- Individual use or shared usage by teams
- Direct meeting creation from Outlook, iCal or Google Calendar
- Follow-up meetings
- Automatic task linking
- Parking lot feature to store ideas
- Detailed view of multiple meeting minutes in one place
Merits:
- Simple to use
- Great features list
- Facility to oversee details for multiple meetings in a single view
- Offers a free trial
Demerits:
- No attendance management
- No appointment management
- No screen sharing
- No video conferencing
- No meeting room booking
11. Samepage
Samepage is an efficient and one of the best meeting management software with project management and collaboration features. You can schedule and make audio calls or hold video conferences for one-on-one or team meetings.
With the screen sharing option, you can share presentations with your teams or clients. Through its collaboration features, Samepage also lets you share files and important information.
Throughout the meetings, you can work on your tasks and projects without causing any problems to the workflow.
Samepage offers a free plan and Pro plan at $ 7 per user per month.
Key Features:
Samepage offers the following features for effective collaboration and meetings:
- Audio calls
- Video conferencing (individual and group)
- Action Item tracking
- Invitation management
- Agenda management
- Attendee management
- Board meetings
- Committee meetings
- Internal meetings
- Legislative meetings
- Materials management
- Text chat and messaging
- Manual addition of data, time and initials to comments
- Contact management
- Content management
- Cooperative writing and synchronized editing
- Discussion boards
- Document management
- Group calendars
- Project management
- Task management
- Version control
Merits:
- Simple to use
- Robust features list
- Offers a free plan
Demerits:
- No meeting minutes management
- No meeting room booking
- Lack of automatic date and time as well as initials stamp with comments
12. Magic Minutes
Magic Minutes is your one-in-all top meeting management software that lets you carry out all the necessary steps from meeting scheduling to after-meetings follow up plans. You can create an agenda, schedule the meeting and send meeting minutes with ease. You can also search for details regarding earlier meetings and actions to be taken through the stored history.
What’s more? You can predefine sentences or phrases that may need to be used during the meeting. You can send these sentences through a single click, which helps save time in manually typing responses or additional details.
You can also assign various tasks during the meeting to the attendees. At the end of the meeting, the meeting details can be downloaded as a single document with all relevant information from agendas to minutes.
Magic Minutes offers a free plan and multiple paid plans starting at $ 12 per month for unlimited attendees.
Key Features:
You can avail the following list of features with Magic Minutes:
- Action Item Tracking
- Meeting scheduling
- Agenda management
- Attendee management
- Board meetings
- Committee meetings
- Internal meetings
- Invitation management
- Legislative meetings
- Materials management
- Task assignment during meeting
- Meeting minutes management
- Powerful search for meetings or actions
- Post-meeting tools
- Historical data available
- Pre-defined phrases
- Pre-meeting requesting and sending reports
- Notification
- Single document download for meeting details including agenda, minutes and reports
Merits:
- Intuitive to use
- Great features list
- Ability to import reports
- Offers a free plan
Demerits:
- No travel management
- No voting management
- No video conferencing
- No meeting room booking
Every meeting management software is likely to be a mixture of strong features and some poor ones. But that’s ok, seeing as how every meeting has requirements unique to their purpose. Some meetings are conducted for the purpose of uniformed collaboration, some essentially for learning and some for mere feedbacks and updates. Check and see which of the meeting management software from our list fully caters to your meeting purposes and let us know in the comments below.
