Business Meetings Really Can Be Productive With New FileMaker Meetings
New FileMaker Meetings Application Aimed at “No More Wasteful Meetings”
SANTA CLARA, CA – September 3, 2003 – In an effort to control the epidemic
of unproductive meetings, FileMaker, Inc. announced today shipment of
FileMaker Meetings, a meetings management application that helps busy
professionals create and run effective meetings. Built on the popular
FileMaker Pro 6 database software, FileMaker Meetings is one of the first
FileMaker Applications business solutions, announced today (see related
news announcement).
Although most employees complain about meetings, they also see meetings as
an unavoidable reality of business. Professionals attend an average of 60
meetings per month (1) according to research and more than 50 percent of
this meeting time is wasted. (2)
“Meetings are like the weather; everyone complains about them but no one
does anything about it,” said John Dasher, product manager of FileMaker
Applications. “If you multiply the number of people in a meeting by the
number of wasted minutes, then add the number of action items that fall
through the cracks, you get a significant drag on business profits. By
managing shorter and better meetings that generate productive outcomes,
FileMaker Meetings is likely to pay for itself the first time you use it.”
Simple Tool Makes Meetings Matter
FileMaker Meetings is a purpose-driven meeting management application that
makes the whole meeting and post-meeting process simple and productive,
from creating an agenda, managing the meeting itself, taking and
distributing meeting notes, and tracking action items and deadlines.
The application provides several task-specific features that help reduce
the administrative minutia of preparing for and communicating about meeting
content.
Goal-Oriented Agenda
Develop and communicate detailed agendas that define meeting goals for each
team member.
Manage the Meeting
Track the agenda during the meeting and capture meeting content, action
items and next steps.
Action Tracker
Communicate the meeting notes and track action items through to completion.
Meeting Archive
Get a complete snapshot of previous meetings, including agenda, minutes,
next steps and associated emails and communications.
Works with your current business processes
As a FileMaker Pro 6 based application, FileMaker Meetings supports major
Internet and data standards. Users generally do not have to change their
current computing environment or other office applications. The application
fits well with today’s email applications and other software productivity
tools.
Pricing & Distribution
FileMaker Meetings is affordably priced at $49 (U.S.) and is sold through
FileMaker’s Web Store (http://store.filemaker.com/applications/). It is
currently available in North America only. It can be downloaded or
purchased as a CD-ROM. Customers will also need to have FileMaker Pro 6
installed to run FileMaker Meetings. For those customers who do not already
have FileMaker Pro 6, there is a special price of $323 (U.S.) for both
FileMaker Meetings and FileMaker Pro 6. Volume licensing is also available.
System Requirements
FileMaker Meetings requires FileMaker Pro 6 and runs on Microsoft Windows
XP and Apple’s Mac OS X 10.2.
About FileMaker FileMaker is a leader in workgroup databases and workgroup
information solutions. Unlike complex database software, the FileMaker
intuitive interface empowers knowledge workers to create and share rich
solutions. The award-winning FileMaker line of database software provides
relational power, instant and custom Web publishing, legendary ease-of-use
and low-cost applications to solve common business problems. FileMaker,
Inc. is the database software subsidiary of Apple Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:
AAPL).
(1) MCI Conferencing White Paper. Meetings in America: A study of trends,
costs and attitudes toward business travel, teleconferencing, and their
impact on productivity (Greenwich, CT: INFOCOMM, 1998), p. 3.
(2) Robert B. Nelson and Peter Economy, Better Business Meetings (Burr
Ridge, IL: Irwin Inc, 1995), p. 5.