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FacilitatePro
9.5 Gives Facilitators New Tools to Run High Performance
Meetings
Online meeting software pioneer
Facilitate.com today announced FacilitatePro 9.5, the
latest release of its popular web meeting software
for brainstorming and decision making.
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA -- 03/09/07
-- The new release gives facilitators powerful new
features for idea management, an enhanced chat room,
simple and efficient re-design of facilitator controls
and navigation, and more voting and reporting options.
“We listen carefully to our customers who ask
for more flexibility delivered in the simplest possible
way. Each release adds more options for idea generation,
analysis, voting and reporting so that facilitators
can design and run a wide range of virtual and face-to-face
events,” remarked Julia Young, Vice President,
Facilitate.com. “But we never take our eye of
the goal of making each release easier to use, so that
even occasional meeting leaders can run a productive
meeting.”
Release Highlights
A Chat Room You Can Organize
FacilitatePro 9.5 introduces the new “Brainstorm – Group
Chat”, a chat room with lots of options to customize
and organize the idea exchange. Sort comments by time,
or drag and drop them into categories. Vote on a list
of items, and then continue to chat with the existing
list sorted by votes received. The moderator manages
group dynamics by setting a group refresh rate or allows
the chat window to refresh instantly when a new item
is added. If what starts as a casual group chat evolves
into a more focused activity such as prioritizing or
action planning, the moderator simply moves the group
into a more structured brainstorming or voting session
by selecting the appropriate mode from the pull-down
menu.
Navigation that Supports a Seamless Decision-making
Process
The decision making process requires a group to move
from idea generation to alternative analysis, selection
and action planning. Other software applications require
a multi-step process to move data from one tool to
the next, making a transparent transition challenging
for facilitators. FacilitatePro 9.5 provides a pull-down
menu and four icons for facilitators to easily move
the session from chat to brainstorm to voting and action
planning with one simple click. A conveniently located
button allows the facilitator to toggle between facilitator
and participant views.
Easy Tools to Manage Large Groups of Ideas
The ability to easily manipulate ideas is essential
to running an efficient meeting. FacilitatePro 9.5
introduces Advanced Edit Options that allow facilitators
to move, delete, combine, categorize, and elevate groups
of ideas to new discussion topics.
Simple Design Helps New Facilitators
off to a Fast Start
Key facilitator screens such as the custom voting screen have been re-designed
to make FacilitatePro 9.5 even easier to learn for the new facilitator, while
providing all the power, flexibility and control required by the experienced
facilitator.
Support for Virtual Meetings
As the trend of working virtually continues to gain
ground, FacilitatePro adds features designed to support
virtual meetings. With 9.5, meeting participants
can access the same set of fully formatted reports
available to the session leader and walk away with
complete meeting documentation wherever they are.
Borrowing a concept from the dial-in teleconference,
participants may log in to a session with one shared
user id and password while the session leader can
track individual and group usage.
FacilitatePro 9.0 is licensed in two versions.
The Standard License is for organizations that need
to run productive meetings and surveys internally;
the Consulting License is for individual consultants
and firms that incorporate meeting tools into their
services.
About Facilitate.com
Facilitate.com is the developer of FacilitatePro, web
meeting software designed to enhance innovative thinking
and decision making. Since 1996 Facilitate.com has
provided collaborative software and techniques to a
broad range of clients in industry, government and
education, in the US and abroad. FacilitatePro provides
online tools for surveys, brainstorming, prioritizing,
polling and custom voting, action planning, and reporting.
Explore our live
software demo site or sign up for a free
online meeting.
Contact:
Danuta McCall
Facilitate.com
805-682-1148
PR@facilitate.com
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