Streamlining Team Meetings with Digital Solutions

Meetings are a part of work, but it’s easy to let them take over your schedule in a way that drains productivity, physical energy, and mental well-being. I appreciate the approach Zapier takes to meetings and the guidance we’re provided to get the most out of them. ⚡ “Meetings are for well-thought-out issues that need collaborative back-and-forth input from others. It shouldn't be a meeting if it's mostly a one-sided update." Meetings tend to serve the purpose of planning, reflecting, decision-making, and brainstorming. This is where Loom comes in. If you’re not familiar with it, Loom is a work communication tool that helps folks get their message across through instantly shareable videos. I hadn’t used Loom (or tools like it) before joining Zapier, and honestly, I was a little nervous about recording a video of myself. It took some time to get used to, but it’s become part of my routine. I’ve recorded Loom videos providing insight into my team’s roadmaps, projects I’m working on, quick instructions on using a new tool, etc. I also find value in watching Loom videos others at Zapier share, some of which are provided prior to a meeting for context so that the meeting can be used for discussion. I eliminated 22 meetings in October as a result of creating three videos and watching 14. The platform lets me see who’s getting the most value out of my videos, and it provides a speech breakdown indicating the % of filler words used. 😎 In addition to saving time, I’ve used Loom as a tool to improve my communication skills. I listen to each of my videos and make notes on ways I can streamline how I'm communicating. Have you used Loom (or a tool like it?) If so, what are your thoughts? #MeetingSolutions #SavingTime #Communication #Zapier

People who know me know one of my quirks: I dislike Zoom meetings and avoid them like a dentist chair. I go through my calendar every Sunday night and remove myself from as many meetings as possible (sorry!). Why? Because these mediums can (without a lot of vigilance) make teams less collaborative, less creative, and zap their productivity. They can turn what used to be energizing and engaging work into something that feels like mush — and I am a big believer in remote work and technology (not a luddite, I swear). But ask yourself:  - Is your calendar packed with back-to-back Zooms? - How does that make you feel? - Do your Zooms have the “feel” of structure but somehow lack substance? - What were the moments that led to the highest quality work you have done in your career? - When do you feel most alive and engaged in your work? If you’re like me, days of wall-to-wall Zooms turn your work into mush you dread. So recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about ways to reclaim time, drive outcomes, and increase collaboration: selfishly for myself, and more importantly for the teams I work with. Here are a few things I've been experimenting with: (1) Pushing 80% of my Zoom meetings to be “team creates a work product together on the screen” vs “team presents slides and talks about them”. You know this is working when you leave the meeting and have produced a work product together that will get used. (2) Reviewing work outside of Zoom, asynchronously, so the discussions can be streamlined. “Hey, can you send me the slides and I’ll give you a call?” “Hey, can you send the slides now so we can come to the meeting with our questions to discuss?” This shifts the group's focus to getting better outcomes vs showing off cool slides to one another. (3) Making decisions outside of Zoom meetings. “Hey, can we hop on the phone and discuss X decision?” I find that 30-minute or 60-minute Zooms often can be converted into 5 minutes of readings and 5-10 minute phone calls. (4) Ditching the slick deck and “just put it in a doc.” The thing about slides is that they make it too easy to cover up thin work with pretty design. I’m trying to remove this crutch more and more by asking teams to just “put it in a doc”. When it’s just the words on a page, you can see where things stand. How does this all work in practice? My litmus test is seeing how much time in a day I’ve spent doing the things that are most important for the company or project. What did I accomplish on my list? If the answer is not very much, I know I haven't been successful in taking agency over my time. This is a work in progress for me. How are you reclaiming your calendar so that you can do your best work?

Are you tired of your workday being eaten up by back-to-back meetings? You're not alone. Many of us feel overwhelmed by the number of meetings that seem to take over our schedules. But don't worry, I've got some easy strategies to help you and your team work better, with fewer interruptions. Chat More, Meet Less Firstly, let's lean into online chatting. Tools like Slack can be a game-changer. They let you share ideas and updates without needing to gather everyone for a meeting. It's a great way to keep the conversation going, without pausing your workday. The Magic of Quick Check-ins Next up, embrace the quick daily stand-up. A brief catch-up with your team each day can replace many longer meetings. It keeps everyone in the loop and can often be done in just a few minutes. Visual Brainstorming Then there's the power of visual tools. Digital boards like Miro are fantastic for brainstorming and planning. They make sharing ideas fun and interactive, cutting down the need for long discussions. Stay Focused Finally, make sure every meeting has a clear purpose. Before you call a meeting, ask yourself what you need to achieve. Keeping meetings focused and to the point can save a lot of time. So there you have it: chat instead of meet, quick daily updates, use visual tools, and keep meetings focused. By trying these simple tips, you can reduce meeting overload and make your workday more productive and enjoyable.

Most teams are underperforming. Not because of laziness. Not because of bad culture. But because the people are stuck doing work AI should be doing. Want better meetings? Want stronger collaboration? Want better performance? Then free your team from doing things they shouldn’t be doing. Here are 5 simple, powerful ways AI is already helping teams build better ⬇️ ↳ 1. Summarizing conversations and meetings Let AI generate transcripts, write summaries, and pull action items. Tools like Fireflies(dot)ai, Sembly, or Cluely let humans listen deeply instead of multitasking. 👉 Deep listening creates better decisions. ↳ 2. AI-powered dashboards and alerts Use AI to surface KPIs, anomalies, and early warning signals. When AI tells the team what’s changing, the team can focus on what to do about it. 👉 Conversations shift from data-gathering to decision-making. ↳ 3. Detecting tone and team sentiment AI can analyze Slack, Zoom, or email data to flag mood swings, overload, or risk of burnout. This gives managers a chance to step in before trust or morale break down. 👉 Tech reads the room, so humans can step up. ↳ 4. Automating low-EQ, repetitive tasks Inbox triage, calendar management, ticket routing, and basic reporting don’t need a human. AI frees up emotional bandwidth so people can do higher-order, higher-empathy work. 👉 Free your team from the robotic parts of their jobs. ↳ 5. Drafting the first version of everything Project plans, presentations, emails, proposals—let AI write the messy first version. Humans can then refine, adapt, and build something great together. 👉 Collaboration thrives when people start from something, not nothing. This isn’t about replacing people. It’s about amplifying them. AI isn’t just a productivity tool—it’s a team design tool. ✅ Start mapping tasks that are low EQ, high repetition, and ripe for automation ✅ Pick 1 AI tool to test across a core workflow next week ✅ Train your team to co-create with AI, not just delegate to it ♻️Repost & follow John Brewton for content that helps. ✅ Do. Fail. Learn. Grow. Win. ✅ Repeat. Forever. ⸻ 📬Subscribe to Operating by John Brewton for deep dives on the history and future of operating companies (🔗in profile).

Are you tired of sifting through lengthy meeting recordings to find key insights and action items? 🤯 In my latest video tutorial, I walk you through the process of building an AI-powered tool that automatically analyzes meeting audio files and generates concise summaries, key points, action items, and sentiment analysis. What you'll learn: ✅ Setting up a Python development environment ✅ Integrating OpenAI's powerful language models (GPT-4 and Whisper) ✅ Designing effective system prompts for summarization and analysis ✅ Transcribing audio files and generating meeting minutes ✅ Extracting key insights and saving them as a Word document By the end of this tutorial, you'll have a fully functional tool that can save you hours of manual work and help you make the most of your meeting recordings. Whether you're a developer looking to expand your AI skills or a business professional seeking to streamline your meeting follow-up process, this video has something for you. Check out the full tutorial on my YouTube channel and let me know your thoughts in the comments! 💬 https://lnkd.in/eYY2HG2x #AI #Python #OpenAI #MeetingMinutes #Productivity

After chatting with 100+ execs over the past 6 months, everyone told me the same thing: they want to stop wasting valuable time in useless meetings. The best resource I’ve found on effective meetings is Matt Mochary (exec coach trusted by co’s like OpenAI and Coinbase). Here’s what he recommends: 1. Assign a meeting owner - Someone who manages logistics and agenda - Ensures structured, efficient use of time 2. Define the desired outcome - Set a clear, measurable goal - Share it in writing with all participants 3. Leverage async preparation - Share updates + documentation in advance - Require pre-writes for discussion topics 4. Enforce async work - Demonstrate prep work as a group first - Gradually transition to independent async work 5. Timebox the synchronous agenda - Nurture personal connections (5 mins) - Elaborate on issues (5-20 mins per topic) - Provide real-time feedback (5-10 mins) 6. Drive towards action - Break down solutions into specific tasks - Assign owners and tangible due dates 7. Track every action - Use a PM tool or spreadsheet - Foster accountability and alignment 8. Collect written feedback - Request input after every meeting - Use feedback to continually improve Important note: implementing these changes takes time. Be patient and adjust if you need to – and ensure that your team is 100% on the same page. The result? More productive meetings and more efficient teams. Check out Seam's full playbook on effective meetings below ⚡  https://lnkd.in/gR2bXwRJ

Project managers who struggle with team alignment aren't using AI correctly. I watched a team spend 6 hours weekly in status meetings when AI could capture and distribute the same information in minutes. Smart project managers use AI collaboration tools to: 1. Automate meeting transcription and action item tracking 2. Create single-source dashboards that update in real-time 3. Facilitate asynchronous decisions with AI-summarized context A client implemented these changes last month. Team alignment immediately improved. Meeting time was cut in half. The gap widens daily. Connected teams leverage AI for collaboration while others drown in communication overhead.