Again, no meandering debates or rhetorical one-upsmanship. People can also enter explanations and elaborations, which remain hidden until the facilitator highlights a specific item. This brainstorming process lasts all of four minutes and generates 35 reasonably interesting ideas about what's wrong with meetings. Ten minutes of live discussion help collapse the list into 22 final items. Then it's time to vote.
Some people vote faster than others, and as the early birds finish, they begin chatting.
And she knows who they are. The voting proves to be a rich source of follow-up discussion. The software allows the group to sort any of the 22 problems by these and other variables. It also allows each participant to see how his or her rankings differ from the group consensus. Forty minutes into this electronic meeting, Markowitz is making converts.