会议是许多企业和公司的常规组成部分。但很多人认为会议是耗时、枯燥和无效的。有理论证实，人工智能可能是帮助人们组织更好、更高效的会议的答案。人工智能是怎么办到的？

How to deal with bad meetings?

article

Business meetings are, arguably, a necessary part of any organisation where people work collectively to accomplish a goal. But badly managed, meetings can be unproductive, boring and feel like a complete waste of time. In a recent survey conducted by governance technology firm eShare, it was found that the average UK employee spends over 10 hours weekly preparing for and attending meetings – approximately 50% of which they consider unnecessary. However, there are theories that technology could improve things.

It's "very feasible" for an AI to be able to recognise when one person is hijacking a meeting, or if a circular discussion keeps returning to a single issue, says James Campanini, from videoconferencing company, BlueJeans. "If no new points are made after a while, the AI could suggest to wrap up," says Cynthia Rudin, a computer science professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But AI isn’t quite there yet.

"If AI can do most of the mundane and drudgery work during business meetings, that leaves more space for humans to think about strategy and vision," believes Niki Iliadis at the Big Innovation centre, London, an innovation hub in AI. This seems to be true. The prefecture of Osaka in Japan started using an AI as a minute taker to transcribe and summarise the 450 annual cabinet meetings. It has halved the time needed to produce summaries and cut staff overtime, claims the prefecture.

AI can also help with the matter of attendance. If a meeting with irrelevant subject matter is called, or if it's an an inconvenient time, an AI could be used to decide who should attend the meeting and when it should be, says Elise Keith from Lucid Meetings, a US-based meeting management platform.

Finally, one Stockholm start-up, Mentimeter, allows meeting attendees to give anonymous feedback about a discussion. Using the software, participants can make open-ended responses, submit comments or vote in multiple-choice quizzes. This has "fundamentally changed the dynamics of a presentation," says Austin Broad from financial services firm AFH Wealth Management.

While tools that can create agendas, send meeting invitations, distribute the minutes, and keep track of action items should improve effectiveness, they are still in development. Let's hope that if or when they do arrive, they will meet our expectations.

vocabulary

badly managed 管理糟糕的，无序的
unproductive 无效的，收益很小的
a complete waste of time 完全浪费时间
attend 参加
hijack 控制，把持（不属于其本人的东西）
circular discussion 巡回无效的讨论
videoconference 可视会议
wrap up 结束，画上句号
strategy 策略
vision （企业）愿景
minute taker 会议记录员
transcribe 记录下，转录，抄写
summarise 总结，概述
attendee 参加者
presentation 报告，演讲
agenda 会议议程
meeting invitation 会议邀请
the minutes 会议记录
minute taker 会议记录员
action item 行动方案
anonymous 匿名的
feasible 可行的
keep track of =keep the pace of... 跟上...的节奏，步伐
open-ended 开放式的
meet our expectations=live up to one's expectations 满足...的需求
P.S.,一些形容繁琐，乏味的工作的短语
mundane and drudgery work
tedious work
daily grind

comprehension

How much of a difference has an AI made to the prefecture of Osaka?

make sentences

1. John's very loud and direct, so he tends to hijack meetings. Keep an eye on him.

2. OK everyone, if there's no AOB then we should wrap up this meeting. Thanks.
   AOB：（abbr）any other business 其他事情

3. We had a meeting this morning with no （=without）outcome. It was so unproductive.

4. I will act as chairperson and Mr Johnson will be minute taker. Item 1 on the agenda is…

5. We have two good ideas so let's put it to a vote. All those in favour of idea 1?