Arnold -
Is the data you're collecting something that accumulates during the
meeting, or something that can wait until the end of the meeting? Can it
be done on several [secured] touch-screen devices as people are leaving?
Assuming that everyone has a PDA of their own or a mobile phone that's
relatively smart, can they text the data to a single place? You can send
the group an SMS and they can reply to you individually via SMS or email
from their mobile phones, then you can upload the data to a computer.
Can't do SMS texting? Their kids can teach them [My son and I text
frequently] you can teach them quickly, or they can be required to have
devices with idiot-proof QWERTY [sorry, no Dvorak] keyboards, or
touch-screens, like a Palm Treo, Sony-Ericsson P1, Blackberry, Samsung
Blackjack, Nokia 61i, iPhone, Moto Q, etc--or a GoBook.
These devices should be theirs, not yours. How many people in your
office don't have cell phones of their own? I got one for $29 at 7-11.
Not as cheap as paper, but can work well as long as you state your
questions so that they can be answered in one or two words, to make
replies easier, and entry into a database faster in the end. Lock them
in until they send the data, or send them text messages after they leave
until they reply as requested.
For those who carry their own notebooks, they can send email or IM or
email to SMS.
P.S. How do you prove that your electronic record of the meeting has not
been tampered with?
Checksum; MD5 hash.
Betty
*************************************************************************
** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy **
** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ **
*************************************************************************
