第1564期:Can AI save us from bad meetings?

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. 

可以说，商务会议是人们集体工作以实现目标的任何组织的必要组成部分。但是如果管理不善，会议可能会毫无成效、乏味，而且感觉完全是在浪费时间。治理技术公司 eShare 最近进行的一项调查发现，英国员工平均每周花费超过 10 小时准备和参加会议——他们认为其中大约 50% 是不必要的。然而，有理论认为技术可以改善事物。

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.

视频会议公司 BlueJeans 的詹姆斯·坎帕尼尼 (James Campanini) 表示，人工智能能够识别出一个人何时劫持了会议，或者循环讨论是否不断回到一个问题，这是“非常可行的”。麻省理工学院计算机科学教授 Cynthia Rudin 说：“如果一段时间后没有提出新观点，人工智能可能会建议结束。”但人工智能还没有完全成熟。

"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.

“如果人工智能可以在商务会议期间完成大部分单调乏味的工作，那么就会为人类提供更多思考战略和愿景的空间，”人工智能创新中心伦敦大创新中心的 Niki Iliadis 认为。这似乎是真的。日本大阪府开始使用人工智能作为记录员来转录和总结 450 次年度内阁会议。该县声称，它已将制作摘要所需的时间减少了一半，并削减了员工加班时间。

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.

人工智能还可以帮助解决出勤问题。总部位于美国的会议管理平台 Lucid Meetings 的 Elise Keith 说，如果召集了一个主题不相关的会议，或者如果这是一个不方便的时间，人工智能可以用来决定谁应该参加会议以及应该在什么时候参加会议。.

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.

最后，斯德哥尔摩的一家初创公司 Mentimeter 允许与会者就讨论提供匿名反馈。使用该软件，参与者可以做出开放式回答、提交评论或在多项选择测验中投票。金融服务公司 AFH Wealth Management 的 Austin Broad 说，这“从根本上改变了演示文稿的动态”。

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.

虽然可以创建议程、发送会议邀请、分发会议记录和跟踪行动项目的工具应该会提高效率，但它们仍在开发中。让我们希望，如果或当他们真的到达时，他们会满足我们的期望。

词汇表

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
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
action item 行动方案