• Electronic Meeting Systems allow people to conduct meetings without the use of a boardroom.meeting room image by araraadt from Fotolia.com
  
  An EMS, or Electronic Meeting System, is a combination of technologies that allow groups of people to collaborate on a project over computer network connections. Referring to an EMS as "joint" is redundant, as electronic systems are generally shared by definition. EMSs have a number of different functionalities depending on the particular system, but they share some common communication protocols that tend to be employed.
  
  

Agenda

• Most electronic meetings will have a means of organizing the meeting in advance. The format of a specific agenda can take many forms, but typical agendas follow a prescribed format such as Robert's Rules of Order or similar protocols. Agendas tend to begin with an opening and introduction, follow a set list of business items and end with adjournment.
  
  

Chat/Discussion

• Electronic meetings generally require the use of some form of text-based joint communications system such as a chat room or shared text window. The chat format is the most typical, as it allows many people to be easily identified and to share information evenly and concurrently. OSCAR, or Open System for CommunicAtion in Realtime, is one of the most popular technical protocols for chatting, though many others are available. Other forms of synchronous communication can be made through other methods such as video chat or even traditional TCP/IP systems.
  
  

Polling

• Electronic meetings that require voting on some proposal or action generally rely on some form of polling software. These applications allow each individual to register their preferences on a given item and then aggregate the data for an overall result. Methods and services for polling members of an electronic meeting use a variety of different, often proprietary, protocols for conducting votes.
  
  

Brainstorming

• Brainstorming software allows attendees of an electronic meeting to share information and ideas in a non-formal and highly idiosyncratic way, thus avoiding many of the restrictions that can limit online meetings. Systems have their own protocols; however, many utilize systems for anonymizing user input into a shared space, like a white board, for display input.
  
  

Recording of Activities

• Generally, electronic meeting software will have some method for recording the proceedings of a meeting to compile meeting minutes. These systems are typically tied closely to the systems used for generating meeting agendas and will follow the timeline laid out in the agenda.