A boardroom's delight: gone are the chalkboards. In are plasma screens, high-tech projectors, computers, electronic whiteboards and much more.

AuthorColby, Kent L.

Welcome to the 21st century, where the relevance of capture and control takes on a whale new meaning. Chalkboards and erasers of just a fortnight ago were not limited to the one-room schoolhouse of the Alaska Bush. Many a business executive of today--no matter the size of the school attended--had the unsavory and memorable experience of remaining after school to clean seeming miles of those dusty green boards. Those very black and green chalkboards were equally as common in the hallowed boardrooms of corporations and companies both public and private.

Eventually, overhead, slide and film projectors cut down on the dust--but not necessarily the fuss--in the classroom and boardroom alike. Throw in a few paper easels with smelly marking pens and lots of paper and that made up yesterday's typical training session or boardroom. Oh, and let's not forget the smoke. Sometimes, the pulse of a business was set in those smoke-filled boardrooms, where it was difficult to even see the chalkboard or easel.

The heart and soul of many a business today remains its board or meeting room. The look, the equipment, the presentation is changing dramatically. And if there is a common thread to the boardroom of yesteryear, it might just be the oak table and leather chairs. Most of today's rooms of assemblage are smoke free and have more electronic gadgetry than an amateur radio fest in July.

GAGGLE OF GADGETS

The tools that create a functioning boardroom nowadays include a plasma screen, high-tech projectors (front and rear), computers, Internet and network connections, surround-sound systems, electronic whiteboards, digitizing styluses, keyboards and self-dimming lights. And this list is not all-inclusive. The advent of the local area and wide area network (LAN and WAN) now means a boardroom can in reality constitute many rooms and many locations.

A skilled art and graphics department was once forced to spend many hours with an Exacto knife and a lot of dollars to create a presentation suitable for the annual board of directors meeting. Today, that same department--equipped with a couple of computers, some fancy graphics and editing software, and a product like PowerPoint--can, in much less time, crank out a board-of-directors-quality presentation for the weekly staff meeting, new employee orientation session, sales department's daily update, company Web page and a customer fain meeting.

CHALKBOARD EVOLVED

The exponential evolution of the visual presentation has at least two Darwins in its making.

Probably the principal factor is the personal computer...

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