Agent based facilitator assistant for virtual meetings

The high cost of air travel and accommodation together with the increasing capacity and speed of internet networks has resulted in large multinational companies considering virtual meetings as an alternative to face-to-face meetings. The hardware and software to support virtual meetings is becoming more sophisticated and more accessible, as some Hotel Chains are offering the facility to businesses as part of their portfolio of services. With the rise in popularity of this type of meeting environment the need for a facilitator to co-ordinate this type of activity has become more acute but the technology to support this has lagged behind. With the emergence of the Virtual Design Office as a response to multi-cultural design teams working on global projects the need for virtual meetings becomes more important in time critical situations. This paper presents work that has been completed in developing the requirements for an agent based virtual meeting support system, with particular emphasis on the role of the facilitator.