Effective Virtual Teams
"TelePresence is most
likely to have been the 'killer app' when we look back in 2047."
What do we need to think about as we attempt to get virtual teams
to work effectively?
David Martin
President and
Co-founder
SMART Technologies Inc.
Tuesday, October 21, 1997
at 3:00 p.m.
Davis Centre, Room 1302
University of Waterloo
Abstract
Getting people who are not co-located to
work together in teams presents several interesting challenges. As the
visionary and chief technical officer at SMART Technologies Inc., Mr.
Martin has worked on solutions to this issue since 1987. He has led a
development team to produce a number of firsts in electronic co-location,
including the creation of the first MS Windows application for multi-point conferencing
in 1992. Working with Intel, his team proved the viability of data conferencing
when Andy Grove showcased a budget review with Intel's Japan office at Intel's
Annual General Meeting in April 1992.
Drawing on this experience and working
with key development partners including Intel, Nortel, PictureTel,
VTEL, Texas Instruments and others, Mr. Martin will describe his
experiences in using technology to facilitate work within meeting rooms
and across distance. He will outline how his 100 person team, split
equally into two teams, work cooperatively across a distance of 2,200
miles. Mr. Martin will reveal the technologies that are used daily by
his team to increase meeting effectiveness and productivity, including
audio and data conferencing, as well as desktop video conferencing.
Computerized concept maps are used for product development and corporate memory
at SMART and a large Fortune 500 company. Mr. Martin will explain why
and how companies are adopting such products for electronic
co-location.
During the course of his presentation,
Mr. Martin will demonstrate and discuss the new products that his group
and others are developing to facilitate communications within the
meeting room and over distances through different time zones.
Biography
Mr. Martin, a recognized authority on
the future direction of applying technology to working and teaching at
a distance, is a member of the Board of Directors of the Alberta
Microelectronics Center, and of the Canadian Federal Government's Strategic
Advisory Council on International Trade for Information Technology and Telecommunications.
He sits on the Strategic Council of the Calgary Research Development Authority.
He co-founded Keyword Office Technologies Ltd., a leader in document translation
technology (1978-86). He has a B.Sc. (Applied Mathematics) from Concordia University.
Company Bio
Smart Technologies Inc. (403-245-0333),
an industry leader in interactive electronic whiteboards, received the
1997 Multimedia Innovator of the Year Achievement Award from the
International Communications Industries Association for its SMART Board
720, the industry's largest touch-sensitive interactive whiteboard.
For more information
Shirley Fenton
The infraNET Project
Computer Systems Group, University of Waterloo
(519) 888-4074