Latest news with #virtual
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
AI development company is our Think Local/Buy Local business
This week's Think Local/ Buy Local business is Projekt Rising in Peterborough, and here, Tim Davies explains more. Would you like to feature as our Think Local/Buy Local business? (Image: Newsquest) What do you do? We are an AI consulting and development company. Where are you based? Stuart House, St John's Road, Peterborough (but we are fully virtual, so this is just a postal address). How can people contact you? 01733 964993 When did you set up the business? In March 2017 Why did you set up the business? For as long as I can remember I've been fascinated by technology. My dad was a computer consultant, so I got his hand me down computers and in 1991 I discovered that I could hack a computer game (Dune2) to create custom levels, it felt like magic and I was hooked on the power of computers and the ability to influence them. I was leading the International expansion of Upwork's Enterprise offering. It was an exciting business with the strapline the "Future of Work" - more exciting still to me though was that they hadn't started to engage with the next wave of technologies that to me really do represent the future of work. I could see the opportunity, the extraordinary potential of Agentic AI that would create unfair advantages in every corner of a company and enable clients to reimagine their growth. That window to capitalise on the arrival of these era defining technologies was too good to miss so I persuaded Oli (who had worked with me in a variety of roles across Caterpillar and Upwork) to take a bet on building the future. How many people do you have working for you? Five What do you consider to be your USP? The expert AI partner for SMEs, harnessing state-of-the-art technologies to drive transformative growth and multiply margins through affordable, bespoke, solutions that create unfair advantages in every corner of a business. The power to re-imagine potential. Why do you think it is important that people use local shops and businesses? There is so much potential for good by working with local businesses, money stays local and those businesses employ local people. Strong relationships, partnerships and friendships are enhanced by regular contact. Would you like your business to feature in our Think Local/Buy Local campaign? Contact: for details.
Associated Press
26-06-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Wellpin Introduces Smart Meeting Tools to Transform Time Management in the Workplace
You're in another meeting. - It seems important, but your mind is busy with deadlines, tasks, and personal errands. Sound familiar? Unfortunately, this happens all too often in modern business. Meetings drag on, participants show up late, conversations go off track, and in the end, there's no clear decision or outcome. The result: Wasted time, fatigue, and distraction instead of productive work. Meetings should help organize work, not get in the way. Today, we'll show you how to turn meetings into a powerful tool for efficiency — with smart time management and modern technologies that help you work faster, smarter, and achieve more. The Current State of Business Meetings: Common Challenges Professionals dedicate numerous weeks to meetings, which they believe could be better spent on their direct job responsibilities. Key facts: As a result, companies face major financial losses, employees experience excessive pressure, and have less time available to focus on their core responsibilities.. Virtual Meetings: A New Dimension of Challenges Offline meetings have long become a symbol of inefficiency: delays, long conversations going nowhere, shortage of meeting rooms, conflicting calendars, and wasted time on logistics. Often, half of the participants come unprepared, resulting in vague agreements and lost time. Online tools such as screen sharing, chat, automatic recording, and instant access to materials turn every meeting into a managed and productive process. Virtual meetings instill discipline, speed up decision-making, and teach respect for each other's time. In a world where speed is a key resource, the virtual format is not just convenient — it's essential. Standard Problems in Meeting Management Time management issues in meetings often stem from a lack of clear planning and preparation. When meetings are held without a specific agenda, they tend to drift aimlessly and fail to deliver meaningful results. Participants may go off-topic, and discussions can become disorganized and unproductive. Additionally, poor control over meeting duration frequently leads to sessions running overtime, which disrupts upcoming work responsibilities and undermines overall organizational discipline. To avoid these setbacks, it is useful to follow a few essential practices: Another common problem is the lack of proper documentation and follow-up tasks, which results in the meeting's progress quickly fading away. Without action items and accountability, decisions are easily forgotten and topics often resurface in future sessions. Moreover, inviting too many participants leads to reduced focus and more complex discussions, making it harder to reach conclusions efficiently. Time Management Strategies for More Efficient Meetings Organizations achieve better productivity and reduced employee stress when they adopt suitable time management methods to improve their meeting processes. The following essential methods create substantial improvements: Strategic Planning Before the Meeting An effective meeting starts long before participants gather. First, consider whether the goal can be achieved through email or online tools instead of a meeting. If a meeting is necessary, prepare a clear agenda with time limits for each topic, invite only those who are essential to the discussion, and share all relevant materials in advance so participants can arrive well-prepared. To improve time management in meetings, focus on three core strategies: The Wellpin scheduler meeting supports all of these strategies. It finds optimal time slots based on participant availability, provides personal booking pages to simplify scheduling, and automates the delivery of invitations, agendas, and reminders—helping teams save time and focus on what truly matters. The Role of Technology in Meeting Time Management The integration of modern technology tools boosts meeting efficiency through automatic task management and better coordination along with data-driven meeting pattern analysis. Organizations can transform their meeting processes through suitable technological solutions that schedule meetings and perform them while handling follow-up activities. These helpful suggestions can reduce stress in your professional life. Schedule Maker Applications Advanced scheduling applications go beyond basic calendar functions and significantly improve team time coordination. The Wellpin scheduler uses artificial intelligence to find optimal meeting times by analyzing participant availability, preferences, time zones, and existing commitments, eliminating traditional scheduling delays and helping to manage time effectively. Key solutions offered by Wellpin include: Wellpin also provides detailed analytics dashboards to track meeting frequency, duration, and participant data, helping organizations improve their meeting culture through time analysis and data-driven insights. These features enhance time management, simplify scheduling, and boost overall meeting efficiency. Meeting Productivity Tools Specialized applications can streamline various aspects of meetings, complementing scheduling platforms like Wellpin: Collaborative Note-Taking: Platforms that allow multiple participants to contribute to documentation simultaneously ensure comprehensive capture of discussions and decisions. When integrated with Wellpin's scheduling system, these notes can be automatically attached to meeting records for easy reference. Timer Applications: Visual countdown tools help facilitators manage agenda timing and keep discussions on track. Wellpin incorporates timing features that can be preset according to agenda items, with gentle notifications when time limits are approaching. Decision Documentation Systems: Software that tracks decisions, responsibilities, and deadlines ensures accountability and follow-through. Wellpin's follow-up capabilities allow meeting organizers to assign action items directly from the platform and track completion status. Meeting Templates: Wellpin offers customizable templates for recurring meetings, preserving agenda structures, participant lists, and resource requirements to maintain consistency and save preparation time. By leveraging comprehensive platforms like Wellpin alongside specialized meeting tools, organizations can create a technological ecosystem that supports efficient meetings from planning through execution to follow-up, ultimately reclaiming valuable time for productive work. This approach gives you more free time for personal activities and helps balance your work and school responsibilities. Conclusion Organizations can achieve substantial improvement by managing time during meetings effectively. Businesses that implement strategic planning with effective conduct protocols and thorough follow-up processes will transform meetings from necessary evils into productive tools that advance objectives and respect everyone's valuable time. Success in meeting efficiency requires organizations to treat it as an ongoing evaluation and refinement process. Organizations dedicated to this approach will achieve both time savings and better decision making and stronger team bonds while developing more engaging work environments. By focusing on one task at a time and implementing these suggestions, you can take advantage of these principles in all aspects of your life. Media Contact Company Name: Wellpin Contact Person: David Beckham Email: Send Email City: New York Country: United States Website: Press Release Distributed by To view the original version on ABNewswire visit: Wellpin Introduces Smart Meeting Tools to Transform Time Management in the Workplace
Washington Post
12-06-2025
- General
- Washington Post
After my dad died, I looked for signs of him everywhere
I lost my dad when I was 14, and he was 49. Childhood was confusing, but adulthood has been harder. There's a particular ache in never getting to know your parents as people — not just guardians — and that's a version of my father I'll never get to know. That loss has haunted me. In 2021, I co-founded a virtual grief group, The Dead Parent Club, with a friend. I'd never been drawn to any group activity — no sports league, no group therapy — but this was different. For the first time, I felt seen and understood. When one of our members introduced a book about receiving signs from the other side, I found myself more open than ever to shifting my perspective on what a connection to my dad might look like now.
Globe and Mail
11-06-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Media invitation - Presentation of Hydro-Québec's financial results for the first quarter of 2025
MONTRÉAL, June 5, 2025 /CNW/ - Hydro-Québec invites media representatives to participate in a virtual conference on its financial results for the first quarter of 2025.
The Verge
05-06-2025
- Business
- The Verge
Here are three new apps building out the open social web
For the past couple of years, the virtual FediForum conference has offered a glimpse at what's new in the open social web, with last year's big news being Threads' foray into the fediverse. This year's presentation was no different, with several developers showing off new apps that will help to expand the ecosystem of decentralized social networks. Bonfire Social, one of the new apps, is meant to serve as a framework for creating digital communities, each with their own governance and style. During FediForum, Bonfire announced that they're releasing Bonfire Social 1.0 as the first 'flavor' of the platform. Bonfire Social comes with a 'a pre-configured bundle of Bonfire extensions that defines which features are included,' like custom feeds, profiles, and threaded discussions, along with the ability to share posts and follow other users. The makers of Bonfire are working on other 'flavors' of the platform, including Bonfire Community, which is geared toward private groups and organizations, as well as Open Science, a platform designed for collaboration between academic communities. Bonfire Social federates with Mastodon, Peertube, Mobilizon, and others. You can install Bonfire Social now or check out the demo. Another new service announced at FediForum is which is designed to help you curate the content you see across the open social web. Users can tailor their feed by tracking specific hashtags and users, including bridged Bluesky accounts and RSS parrots. Other users can follow the channels you create, which are distributed across the Fediverse, Bluesky, and over RSS. You can filter out certain keywords and mute accounts not related to the topics you want to follow, and there are also built-in filters that block NSFW content and hate speech. is built on a customized Mastodon server run by the Newsmast Foundation, a fediverse-focused charity based in the UK, and it sounds like a neat way to create an ultra-curated social feed. The service is currently available in an invite-only beta, but you can sign up for the waitlist to receive updates. You can check out some examples of channels from website. One of the other notable services highlighted today was Bounce, an app that allows you to move your Bluesky account to Mastodon, all without losing any of your followers. The app is built by A New Social, the creators of the Bridgy Fed tool that Bounce uses to connect your Bluesky account to Mastodon. Once your account is bridged, Bounce can then transfer personal data servers using the 'move' capability offered by ActivityPub and the AT Protocol, letting you retain your Bluesky followers — and the people you follow — when heading to Mastodon.
