CPA Practice Advisor - 19

APPS WE LOVE
Enterprises, recommends Bookings. "This is included
at no charge in Office 365, integrates to Exchange/
Outlook and allows you to set rates/charges for
meetings, if desired."
Joy Lutz, CPA, founder of Aligned CPA, LLC, recommends using Google Docs. "We find it imperative
to lead every meeting with an agenda. We use Google
Docs to prepare and share the agenda before our
meetings so everyone knows what to expect."
Angie Grissom, president, The Rainmaker
Companies, said, "My team loves Doodle! It's free
(and also has a paid version if you want to get rid of
advertisements), easy to use and our clients love it. It
gets rid of the 40 emails of back and forth to schedule
a call!" In addition, she recommends Cvent. "This is
the most comprehensive of the meeting planning
apps at this time. The ability to have materials, maps,
attendee and exhibitor list, social media interactions
and more make it particularly attractive. Further,
integration with travel service providers is a benefit,
too. The downside is the cost."
Jackie Meyer, CPA, CTC, CTS, CEO/Founder,
Meyer Tax, The Concierge CPA told us, "An amazing
new app I've started using is Otter.ai for automated
meeting notes. It records anything said verbally
through the computer's microphone, no matter what
meeting platform, and transcribes it in real time.
Saves a lot of time summarizing and saving details. A
second new app I have to mention is Crystal Knows.
If you want to understand your meeting participant's
personality type and best communication style, use
Crystal. It will analyze their Linkedin profile, add
their DISC type, then make recommendations in your
Google calendar invitation."
Will Hill, MBA, senior product manager at Tax
Professionals Advisory, said "I am really starting to
love Microsoft Teams. All the notes, recording, etc.
available right in the calendar view are great. I also
like the blur background feature to keep visual focus
on the person on webcam."
Mark Brooks, investment manager at Syngenta
Corporate Ventures, said, "The best app I've ever used
for this is Brella. It's often used at conferences that
place a high value on networking. Brella lets others at
the same event see who is there and request a brief
meeting. If the other person accepts the invitation,
Brella automatically schedules the meeting location
(usually a table somewhere at the event venue). I've
found it invaluable to meet high potential contacts
at conferences and events."
Roman Kepczyk, director of firm technology
strategy at Right Networks, told us that, "Doodle is
great for scheduling meetings and finding everyone's

availability, and it automates reminders."
Donny Shimamoto, CPA, CITP, CGMA, managing
director of Intraprise TechKnowlogies LLC, is also a
fan of Doodle, "for figuring out when to meet since it
makes it easy to present options and quickly assess
those options where we can maximize attendance."
He also recommends, "Zoom for actual meetings,
as it seems to have the least amount of issues with
people getting into the meeting. The mobile app is a
pretty seamless user experience too."
Ingrid Edstrom, priestess of profits at Polymath,
LLC, said, "I love Zoom for my client meetings. The
tools are intuitive, high quality, and great for both
meetings and webinars. I particularly love the ease
of the integration with Google calendar, as it makes
it so easy to include a meeting link on any calendar
invitation."
Garrett Wagner, CPA, CITP, founder/CEO of C3
Evolution Group, is also on Team Zoom. "Zoom -
Hands down the one and only go-to app for meetings.
It doesn't matter if it is audio or video or both, it's the
only meeting app I use."
Michael Barton, CPA, partner at Petrow Kane
Leemhuis, PC, agrees. "For my AICPA meetings and
also client meetings I utilize Zoom. It helps keep
that face-to-face interaction for a big group while not
making it complicated to get setup. I utilize it for all
long-distance client relationships as well."
Kevin Bong, founder at AuditFile, said, "I like
Zoom for screenshare web meetings. I find it easy
to use and it 'just works' most of the time. It's also
reasonably priced."
David Cieslak, EVP, Chief Cloud Officer, RKL
eSolutions, told us, "We've used MANY of the tools
available today, but currently feel the following are
best of breed:
* Doodle - super simple to use and adjusts for time
zones. Invaluable for scheduling meetings between
busy people!
* Zoom - Live on this product. Great sound quality,
multiple video feeds and record meetings."
Melissa Galasso, founder and CEO at Galasso
Learning Solutions, said, "I'm a big fan of the Zoom
app. It allows me to schedule meetings and take
them from everywhere without needing my laptop.
The ability to see the attendees and see a shared
screen works just as well on the app as it does on
the website. As a frequent traveler, this is my go-to
on the road app to have the most efficient meetings."
Amy Vetter, CEO, The B3 Method Institute, uses
Calendly for organizing. "It has saved so much time
from going back and forth on email trying to find a
time to meet to making it easy for someone to find

a time based on available."
Susan Coffey, CPA, CGMA, executive vice
president - public practice at AICPA, had a different
take on meetings to share with our audience. "While
I don't use meeting apps, I do search for ways to
lighten up the day during breaks - particularly when
meeting virtually. See this link for some interesting
ideas: https://bit.ly/37oldKA. I've done trivia during
breaks. I've done rebus puzzles during breaks. I've
done music during breaks. I've asked people to submit
pictures of something from their childhood bedroom
that makes them happy/smile, and asked meeting
participants to 'guess who.' What I've found is that
things like this help people get to know each other
better, creates comradery to solve common issues,
and gets them back to the meeting on time (to manage the meeting better)."
Jacquelyn Tracy, CPA, CGMA, partner at Mandel
& Tracy, LLC, said, "I am old school and like Outlook
for scheduling meetings. This way, I can ensure that
it is on everyone's calendar. I can include any instructions, notes and even attach the agenda. I use it for
business, personal and my volunteer work. If it's not
on the calendar, it just won't get done!"
Elizabeth Pittelkow Kittner, CPA, CITP, CGMA,
DTM, vice president of finance and HR at International Legal Technology Association, told us, "Zoom
is my favorite meeting app because it allows for easy
viewing of video participants and offers a 'Raise
Hand' feature, which is helpful for encouraging
participation in larger groups and grabbing the attention of the hosts. Doodle Poll is my go-to option for
organizing meetings because it cuts down on e-mails
discussing availability, is easy to use, and is quick
to implement."
Kim Austin, business development manager
at Intuit, said, "We use Calendly for several of our
internal teams that are often needed in short-notice
windows. It's a great way to be able to quickly let a
partner know if we have a resource available and
it's far easier than sending numerous emails back
and forth or trying to assume someone remembers
to put 'carpool pickup' on their Outlook calendar.
As far as scheduling a meeting with a group, I love
Doodle - it's simple to quickly set up the open choices
on the calendar & allows each participant to select
multiple options that will work for them. When you're
trying to get time from external individuals, this can
be a lifesaver and save a huge amount of wasted time
going back & forth on emails."

FEBRUARY 2020 ■

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