Virtual meetings are here to stay — and so is the challenge of keeping people engaged while they multitask during meetings.

In fact, our recently-conducted business survey points to multitasking in meetings as the top challenge to keeping people engaged and focused — nearly three-quarters of those surveyed say the distractions of people caught up in several tasks at once interfere with meetings and impact their effectiveness.

Business is changing faster than perhaps any other time in recent history. The shifting economy is a prime driver, but so is technology – the rapidly evolving factor in the change sweeping most companies.

Technology innovations are changing what our companies produce and how we get our products/services to market. But technology is also changing how we do what we do.

Collaboration is getting all kinds of attention these days. But many of us innovating at the leading edge of collaboration — especially around the power of collaboration as a strategic business tool — are often puzzled by much of the dialog. The word "uneven" comes to mind, but the dialog’s also often misleading about what collaboration is, and isn’t.

Collaboration is a critical driver in business today, particularly if your business is global and your teams are far-flung. New technologies are promising, but the simple truth is: technology doesn't collaborate, people do.

What special methods do your people have to collaborate successfully?
How can you get strong results – and a truly collaborative workforce?

Download this free white paper —Bells, Whistles, and Blackberries — to learn:

Last week, we attended Pop!Tech, an annual gathering in Camden, Maine, billed as a “one-of-a-kind conference, a community of remarkable people, and an ongoing conversation about science, technology, and the future of ideas.” For the past decade, Pop!Tech has been building and inspiring a community of committed global change-agents.

My son Adam is a Millennial. Born in 1990, raised with the internet, he is successful in school despite evenings chatting with friends while doing homework, watching the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on TV, surfing Craig’s list for cars and listening to and downloading music on his i-POD….

ALL AT THE SAME TIME.

This makes me crazy.

A couple of weeks ago, we attended Pop!Tech, the annual conference on technology, business, culture, and emerging ideas. It's more than a conference — it's a community of 500 authors, techies, performers, business leaders, scientists, and thought leaders who come together in Camden, Maine for what Wired calls "a weekend-long huddle." Where else would New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, AskANinja.com's Kent Nichols, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, and acoustic guitar sensations Rodrigo y Gabriela share the same bill?