technology

Making Connections

With construction of the new Fred and Shirley Pryor Center for Leadership Development underway and the success of the Tucker Leadership Lab continuing, William Jewell College announces its newest service: the Jewell Round Table.

A versatile collaboration tool that turns any web browser into a virtual meeting room, the Jewell Round Table is an electronic conference center where multiple discussions, surveys and voting occur simultaneously.

“Meetings can occur at the same time or over a period of time, across the table or across the globe,” said John Melito, administrator of the Jewell Round Table.

Similar to the Tucker Leadership Lab activities, the new service provides groups with a facilitator who customizes the conference to its particular needs.

“To complement our services, facilitators are also trained and experienced in experiential learning and are equipped to provide additional resources in leadership and team development through the Tucker Leadership Lab,” Melito said. According to Kevin Shaffstall, director of leadership studies, the new service will greatly benefit participating organizations.

“The Jewell Round Table is an excellent decision-making tool that allows organizations to make better decisions more efficiently and quickly,” he said. “With the Jewell Round Table, organizations can gather huge quantities of valuable data in a short amount of time.”

The software yields greater productivity, a parallel processing of ideas, anonymous (and thus uninhibited) participation, flexible group process approaches, efficient use of time and resources and assured confidentiality, he said.

But organizations will benefit from more than just the software’s capabilities, according to Shaffstall.

“One of the real advantages of the Jewell Round Table is our facilitated meeting services that not only allow organizations to gather data in real time but also to process the meaning and relativity of this information with a skilled meeting facilitator,” he said.

“The Jewell Round Table complements our other menu of leadership and team development services, which help organizations build stronger and more capable teams.”

In addition to better serving the community, he said the new service will benefit Jewell. “It is also an excellent resource to extend the William Jewell campus into the community and bring the community onto our campus,” Shaffstall said. “Like the Tucker Leadership Lab, the Jewell Round Table has a high potential to generate revenue for the campus, which allows us to work with more students in a meaningful way.”

Groups interested in learning more about the Jewell Round Table may contact John Melito at (816) 415-5925 or via e-mail at melitoj@william.jewell.edu.