When Denny Conner wants to impress his customers, he uses an LCD projector to project slide show images onto a screen. When he really wants to wow them, he projects the images onto an interactive whiteboard. But there's more to this electronic toy than just impressing a client. Using TeamBoard Suite software, the whiteboard is connected to a computer, and everything Conner projects and annotates can be stored as data.
“It's a means of accountability,” says the owner of the Seattle design/build company Conner Remodeling & Design. “Let's say we have a design meeting with several designers, maybe one who takes care of the tile, one who will do the structural cross section. We can document their ideas and date it.”
TeamBoard Suite software, created by Egan TeamBoard, Ontario, Canada, comes with the purchase of the 60-by-48-inch interactive whiteboard (retail price $1,495). TeamBoard Suite can be housed on either a PC or a Macintosh, and any projector is compatible.
To annotate on the whiteboard, you can use the Teflon-tipped stylus or your finger. The software offers various “pen” selections, including freehand, solid lines, dashed lines, and highlighter. There are seven standard colors as well as a color palette to choose from, an eraser function, and solid and outlined objects. You can also “type” on the virtual keyboard. Anything you do can be saved as a graphic in a TeamBoard file, similar to a JPEG or a bitmap.
Conner says that he puts the information on a public drive within the office along with the meeting notes for later reference.
