A hybrid workspace throughout with both onsite and virtual people at and around a long table
Tools for Thought

Intentional Meetings

Evolving purposful meeting systems, behaviors, and cultures with Generative AI

Intentional Meetings is a workstream in the Tools For Thought project at Microsoft Research Cambridge UK. We aim to understand how to help organizations develop a goal-oriented meeting lifecycle that leverages Generative AI to construct dynamic goal-driven interfaces that adapt to organizational and team tasks and contexts.

The CoExplorer operation flowchart
Hybridge system hero image
VROOM system model
The VROOM system model.
3D video generated from webcams, in a meeting
A hybrid meeting in which everyone sits around a virtual table
Realistic and cartoon avatars in mixed reality meetings

We explore meeting intentionality through behavioral research

This journey involves delving into the intricacies of the purpose of workflows. We currently focus on meeting scenarios as our area of expertise, but we expect this to widen out to wider asynchronous and synchronous collaboration scenarios. Using survey data, telemetry, interviews, and interventions, we are unveiling fundamental principles that can steer the development of prototypes and product features. Here are some areas that we have explored or are currently exploring:

We explore meeting interaction paradigms through prototype-based research

Our prototyping process is an exploration of principles that connect people in ways that align with their goals, team context, and endpoint technology. We are on a mission to develop solutions that share common principles, infrastructure, and features across various modes of encounters. These solutions are not a one-size-fits-all but are executed in unique combinations tailored to specific needs.