The challenges faced by employees in using traditional whiteboards

What tool is your team using to think, plan, and present ideas during meetings? 

If your answer is a traditional whiteboard, you are not alone. The old-fashioned dry erase board continues to be a meeting room staple in many businesses. While it has its perks — visualising on a traditional whiteboard is quick and simple — there are also some challenges to overcome for employees relying too heavily on a wall-mounted board. 

Have a look at the following drawbacks which may be causing you headaches already, and then consider ditching the traditional board for an interactive whiteboard.

Immobility 

Traditional whiteboards don’t do a good job of supporting an on-the-go work style. When employees need to do a spur of the moment check-in or brainstorming session, they may not always have access to the meeting room where the whiteboard is firmly mounted to the wall. An interactive whiteboard, on the other hand, can easily be moved and set up where employees need them.  

Limited space

The size of a traditional whiteboard doesn’t give your team the freedom to write as much as they want. This often leads to erasing and re-writing repeatedly during a single meeting. If employees have lots of content to share, one feature of an interactive whiteboard they will appreciate is  the ability to spread their ideas out without any worries about losing space. 

• READ MORE: Making your presentations more interactive

Less permanent

A traditional whiteboard is easy to wipe clean, which can become a problem if someone decides to erase notes you intended to keep for a period of time. You can easily capture, save, or print your pages on an interactive whiteboard, giving you the peace of mind that several hours of creative planning won’t be lost in a few seconds.  

Keeping track of consumables

The use of a traditional whiteboard requires a marker, an eraser, and a special cleanser. These are consumables that employees should regularly keep tabs on. Nothing delays meetings more than discovering the office’s supply of markers has run out. An interactive whiteboard comes equipped with electronic pens and an eraser, which will provide years of trouble-free usage.

Chemical odours 

If there’s one thing more unpleasant than the squeaky noise of a marker against the whiteboard and ink residue on one’s hands, it’s the strong alcohol-like odour these pens emit. The solvent that evaporates into the air while a marker is being used can contribute to indoor pollutants. This means employees with chemical sensitivities may experience throat or eye irritation after prolonged exposure. Unlike their original counterparts, interactive whiteboards present no health concerns.

Dry erase boards still have their place in the office but they aren’t all plain sailing. If you can relate to any of the issues above, it may be time for an upgrade. An interactive whiteboard is a dynamic tool that can completely transform your meetings through better team collaboration and engagement. With features that allow for things to be written down, shared, archived, and saved as digital content, there’s no doubt that an interactive whiteboard is a vast improvement over analog boards.