OnTopic is a Slack app that automates meeting scheduling and management tasks to reduce cognitive load for student leaders. It allows creation and management of meeting agendas from templates, automation of topic switching and reminders, and a history of discussion topics. Some users felt it had potential but wanted more advanced scheduling features and the ability to modify the agenda. Suggested improvements included making the agenda items customizable, including more template types, and allowing users to choose how long to extend discussion topics.

1. Mara Gordon Tyler Laredo Steven Schmatz

2. For new student leaders who want to run effective and efficient meetings,
OnTopic is a Slack app that automates meeting scheduling and management
tasks to reduce cognitive load.
Unlike a timer, OnTopic allows:
● Creation and management of meeting agendas from suggested templates
● Automation of topic switching and reminders
● A history of discussion topics for members who join late
Pitch

3. Data Collection
6 users
Importance (1-5) Satisfaction (1-5)
Create Meetings 5 3
Agenda Template 4.67 2.33
Bot Message Content 3.5 4
“Extend Time” Feature 4.17 4.17

4. “We have used Slack extensively at MHacks... OnTopic is an
excellent tool for teaching new leaders how to organize
meetings.”
— Riyu Banerjee, Head of Tech at MHacks
“I would really like to see more advanced scheduling features.”
— Sahil Desai, EECS 281 IA
“OnTopic has a lot of potential — I would love to have the ability to
modify the agenda, though, then it would be 10/10.”
— Anna Ten Have, Head of Finances for DMUM

5. Shortcomings & Solutions
Shortcoming Solution
/create is not discoverable Change /create to /ontopic to start our app in a more intuitive way
Template is not customizable Make agenda items customizable
Lack of templates
Include other templates than just fundraising (volunteering, mass
meetings, project meeting, etc).
“Extend Time” Feature is always 2
minutes
Ability to choose how long to extend topic (2, 5 or 10 minutes).