Everyone goes to meetings. And everyone gripes about them. You’d think I wouldn’t go to that many meetings, being a home office-based copywriter, but I do. There are client meetings on WebEx, face-to-face get togethers with prospects, pro bono project reviews, and the like. None of us can escape the siren call of interaction with our fellow humans.
What do you most hate about meetings? According to Sam Parker of Just Sell, they’re “too long,” “boring,” “not inspiring or motivating,” and they have “no clear purpose or objective.” All this boils down to meetings as a time sink.
So what can be done to make meetings better? We can’t avoid them, so we owe it to ourselves to make them more tolerable and productive. Mr. Parker, whom I admire, sees meetings as an opportunity. “They’re an important part of how we connect (communicate), how we learn, how we encourage, and how we inspire.” He recommends that everyone at a meeting wear their “grown-up” hats. Further, attendees should participate, and organizers should respect everyone’s time by preparing well.
In my cynical, callow youth, I regarded meetings as a total pain and did a fair amount of eye-rolling until called on it one day. Now, I look at them as akin to going to a party—an opportunity (yes) to experience the world beyond my own purview.
RobAustin says
Keep them small, short (strictly adhere to a 15-minute rule), and recap who’s do do what by when at the end. Only when there is a very real crisis should any meeting go beyond a quarter-hour.
Susan Monroe says
I have a favorite client who spends his life in meetings, as so many of us do. Usually, we connect later on Thursday or Friday because he can’t free up any time before then. If I asked, I’m sure he’d say that a lot of the time he spends in meetings is unnecessary.
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