Heard this morning from someone I admire:
“Meetings for the most part are completely unproductive, mind numbing and do nothing to foster teamwork.”
As a consultant, I am the maker of meetings. When I come to town, we’re gonna meet. I see it in their eyes when I enter the board room. Oh gawd, what is SHE going to make us do?
I pride myself on having productive meetings. Here are a few things I’ve found that help to turn your meeting from a time waster to a treasure.
1. Don’t have a meeting in the basement. You cannot be creative with fluorescent light. In fact studies have shown that artificial light sucks about 1.5 pounds of your soul from your body each hour.
2. Have an agenda. This sounds like a no-brainer but many people come to meetings because they are “on the calendar” not because they have a purpose or a goal.
3. Calculate the value of the attendees time when the meeting starts and the value of the outcome. Once the time expense has exceeded the value, someone is instructed to signal the meeting’s end with a blow horn.
4. Cut your meeting time in half. Seldom do meetings end early. This always puzzles me. They almost always end on time – because people have to get to their next meeting. Hmmmm……
5. Good coffee with real cream. Powdered cream says “We hate you and don’t value your opinion.”
6. Ban all Crackberries, iPhones, Droids, distractions. If the meeting is not important enough for you to turn off your email – you don’t need to have the meeting.
I’m just sayin’
Now, I gotta go. I have a meeting at 7:30.
The 2020 Vision of Marketing 
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May 12, 2010 at 7:06 am
terrell
Giving good meeting is a rare talent that I appreciate so, so much. My boss is pretty dang good at keeping everyone on task and focused so we can get on with our lives. She has kind of spoiled me because this is not the norm. I’d say 85% to 90% of meetings are snoozers or could’ve been accomplished via email.
Thanks for the tips.
May 12, 2010 at 7:13 am
Denise Wymore
T,
What a great phrase “giving good meeting” love it. I have no doubt your boss gets that. Life is so short. How many meetings have you walked out of thinking “I’ll never get THAT hour back.” Sigh…..
May 12, 2010 at 7:20 am
Sara Dyer
I forget where I first saw this (and there are free online versions of this as well), but I like it: http://www.bringtim.com/
May 12, 2010 at 7:54 am
Casey Wheeler
Great recap. Unfortunately, most organizations don’t get it.
May 12, 2010 at 7:31 am
Glenn Coble
OMG, Denise you had to know I would respond to this blog. Meetings are almost always a waste of time, even the ones I call (very few). I will admit the ones I have attended with you as the leader have been valuable for me. But as you may recall you hosted our strategic planning session one year and it was great. Our staff was fired up.. we had a plan… we had a focus. Our tellers stood outside after the meeting and talked for a long time on the ideas and plan we had worked on. It only took a month for most of us to realize the board hadn’t been listening.
That brings me to my point. Even very good meetings are a waste of time if some people don’t want to be there… some think they have the only good ideas and some want to hear themselves talk.
The list below is from my now defunct blog.
Why People Hold Meetings;
1. To look like we are organized
2. To shared the blame
3. In order to look important
4. Get someone else to do the work
5. Avoid work
6. Build self worth
7. To cover our lack of knowledge
8. To get new ideas that we can claim for ourselves
9. Think outside of the box
10. Find out where the box is
11. Why are we in a box?
The only good reason for a meeting… share (not tell)
May 12, 2010 at 8:09 am
Denise Wymore
Glenn,
I worked for an organization that had three levels of management. And weekly meetings that included each level. Which means the top level attended all three meetings. The SVPs’ job was to sit in meetings. Period. They had so many meetings they all went to the Franklin Covey institute to learn how to keep track of their meetings (before technology was readily available).
Nothing ever got accomplished in these meetings. I grew to hate and resent them because they kept me from working. So one day I boycotted. Just didn’t show up. I didn’t tell anyone, just kept on working. The next meeting, tried it again. Finally my boss came in and said “Why weren’t you in the weekly meeting?” I replied, “Oh, did I miss something important?” She just looked at me…..blink, blink……….
I’m just sayin’………
Thank you for the kind words about my meetings. I like to remind the coordinators that they are PAYING me to fly in and be with them – so let’s have a purpose.
May 12, 2010 at 10:16 pm
The Late Stork
Brilliant Glenn!! Thanks for the info on how to have productive meetings too
May 12, 2010 at 9:01 am
slamdunk
Great post topic and your #4 is golden.
May 12, 2010 at 9:20 am
Dbkayanda
I love your line: “when I come to town, we’re going to meet.” Me, too — and that’s a pretty heavy responsibility. Especially since, most of the time, my client has paid to fly some of their staff members there, too.
A habit I borrowed from a client is to ask quickly, in so many words, what would make this meeting a good one for people, and what would make it useless. This helps me as a facilitator, of course, but the important part is that everyone thinks through their goals, and–having spoken them out loud–takes responsibility for making them happen.
To your other point, a behavior I admire and try to model is stopping the meeting when we’re done, whenever that happens to be. (And sometimes it’s ten minutes. That’s a good thing.) It’s amazing how afraid people are to do this!
May 12, 2010 at 9:30 am
CU_Ninja
Oh Denise, I could kiss you about right now. Great post, loved it!
May 12, 2010 at 9:49 am
Gary Doyle
Any more than three people and it’s no longer a meeting, it’s a party. At that point, people are looking to be entertained and the purpose of the meeting is no longer relevant. The agenda needs to avoid phrases like “discuss” and instead use “decide between x and y” and have a decision made by the time the meeting ends. Any other discussions can be accomplished via other mediums (i.e. email).
May 12, 2010 at 9:53 am
Denise Wymore
Gary,
That’s good stuff.
I’m a big believer in avoiding the “planning to plan” meeting. I’ve been in meetings where someone will ask “How many X’s do we need to complete this project?” Nobody knows. I’ll say “Can we find out now? Right now so we don’t have to table it for the next meeting?”
I mean that information is in the building, it just happens to not be in the meeting room, so someone has to leave the safety of the room to get it. Whew. Check that one off the list. I like doing.
May 12, 2010 at 9:51 am
Dbkayanda
@Glenn: you’re right and there are good reasons to be cynical and depressed about the state of meetings. But there’s nothing like them when they’re done right! Good meeting are the best way to:
1. Invent something new, drawing on the experience and insight of many people at once
2. Figure out how to work together to accomplish a shared goal
3. Eliminate misunderstandings or tacit disagreements that are blocking forward progress
4. Gain real alignment to a shared vision
5. Have fun as a team
(Yes, meetings should be fun. If you’re doing any of items 1-4, and the stuff that you’re working on matters, and you have good engaged people in the room, they almost can’t help but being fun and very satisfying.)
Hold the kind of meetings you’d like to attend! 🙂
Best,
dbk
May 12, 2010 at 9:57 am
thecodger
Good advice, Denise! I’m craving a good cup of coffee right now, so maybe I’ll call a Codger family meeting just so I have excuse to make one.
May 12, 2010 at 10:22 am
Ava Milosevich
I believe in productive meetings – ones where you come away knowing that your time was well spent. If it’s a “presentation” meeting – that’s the agenda, otherwise it is about the result we want for the time we spend. Once stated, then stay on track! Stop 5 minutes before the end to summarize so everyone knows what didn’t work, worked well, what was accomplished by the time together and the action to be taken. It’s surprising that many times people walk away not knowing what’s happening next (on the subject) and/or who’s responsibility it is to be in action from the discussions/decisions. Ava, Partnering for Greatness
May 12, 2010 at 10:45 am
Denise Wymore
Ava,
I agree. I do love the end of the meeting summary. And knowing that you HAVE to do that keeps people on track I think. Thanks for your comment!
May 12, 2010 at 10:38 am
Breland Kent
What a great blog, thanks for sharing! 🙂
May 12, 2010 at 11:08 am
middleagedplague
Denise:
If meetings were run along the lines of your most helpful list, then people wouldn’t groan about them.
I have often thought it amusing how shows like The Office, while farcical, mirror so much of today’s Cubicle World — do management people never watch these shows? Or if they do, are they truly as clueless as the characters portrayed?
May 12, 2010 at 11:27 am
Tim McAlpine
Great post Denise. One concept that I would love to try: make each meeting attendee chug a gallon of water at the start of the meeting. First to get up and “go” means the meeting is done!
May 12, 2010 at 11:31 am
Denise Wymore
That’s brilliant and good for your colon.
May 12, 2010 at 11:50 am
melaniebooth
I would like to add to #2 — Meetings should have actual outcomes, not just an agenda (which could be topical). In other words: What should we leave this meeting having accomplished?
Along these lines, if the result of a meeting is to have another meeting, that’s a sign of a poorly designed agenda / outcome or a failed meeting.
Another practice, which supports #4: Have a meeting standing up (if all members are able to). This will cut the meeting time in half, easily!
Love #3!
Thanks for the post!
May 12, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Kris
Thanks for your post. I have sat through many a meaningless meeting in my life. they do serve a purpose- and are important for team cohesivness and morale- but you are right- well PLANNED meetings are the key. Many times I have had to suffer through presentation after presentation on issues that do not really even concern me or what my team works on…
May 12, 2010 at 1:20 pm
Denise
Personally, I’ve come to hate meetings. Why? Because most of the meetings I’ve joined are too long, could have been done through email or IM, and a waste of time.
One company I joined was run locally. We had meetings full of dead air, idle talk, and gossip. We didn’t really accomplish much during these meetings. For me, it was time to avoid work.
The current company I’m working for is run my foreigners. We basically give our progress reports, which can actually be done through email. It’s a waste of 1.5 hours. I also use these meetings to avoid work. And to sleep. Because we do it via internet and use a webcam. If the cam is not on me, I sleep or close my eyes.
I hate how these companies talk about being competitive and being a leader in their field. But I wonder why they can’t conduct productive, short meetings….. They seem to like wasting time. O.o
These are just my observations. (And the companies still have their positive attributes.)
May 12, 2010 at 1:46 pm
Cheryl McNulty
I’ll have to give this one to my husband….right after his meeting! 🙂
May 12, 2010 at 2:00 pm
GraceKay
Great post. How about those individuals who either show up late for your meeting or don’t bother showing up at all.
Incentives work well too!
May 12, 2010 at 2:48 pm
Richard
Is there also something useful around meeting time? We have an 8 o’clock Monday meeting for the company I work – while it is annoying having to be in so early it does mean that people have not started their other work for the week allowing total focus on this meeting.
May 12, 2010 at 3:00 pm
dbkayanda
You guys would be so proud of me. I just facilitated a meeting which started on time, had clear objectives, and ended in 43 minutes once our objectives were complete…
I think it was even fun.
May 12, 2010 at 3:34 pm
Denise Wymore
Hey DB,
I am very proud. What did you do with those extra 17 minutes?
May 12, 2010 at 4:23 pm
Dbkayanda
Denise –
The 17 minutes were a great boost to my personal productivity! I commented on three blog posts, updated my Facebook status, and watched a video of cats that three friends had recommended!
No, seriously, I rescued my kid from study hall earlier than I thought I could, beat feet home, and I hope I’ll get dinner on the table before 8:30. And it’s all because of your post! 🙂
I have to say I’m impressed by the passion this topic has evoked. Let’s really meet well. And I call on all the people on this thread to hold meeting facilitators accountable for using their time well (politely and helpfully, of course.) If it’s not clear who called the meeting and who is responsible for leading it, then cancel it until someone cares enough to responsibility (and then hold them accountable.) –David
May 12, 2010 at 3:12 pm
Joshua
In education, faculty meetings are the devil.
I can see these being equally as pointless in the business world, but when you work in a field where much of your non-class time is spent planning lessons and working individually, meetings can drain the life out of any teacher. Which is sad.
Thanks for the post – I wish my administrators realized that they can just email important items to us.
One thing that I’ve noticed also is that meetings seem to tell the people underneath the manager/administrator/whatever that the employees aren’t trusted. I honestly believe that from my admin., which is a horrible position to be in as a school.
May 12, 2010 at 6:38 pm
florida web design
I need to have a meeting now. Wait… I don’t have any employees 🙂
May 12, 2010 at 7:05 pm
Manish Chaturvedi
A lot on the futility of meetings has been said, but I still could not resist my self from congratulating Denise (i) on her comments about the criminal waste of time that these pointless meetings are and (ii) to make it to Freshly Pressed.
Excellent post… keep on the good work
May 12, 2010 at 8:58 pm
slowoodworker
Number 1 got to me. I work in a concrete block wall building (with tin roof & front wall) and cement floor. All lighting is fluorescent. No wonder I have problems creating!!
As a self employed woodworker, I don’t have to worry about meetings. Lucky me. But lucky you too. Keep in mind that as you sit there twiddling your thumbs, you’re still getting paid the big bucks.
Maybe I could switch to candle light…, Cover the floor with sawdust to soften the concrete — oh, wait, it already is covered with sawdust. Fire Marshal might not be to happy with me either.
Good post. Enjoyable read.
May 12, 2010 at 9:00 pm
slowoodworker
(Sorry! that should be “too happy”)
May 12, 2010 at 9:20 pm
decidida74
I would even go as far to say as check your phone at the door. I know I have sat through many messages while sending emails and checking texts that I received.
May 13, 2010 at 1:11 am
Pujitha Krishnan
And this is the reason I cringe and avoid setting up meetings as far as possible. Love email and use it as much as possible to avoid meetings. It’s also frustrating to call a meeting and run it practically by yourself. Wake up and contribute, people!
May 13, 2010 at 1:44 am
melanirae
How right you are about the powdered cream.
You would HATE Sweden:
Some people believe that the sole purpose of a meeting is to produce decisions. Swedes, on the other hand, hold meetings to find out whether or not they are at the meeting to decide when the meeting will be to decide when they will meet to talk about what happened at their meeting.
Consensus process
Swedish meetings are short but many. They are arranged to give Bengan, Maggan and Lasse a chance to say what they think. If you want to reach a decision, you’ll have to arrange another meeting because in the meantime Bengan, Maggan and Lasse have to go back to the office and ask Ninni, Kicki and Titti (yes, there are girls of that name) what they think.
In Swedish this is called förankringsprocessen, the consensus process. If Swedes mention the word “process” you’d better not be in a hurry. There’s a process for everything. This one means getting everybody involved in everything.
Everyone voices an opinion and everyone listens. Then they compromise. The word compromise is music to a Swede’s ears. Everybody gets something. Not too much and not too little, but lagom. Nobody wins and nobody loses. They may agree to disagree, but what they will agree on is the exact time and date of the next meeting.
Decision time
Swedes rarely say yes or no. This means that instead of saying ja or nej they say nja which means “yes-but-no-but-yes-but.” You see, saying “yes” or “no” can lead to conflict, so Swedes avoid these words and replace them with “it depends,” “maybe” and “I’ll see what I can do.”
Foreigners may get heated, irritated or even angry. In Swedish business life this is called hysterical behavior. Hysteria is abnormal and uncomfortable and should preferably not occur during office hours.
You may wonder how on earth they ever make a decision. Swedish business people themselves have sometimes called this beslutsimpotens, which, I suppose, means not having the balls to decide one way or another.
Someone once said that if the Swedes gave up their fika, coffee breaks, they could retire five years earlier. Coffee is an integral part of any meeting, either as an on-going self-service affair during the discussions or as a separate break. The coffee break is not to be confused with the briefer, more frequent leg-stretcher, or “bone-stretcher” — the Swedish word for leg and bone is the same.
May 13, 2010 at 2:49 am
sifegogreen
This is an issue that we have brought up in our Meetings!
That there has to be a goal of each meeting!
Otherwise it is just time that flies by!
May 13, 2010 at 3:01 am
rethinkyourstrategy
Thanks for posting.
I actually think the problem is much broader than just meetings, but meetings are the most prevalent example/symptom of the same issue. In my opinion, business productivity and ‘group think’ overall is pretty inefficient and restricted. If you wanted a solution to a complex problem, would you sit the person down and ask them to start reeling off ideas? Great ideas don’t come in a meeting, they happen in the shower, in the car, the supermarket…. and they certainly don’t come when you’re sitting in a cold room with a death-by-powerpoint presentation glaring you in the face, and a bright white pad of lined paper waiting for you to bullet point your strokes of genius in an orderly fashion! 🙂
The best ideas come in a free thinking environment, preferably where there is wine present and people around you who you know already love the way you think.
We should also stop trying to immediately structure our creativity before it’s even made it out of our heads, or the creative thinking bottle-necks. People think in feelings, senses, images, whole ideas…. not bullet points.
Better yet, if you have a personal interest in solving the problem, you’ll think about it 24/7 and talk to everyone you know about it, until it’s solved. I could rave on forever about the psychology of task ownership!
Having said all this, I actually love meetings because it’s logistically easier to table everything in one sitting than to try and inform everyone separately! I also love voicemail for the same reason, it’s like open slather, no interruptions! 🙂
Seriously though, meeting organisers need to get way more creative about how they run meetings, and how they get staff to emotionally invest themselves in a task or problem. And this is especially hard in a group; the most passive mental state there is!
This is what I reckon:
1. Have fun. Chuck out the pens, bring in textas, magazines to cut bits out from, books, internet access, guest speakers and even someone to speak from the consumer/end user perspective.
2. Tackle the problem in unconventional ways – turn it inside out, upside down, reverse it, twist it, wring it out, cut it up, remould it…
3. Split into teams and each draw the problem – draw the current situation in cartoon form – a representation of the problem from a birds eye view. Maybe in flow format. Then draw how you want things to be, how you visualise it being. Then figure out how to get from the first picture to the second. Spend a long time doing it, and analyse what comes back as a group.
3. Throw in every single creative solution or idea, no matter how crazy or impossible it seems…. list hundreds if need be
4. Pick the feasible ones and provide rationale
5. Execute.
I guarantee you will have just produced hundreds more ideas and pushed the boundaries 10 times farther than any meeting you’ve ever had……
This is where I get all my creative thinking inspiration from: http://www.fuzz2buzz.com/ (an ex-lecturer’s site)
Enjoy!
Olivia
May 13, 2010 at 4:44 am
CU Water Cooler » Blog Archive » CU Water Cooler 5/13
[…] • Why do we have meetings? « The 2020 Vision of Marketing […]
May 13, 2010 at 4:56 am
Jan Wencel
The blow horn is an interesting idea. You could use it to make meetings more fun and to create social pressures…say clank a noise maker when someone shows up late and call it the tardy sound.
May 13, 2010 at 5:42 am
theanonymousblog00
i love meetings, i was recently involved in a committee to foster interdepartmental cooperation ( thank you for tasking this to me boss ). you know what our decision was? have each department have an additional meeting to come up with ideas which will be presented to the committee on indertdepblah blah blah. and then once we come up with ‘findings’ each department will have a follow up meeting. then jesus christ himself with do a sing along with us and we will never have a problem again.
are meetings the answer to anything? i just became obligated to three additional mind numbing time suckers because accounting and janitorial services cant share pens.
you know where the best place is to build on teamwork? a bar after work
May 13, 2010 at 5:50 am
Jack Matthews
I teach. Committee work can go on and on and on. Your suggestions are quite valuable. Agenda, cut meeting in half. And, yes, emphatically, to cutting off the cell phone stuff. The addicts will then be motivated to get the meeting over with so they can ipod the Matrix or whatever the heck they do on those things. Good post!
May 13, 2010 at 6:33 am
writeway73
Crackberries…I love it!
May 13, 2010 at 7:40 am
Brian Wringer
The example above of the Swedish consensus-building style makes a good point — this type of razor-sharp focus and firm, delegated decision-making is VERY American.
Personally, I agree wholeheartedly — no meeting at all is almost always best, and if you really do have to meet, make it fast and action-packed. Decide, do, and dash.
But most other cultures don’t work this way, and even when working with other Americans, you have to take into account cultural differences so you don’t appear to be rude. For example, there are several cultures where you simply NEVER say “no” under any circumstances. Until you figure this out, confusion and frustration will reign.
Depending on who you’re talking to, many people need quite a bit of socializing before you get down to business. Some people can dive right in from word one without offense, and some take several hours of sipping tea or coffee.
We Americans also love to delegate — sometimes the amount of authority given to subordinates is shocking to other cultures.
May 13, 2010 at 12:11 pm
theteacher174
“6. Ban all Crackberries, iPhones, Droids, distractions. If the meeting is not important enough for you to turn off your email – you don’t need to have the meeting.
I’m just sayin’
”
What about for those of us stuck in your evil meetings? We need entertainment. I work in education and, let me tell you, never have I seen more useless meetings than in education.
May 13, 2010 at 1:36 pm
Glenn Coble
Nobody will read this reply because there are 45 posts ahead of me… Does that not say it all. I bet none of the posts are from a President or CEO
May 14, 2010 at 1:23 am
misplacedperson
My top tip: hold your meeting on the terrace outside a mountain restaurant. Good lighting, excellent refreshments, and you have to finish before everyone gets too cold. (Caveat – may pose logistical challenges unless you work for a ski tour operator.)
May 14, 2010 at 5:49 am
Thomas Bowen
Powdered cream and really bad coffee and hard conference room chairs says that “we really, really, really hate you and do not value what you have to say…”
Glenn…I read your post 🙂
May 14, 2010 at 10:29 am
Bill
You are right on about soul sucking fluorescent lights. Meetings in interior rooms (i.e., rooms without windows to the outside) sucks. Thanks for the post. You Rock!
May 14, 2010 at 1:25 pm
Glenn Coble
I have saved this entire blog reply. I will use it the next time I am told how important meetings and planning sessions are for the furtherment of our mission vision and focus. If you read your replies, Denise, you may commit hare kare (or however it is spelled). It is obvious there is no need for your expertees… the people who make the decisions ignore your wisdom and the people who do the work have no control.
May 15, 2010 at 5:41 pm
eastofeton
We used to have an all supervisor meeting, years ago. My manager thought it was necessary for all of us to be seen face to face even if we knew all the information being passed that day. We also knew that since he (the manager) was a meticulious, by the book, thorough guy, we’d be there a lot longer than the hour allotted. So we decided to have food bought and brought in to at least be doing something other than being bored silly. Yes, I do know that most meetings in the corporate world are catered. However we were a security company, and all the food bought came out of our pockets. I do think that the person conducting the meeting ultimately makes or breaks the event. Sometimes I think there should be a critique or survey done at the end of these things to let the person know just how good or bad they did.
May 16, 2010 at 7:13 am
Denise Wymore
What a great idea. As a public speaker we have no choice- those evaluations come out when we’re done and we live and die buy what the audience thinks. Why would that not be the same of a meeting?
Love it.
May 16, 2010 at 9:18 am
dbkayanda
Denise – three of my clients routinely do this at the end of long meetings: grade the meeting, mention what went well, and what to do differently next time. It’s real and not just happy-talk: the process seems to have real integrity. As a facilitator, it’s a little terrifying, but really useful.
May 16, 2010 at 9:48 am
unforgiven
This blog is very good. Thanks for this. I will bookmark this page.
May 16, 2010 at 11:00 am
ondiluss
Just want to say what a great blog you got here!
I’ve been around for quite a lot of time, but finally decided to show my appreciation of your work!
Thumbs up, and keep it going!
Cheers
May 7, 2015 at 8:08 am
The Next Chapter | The 2020 Vision of Marketing
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