It’s a good question. And often we get it wrong.
One new start up – MEETorDIE – shows you just how wrong by quantifying the time wasted in your meeting.
MEETorDIE allows you to enter information about your meeting, including what company you work for, what industry you’re in, how big the company is, how long the meeting is, and who is attending.
Goolah, the MEETorDIE mascot, then shows you how much money your company is wasting on meetings by pulling data from various databases, and suggests how the money being wasted might be better spent through charitable giving.
Now, as a ardent believer in collaboration technology (never bash anything that lets you work from home) MEETorDIE is a hit to my ‘love meetings’ ego. But I have to admit – they’re right. Meetings are often too long, but even worse, unproductive.
A recent article in Ad Age gets to the heart of the matter. But I’d argue that it’s not meeting length that bothers most people, but the feeling that it was time wasted.
Japan-based company, Pecha Kucha, offers an interesting solution. Originating as a night in Tokyo for young designers to gather and share, Pecha Kucha is based on a simple idea: 20 images (or slides) x 20 seconds. It’s a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace.
I believe running effective, productive meetings is everyone’s end goal. If a meeting is two hours, I don’t mind as long as it is two hours well spent. But it’s no coincidence that brevity and effectiveness go hand in hand when it comes to meetings. Think about your personal conversations – how often are you on the phone for more than 30 minutes? More than 15 minutes?
Take a look at your calendar and ask yourself these questions to keep Goolah off your back:
1. Why are you meeting?
2. What are your opinions on any agenda items?
3. What action items do you anticipate will come out of the meeting?
Answering these questions before you meet doesn’t take more than 5 minutes in most cases, allows you to take control of the discussion, and can save you over 30 minutes of unproductive chatter, tangents, and derailments.
