[bizi]

I hope you are able to rest enough to go to scholl tomorrow.
long a $$ meeting!
bizi

[waves]

Yuck about that meeting!

In one job I had, upper management felt that weekly meetings were "useless" and instead scheduled all-day meetings "as needed". These were even more useless, not to mention infuriating.

I find that anything over a half hour gets boring. After an hour, I usually start wanting to pull hair out, poke eyes out, scream, jump up and down, shred every document in the room and do other inappropriate things....

2.5 hours is way overkill.

I hope you get good rest and feel better by tomorrow.

waves

[Mari]

Originally Posted by waves

2.5 hours is way overkill.

I hope you get good rest and feel better by tomorrow.

waves

Exactly.

I did not need to be there.
We should have had the agenda emailed to us ahead of time.
We should have started exactly on time.

Agenda items should have been divided up before hand and small groups could have met earlier.
Or , better, done the whole thing over email.
Getting details worked out can be done in phone conferences also. . . . Discussing bs and going off on tangents that will not end in good places --- bad meeting practice.
Worse, this was old stuff from months ago, still unsettled and still boring.

I think a good meeting is where everyone needs to be there to help make decisions or vote.
Also, the leader should end the meeting with a summary of sorts so we leave feeling clear about what was accomplished.
Also, when I used to be in a position that required me to call meetings, I never never let folks get side tracked for more than 30 seconds. We stayed on track and were done in the time established on the agenda --- no freeeeking open ended time.

Yes, I was time nazi when I ran meetings.
We usually had one or two clear tasks communicated ahead of time via agenda on email, met and talked about that task, concluded the task, and left satisfied that something had been accomplished.
(People did naturally want to go off task but I told them to save that for another meeting and no one ever wanted another meeting).

This worked BECAUSE most people came to the meeting prepared. In other words, meeting time was sacred. We were respectful about the shared sacrifice of time and space.

M

[waves]

Originally Posted by Mari

I think a good meeting is where everyone needs to be there to help make decisions or vote.

Yep. Detailed stuff is more "group activity" and should be treated as work not meeting material... with a number of collaboration means available, including phone exchanges, asynchronous exchanges (voice or email), etc.

Also, the leader should end the meeting with a summary of sorts so we leave feeling clear about what was accomplished.

Yep, in the workplace I found to have the best planned meetings, there was a format and an agenda for any given meeting, both introduced at the start. The leader maintained the format, kept people on topic, and kept things paced. Conference rooms were booked for 30 mins or 1 hour and we never went past. Meetings always ended with the leader (or someone) recapping action items and their assignees. Sometimes a deadline recap was done. The recaps took seconds and were very useful.

Short meetings (5-15 mins) were sometimes held, even impromptu, to address issues of narrow scope. Narrow scope usually meant fewer people and great efficiency. Having these left less potential for "drag" on the more general meetings.

This worked BECAUSE most people came to the meeting prepared. In other words, meeting time was sacred. We were respectful about the shared sacrifice of time and space.

It helps when people join a group that already does meetings the right way... people learn the right habits, and perpetuate them. I've worked with people who were never exposed to a "good" (productive) meeting.

waves

[TBI/PTSD]

Who in their right mind has a meeting from 1530 to 1800? When I was 100%well I couldn't hang for that! You are a super star!

[waves]

Hi Mari,

Just popping in to see how you are doing?

I hope you had a peaceful weekend.

waves

[Mari]

Ignatius the Iguana: picture 1


Ignatius: picture 2


I encountered Ignatius when I stepped outside the building to get some air. He was finishing off lunch from a take out chicken place that someone had dropped for him.
He was not happy about my taking pictures and slowly moved toward the sunny water and grass where he lives with others.

M

[ginnie]

That is one big boy. Loved seeing him. My son had one when he was a child. Wound up in St.Louis Zoo, he was too big to handle! He also got mean. Hope this big boy has a nice disposition. ginnie

[Mari]

Originally Posted by ginnie

That is one big boy. Loved seeing him. My son had one when he was a child. Wound up in St.Louis Zoo, he was too big to handle! He also got mean. Hope this big boy has a nice disposition. ginnie

Ginnie,

He seemed pleasant but I did not spend enough time with him to find out otherwise.

M

[bizi]

he was just loose? not with anybody?
these guys roam freely? we have little lizards 3-5 inches but this guy wins hands down biggest lizard, I think I would have been afraid of him.
bizi