How to survive a boring meeting

1. Here are some of the tried and tested ways of keeping your sanity and avoiding falling asleep during the sort of meeting you wouldn’t wish on your worst friend. Choose the most interesting variant and add one of your own.

1. Start a lottery for the time the meeting will finish.

2. Write a shopping list for the next 6 months.

3. Catch up on all your correspondence – remember to look up occasionally.

4. Photocopy the next 50 pages of the novel you are reading and put them between the pages of a report.

5. Fantasize about what absent members are doing.

6. Draw caricatures of the members you hate.

7. Note one of the favourite phrases of the chairman or any other speaker and count how many times he uses it.

8. Send a note to someone who came late, saying “Pity you were not here to defend yourself”.

2. Some companies have developed novel ways to keep meetings effective. Look at the picture. Decide what would happen if these ideas were implemented in your company.

a. People at brainstorming meetings are armed with water pistols. Criticizing brainstorms is strictly forbidden and those who can’t resist their critical impulses get squired; other companies use Nerf balls for offenders.

b. An agenda is sent out for meetings, with item number one: ‘Three ideas from each person about improving work, saving money, or making money.’

c. Group members all have computers at meetings and ideas are projected onto a screen; people see themselves being heard. Other companies use anonymity to solicit thoughts, and find that public comments and anonymous comments can differ greatly, for example, forecasts of when a product might be delivered.

Now listen to three extracts from business people discussing what would happen if the ideas above were introduced into their companies. Match the extracts with the ideas.

Time, place and preparation will affect the success of a meeting. Choose the best and worst scenarios from the options below.

Time to have a meeting · soon after you arrive at work · mid-late morning · after lunch · late afternoon	Number of participants · two · three to six · seven plus	Place to have a meeting · own office · colleague’s office · boss’s office · meeting room · hotel lobby · café/restaurant · conference hall
Order for agenda · small items first, big items later · Big items first, small items later		Day to have a meeting · Monday · Tuesday · Wednesday · Thursday · Friday
Place to sit at a rectangular meeting table · at one of the ends · near the most important people · in the middle · near one of the ends	Table · round · regular	Agenda · distributed in advance · formally announced at the beginning of a meeting · improvised during the meeting

What would you do in the following situations? What should you do? Do the quiz alone first, then discuss your answers with other members of the group. Be honest!

Date: 2016-01-14; view: 1347