How to handle the “Meeting Killers”

1 Comment

1. 

   enzzzoo

   25/07/2012 at 4:25 pm

   Hit the nail on the head with this article. Everything discussed is typical of nearly every meeting I’ve been in. Fortunately I’ve only attended a few assemblies where I’ve come across all the profiles mentioned; needless to say, they were nightmares.

   I especially like the idea of using tricks and props to help in keeping the discussion speedily on track; up to this point my only thoughts were more along the lines of using a baseball bat…desperate times require desperate measures. 😉

   I’d just like to add a few other profiles missing from the article that I’ve seen in meetings:

   – “The Sleeper” – I’ve seen people literally fall asleep without anyone noticing. This just shows how badly some meeting are organised. If that person’s interaction was not needed why were they invited to be there in the first place.

   – “The Unprepared” – This profile is the most prolific in my meetings. I spend hours preparing explanatory documentation and statistics, colourful graphs and flowcharts, all emailed or handed out as much in advance of the meeting as I can only to find people turn up completely empty-handed. Often they won’t even have pen and paper with them. The killer question all these people ask is “so then, what is this meeting about?”. Talk about putting a downer on the proceedings…now where did I put the baseball bat again!?!

   – “The Latecomer” – This should be plural because it seems to be the rule rather than the exception. So much time is wasted with people trickling into the meeting after it begins. The worst part is having to start all over again every time because, you guessed it, they are also members of the above mentioned “Unprepared Crew”.

   – “The 3 Monkeys” – These are the worst, they see, hear and speak no evil. Opposed to the more dangerous profiles listed in the article I think these types are the real time and space wasters. At least the other categories may have an opinion, good or bad as it may be but these primordial relics slow down discussions, add absolutely nothing constructive and afterwards can’t remember anything relating to the discussion. If you’re really unlucky then these people also end up being your superiors/decision makers…Big, Big, Sigh.

   In the end I don’t see many solutions to the problem of Meeting Killers. All I can suggest is to be prepared for the worse and be armed with a lot of patience…and maybe keep that baseball bat in the closet…just in case. 😉