Lucid Meetings Blog

Recently we hosted two online parties where we invited folks to join us in creating a big list of Tip-Top Top Tips for Smarter Meetings. The whole event was an experiment. We wondered:

• Would it work to combine all these different meeting techniques?
• How much real value could a group of random strangers create within an hour?
• Would anyone find this interesting enough to show up?

Much to my great surprise, we were joined by nearly 80 people over the two sessions. The techniques we practiced worked better the second time through, which is a testament to the value of practice. And it turns out that interested, engaged people can quickly create a lot of value when given the opportunity and structure.

We've all experienced the power of storytelling. A great story can inspire and move us in ways that spreadsheets or presentations full of bulleted lists never will.

We are wired to learn from stories. And yet, only a few rare leaders regularly tell stories in meetings. Most leaders limit themselves to dry information sharing and opinion statements, holding to a mistaken belief that storytelling is somehow unprofessional. But unlike most reports, a good story communicates both data and meaning simultaneously, which makes stories more efficient and effective. 

Meetings, Manners, and Civilization: The Development of Modern Meeting Behaviour, written by sociologist and meeting expert Wilbert Van Vree, was originally published in 1999, but I just finished it this March. Of the five meeting books I read this spring, this was by far the most thought-provoking, so I asked Dr. Van Vree if he'd be willing to discuss it with us here on the Lucid blog. He agreed!

More than half of a middle manager’s day is spent in meetings and $37 billion dollars is the very high figure for revenue lost annually due to the time being spent in unproductive meetings.

In fact, in the United States alone, 25 million meetings take place every single day. 

Quick note: the Lucid team's research suggests that the real number is even higher than this! See our numbers here. Regardless of the specific numbers you choose, we agree that there are a LOT of meetings out there that can benefit from these tips.

This figure is now double the volume of meetings that were taking place back in 1999.

Why the large volume of unproductive meetings? It may be due to the lack of planning skills on the part of the organizer and the ability to manage timekeeping once the meeting begins.

The reality is that an effective business meeting should only include those who are absolutely necessary to be included and should go on for no longer than the allocated time.

An agenda should always be prepared and the main goal for any effective meeting is to stick to the agenda and not divert from it.

When it comes to meeting innovations, the world now looks to Scandinavia to lead when it comes to the development of meeting venue concepts, technology and meeting room design.

Outside of this, virtual meetings have taken hold and have shown strong promise in advancing the industry at large with 75% of high-growth businesses using video-enabled collaboration solutions and reporting a 30% faster decision-making experience as a result.

For an illustrated look at the meetings industry, see the below infographic created by the Sheraton Athlone Hotel:

As I was researching how different teams run daily stand-ups, I ran across Jason Yip's description of how he uses music to gather the team. This is not the first time I've that come across techniques that use songs for meetings.

Related: Our Favorite Short Videos about Meetings & Teamwork

For those of you looking to add a bit of zip to your meetings, and those who just want a funky playlist in your collection, we offer this selection of thematically excellent tunes. Enjoy!

Better meetings - it’s a big freaking topic. Better how? For what reason? What exactly do we need to make better here anyway?

When you tackle a big challenge like improving your company’s meetings, it helps to look at the problem from different perspectives – to back up and consider the big picture, then learn specific techniques you can put to work now.

Ok - I know I promised I'd write next about how to calculate the costs of time spent in meetings, but I felt this needed to be said before it was too late.

Dear Chip Kelly and the Oregon Ducks Rose Bowl Champion Football Team,

Thank you for helping me finally understand American football.

I'm not a natural sports fan. I enjoy playing ultimate frisbee, because I get to run around and can sometimes get my dog on my team. I like watching soccer games, but mostly because I live in Portland where the beer is good and the Timber's Army keeps us entertained. But football... meh.