On Meetings
Thoughts on Company Gatherings of Many Kinds
What is this for?
Or, more specifically, who is this for?
Would it be better sent as a memo or an email? I’m 10,000% certain I can read faster than you can present, so wouldn’t that save us all a lot of time?
If the point of this meeting is for the person in charge to exert their influence (again) over the preceedings, is it actually serving anyone?
There are three kinds of meetings: conversational, informative and decisive.
If your meeting is meant to be a conversation (also known as a brain-storming session, amongst other management consulting buzzwords), it makes sense for everyone to have the time to think about the topic beforehand. Very few good ideas happen in the 5 minutes after the problem is presented. Paraphrasing Charlie Munger, you need enough time to develop an opinion about a topic, and in order for the group to gain something by mashing your ideas together, you need to have an idea first.
If your meeting is meant to be informative, make sure everyone knows the topic, and send follow-up points. People will forget the details of what you’re telling them, especially if the information is so critical and nuanced it can’t be captured in a simple, shareable document. Most informative meetings should be emails anyways.
If your meeting is meant to be a decisive one (ie a pitch, a deal, a transactional event), everyone around the table should be well aware of the problems at hand and what the options are. Being informed is the first step to making valuable decisions, and as humans we are very seldom as informed as we could be (at least on the first try), so ensuring everyone has access to the same information is vital. Evidence is half of the equation of making a decision.
Some more questions to ask:
What is meant to be the outcome of this meeting? Are we getting any closer to that?
Is everyone prepared? If not, is there any value to us all being here?
Is this the most valuable use of our time?
And does anyone get anything from one person presenting at the front of the room?
And do we ever really need PowerPoint?
A bit about me…
I’m Brendan (hey!) and I’m the OEM Hardware Lead at Mosaic Manufacturing where we are building awesome 3D Printing Tech.
In my spare time, you can find me kicking a soccer ball, drinking Americanos, adding to my cookbook collection, and repping Venture for Canada.
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I write here and over at Common Notes.
