College to Career

20

How to Conduct Effective Meetings

20.1 Introduction

‘Meetings are things where minutes are kept and hours are lost’—so goes an old saying. When you join a job, you will discover that the amount of time you spend on attending meetings is quite significant and that it only keeps increasing as you grow in your career, potentially leading to different time management problems. As if this is not enough, you also have challenges thrown by globally distributed teams and the reality of virtual meetings via video conferences or audio-only conference calls. Because you were primarily a solo hunter at college (meeting your friends more for social purposes than to transact any business), you will find meetings to be a significant transition to deal with. ...