Suddenly Virtual

CHAPTER 3Best Practices for Meetings Before COVID‐19: The Meeting Scientist Perspective

“Hooray, I get to go to another meeting!”

Those words were likely never said by anyone. Rather, communal griping about meetings has been a feature of the corporate landscape since long before COVID‐19. Prior to the pandemic, meetings in all their forms were common. More than 55 million meetings are held each day in the United States (Keith 2015). While the typical employee spends around six hours a week in meetings, the burden on managers is exponentially larger. Managers in larger organizations spend approximately 23 hours a week in meetings, and many spend up to 80% of their time in meetings or on meeting‐related activities (Rogelberg, Scott, and Kello 2007).

With that much time spent in meetings, you have to wonder why we have not spent time improving them – or at least making meetings more tolerable. One possible answer can be found in the academic literature on meeting science: widespread inefficiency in workplace meetings. Current estimates indicate that upwards of half of all meetings are rated as “poor” by attendees. Not satisfactory. Not “okay.” Poor. And this isn't just a qualitative problem. Further estimates suggest that organizations are wasting approximately $213 billion per year on ineffective, suboptimal, and/or poor meetings (Keith 2015). That's billion – with a “b.”

In this chapter, we will explore:

• Some of the reasons we collectively do not enjoy most meetings.
• Best ...