7 Outrageous Ways to Get People to Meetings on Time
by Mean Josephine
1. Start your meetings exactly on time. Close the door at start time. Become known for it.
2. Never insult those present by saying, “Where is everybody? Is Sarah coming? Call Brad.”
Start if you have only one other person present (I know, I know, that’s really hard).
3. Publish a concise agenda with internal start-and-end times for each item, as well as the time you’ll adjourn.
4. Cut your meeting allowance in half: schedule 30 minutes if you usually take an hour. See Parkinson’s Law.*
5. Place the "must-get-to" item last. This keeps you serious about sticking to your time budget.
6. Jump into your agenda after fewer than 20 seconds of small talk.
7. End before the scheduled time, and brag: "Congratulations, we finished early!"
*Parkinson’s Law: Work expands to fill the available time for its completion.
July 7th, 2010 at 6:02 am
I like th quick points. I’ve never heard the mayonnaise story. Can you post it or send it out?
July 7th, 2010 at 7:15 am
Thank you, Janis. Love this. Very helpful for our neighborhood meetings!
July 7th, 2010 at 8:01 am
The mayonnaise story:
Gary Larson’s hilarious cartoon showed a jar of mayo as a human being. He sat on a refrigerator shelf wearing a black burglar’s mask with his gun pulled. The caption: “Mayonnaise gone bad.”
October 4th, 2010 at 8:59 pm
Hi Janis,
I read this post just prior to the start of my new semester and #1 inspired me so I’ve been doing it in all of my classes now. Students get penalized for being late and counted as absent if they’re more than 10 minutes late so it’s important for them to be on time. As soon as the minute hits class time, I shut the doors and start calling attendance. I’ve definitely noticed a difference — students actually seem to be getting to class more on time than ever.
Thanks for this post which inspired me!
October 5th, 2010 at 11:55 am
You’ve performed a useful experiment, Professor Shawn!
October 5th, 2010 at 10:34 pm
Definitely, Janis. I used to kind of let students trickle in for the first few minutes before starting but not anymore! I arrive to class early so I can set up and start on the minute! I think it’s a great message to send to students. I’m not a time-waster and my time is valuable.