The First question you should always be asking before setting up a meeting is do I need a meeting to accomplish my goals. This should be followed by do i have a pre-planned agenda and can I include all and only all of the right people needed to be successful. The graphic below demonstrates that the cost of an average meeting $338 per avg salary person per hour you can’t afford to go into a meeting unprepared or you will be wasting everyone’s time and your companies dime. Meetings are probably one of the most expensive overhead costs within any organization, and many are considered ineffective. Even today with the myriad of remote video conferencing and remote collaboration options it is still the consensus within many organizations that collaboration is only synonymous with holding meetings.
The hot term today is collaboration and for good reason, but the timeliness is perfect as more and more of our workforce are working in isolated offices at home and on the go. The average phone, tablet, laptop or any device for that matter can turn any office or Starbucks into a fully functional board room or simple collaboration room for a quick Zoom video conference instead of a meeting. With the many communication options available in today’s office including e-mail, VPN, instant messaging, Zoom, Cisco Webex, Lync, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and I could go on is there any reason the popular smaller group conversations in huddle rooms and 2-3 person video conference are becoming the preferred method of collaboration and problem solving for teams and employees today. If traditional meetings aren’t worth the cost then what is the alternative? I think 2020 made it clear Video Conferencing and team collaboration software is the new meeting and companies like Zoom, Cisco, Google and Microsoft and the rest of the players all seem to agree, Video Conferencing is here to stay in both the public and private sectors for the foreseeable future.
The bottom line is that meetings are a major part of work life, so why is no one doing anything to fix them? Meetings are a major investment of time and money, and they should be prioritized accordingly for employers and employees alike.
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