A class on why, and how, to improve the meeting culture in our Company. Includes theory, examples of bad and good meetings, and specific lists of your responsibilities as a meeting attendee and as a meeting organizer.

1. C R E AT I N G A M O R E E F F I C I E N T
A N D E F F E C T I V E M E E T I N G
C U LT U R E AT O U R C O M PA N Y
M A Y 2 8 , 2 0 1 9
B A R R E T T A . S T E E L E

2. A P R I L 1 9 , 2 0 2 0
P U R P O S E S O F T H I S P R E S E N T A T I O N
2
• To create agreement that a more efficient & effective meeting culture is needed
• To expose what is currently wrong
• To demonstrate alternative (better) opportunities
• To challenge Our Company to do things differently – for the good of All

3. P R E S E N T A T I O N C O N T E N T S
• Goals of this training module
• Issue we want to overcome
• The Common Good
• What do Bad Meetings look like?
• Poor Planning, Execution, Behavior
• What’s really going on in meetings?
• How bad can it get?
• Why have Good Meetings?
• What do Good Meetings look like?
• Other ideas for a better meeting culture
• Your responsibilities as an Invitee
• Your responsibilities as an Organizer
(aka, How to run a Good Meeting)
• Summary
A P R I L 1 9 , 2 0 2 0 3
Even hero teams
have meetings

4. A P R I L 1 9 , 2 0 2 0 4
W H A T I S T H E R E L A T E D I S S U E A T O U R C O M P A N Y ?
• A large portion of all of our working hours is spent in meetings, rather than
producing work results (outside of meetings)
• Arguably, an inappropriate amount of that meeting time is not used efficiently
• Therefore, our inefficient meetings are lowering Our Company’s productivity
• What have you experienced here or elsewhere in your career?
According to Dave Kashen, co-founder
and CEO of meeting app maker
WorkLife,"There are 3 billion
meetings a year in the United
States, and it is estimated that
50% of their time is wasted."
This is a tremendous loss for
businesses of all sizes in every
industry.

5. A P R I L 1 9 , 2 0 2 0 5
P O P Q U I Z !
You’re in the driver’s seat during rush hour.
You’re merging onto a crowded freeway that is barely
moving.
100 yards of on-ramp is in front of you.
Do you:
1) Rush up to the very front of the on-ramp lane, activate on your turn signal at the
last second, and start edging over to make the cars split and let you in
2) Activate your turn signal, and drive up the lane hoping someone will let you in
3) Activate your turn signal, and pause at the beginning of the lane to get into traffic
when it’s your turn.

6. F I R S T, A T H E O R Y T O F R A M E T H E D I S C U S S I O N
A P R I L 1 9 , 2 0 2 0 6

7. A P R I L 1 9 , 2 0 2 0 7
T H E T R A G E D Y O F T H E ( U N R E G U L A T E D ) C O M M O N S
A shared-resource system where individuals, acting according to their
own self interest, behave contrary to the common good of all users by
depleting or spoiling that resource through their collective action.
• British economist William Forster Lloyd (1833): overgrazing on shared
(“common”) land
• American ecologist Garrett Hardin (1968): any unregulated resource such as atmosphere, oceans,
rivers, roads, even an office fridge. Focused on human overpopulation and natural resources.
“Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all.”
• 3000+ journal articles and a Nobel prize later, the TotC has been applied to myriad situations. What
are some other examples you can think of?
• Ecology: Overfishing, World-wide pollution (Paris agreement), extinction
• Public safety: Driving cars (pollution, traffic accidents, etc), DWI, antibiotic resistance
• Public resources: spam email, overcrowded wifi, littering
• Knowledge, Productivity: “passing the buck” on shared workload or responsibility
• Taking the last donut! (Donuts in a meeting vs. Donuts in an unsupervised breakroom)
• Diner’s Dilemma, Somebody Else’s Problem, Tyranny of Small Decisions

8. A P R I L 1 9 , 2 0 2 0 8
T H E T R A G E D Y O F T H E C O M M O N S : P O S S I B L E S O L U T I O N S
1. Appoint a leader to regulate the commons (But autocracy disables autonomy/flexibility.)
2. Provision of rewards and punishments (Tier 3 power bills for using more than your share!)
3. Rely on conscience as a means of policing the commons (Hardin: It favors selfish
individuals (free riders) over those who are altruistic.) (aka, It doesn’t work.)
4. Do nothing. Sometimes collective restraint serves both the individuals
and the collective.
• Complex social schemes are invented by the users to maintain the commons
• Ostrom, et al, identified the following factors conducive to successful
resource management:
1. Resource has definable boundaries
2. There must be a perceptible threat of resource depletion
3. A small, stable community with thick social network and norms
promoting conservation
4. Appropriate community-based rules and procedures in place with built-
in incentives for responsible use and punishments for overuse.

9. A P R I L 1 9 , 2 0 2 0 9
L E T ’ S A P P L Y T H E T H E O R Y
• What is the “Commons” in this scenario?
• Which of the possible solutions from the previous
slide do you see demonstrated in the choices below?
• Conscience, Collective Restraint, Regulation, Rewards
& Punishment
• Is there a social network and norms?
1) Rush up to the very front of the on-ramp lane, activate on your turn signal at the
last second, and start edging over to make the cars split and let you in
2) Activate your turn signal, and drive up the lane hoping someone will let you in
3) Activate your turn signal, and pause the beginning of the lane to get into traffic
when it’s your turn.

10. A P R I L 1 9 , 2 0 2 0 1 0
T H E T R A G E D Y O F T H E C O M M O N S , A P P L I E D T O M E E T I N G S
Put another way, “free access and unrestricted demand for a finite resource ultimately reduces the resource
through over-exploitation, temporarily or permanently”
• The benefits of exploitation accrue to individuals or groups, each of whom is motivated to maximize use of the resource to the
point in which they become reliant on it, while the costs of the exploitation are borne by all those to whom the resource is
available. This, in turn causes demand for the resource to increase, which causes a snowball effect.
 How much of your weekly calendar is already booked in meetings?
 How many recurring meetings are you invited to? Why are YOU invited to them?
Our individual time (our opportunity to be productive) is the shared resource (“commons”).
• Our time has definable boundaries (M-F, 8-5)
• There is a threat of resource depletion (there’s not enough time outside of meetings)
• We are a small, stable community with norms that promote conserving our time
• We can establish better community-wide rules that incentivize better use of time
When someone invites you to an inefficient or unnecessary meeting,
they are exploiting the shared resource of YOU.

11. E V E R G O T O A B A D M E E T I N G ?
A P R I L 1 9 , 2 0 2 0 1 1

12. A P R I L 1 9 , 2 0 2 0 1 2
W H A T D O B A D M E E T I N G S L O O K L I K E ? P O O R P L A N N I N G
Sometimes meetings go bad because of poor planning or purpose:
• The Sharing meeting
• The meeting is held to seemingly get group consensus on a decision that was already made by someone else
• The Status meeting
• The leader and one or two others discuss status items while everyone else listens (or reads their email/texts)
• The All-inclusive meeting
• The entire team is invited to the meeting so no one feels left out
• The Anything-goes meeting
• There’s no agenda, or there’s an ambiguous agenda – and an hour to spend!
• The Star Show meeting
• The extroverted people, the “expert”, or the leaders do all of the talking
• The So What? Meeting
• No goals were communicated before the meeting and no action items are developed or assigned by the end
of the meeting
• The Its an Emergency! Meeting
• Proverb: Bad planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.

13. A P R I L 1 9 , 2 0 2 0 1 3
W H A T D O B A D M E E T I N G S L O O K L I K E ? P O O R E X E C U T I O N
Sometimes meetings go bad because of poor execution:
• The Marathon Meeting
• It goes on and on with no end in sight, often running over its scheduled time
• The Everyone Talks about Their Weekend Meeting
• Often takes place on Mondays, and occurs anytime the leader doesn’t start on time
• The Meeting of a Thousand Technological Disasters
• Anything can go wrong, and it often does – after you’ve started your presentation.
• The Everyone’s Unprepared Meeting
• Who knows what’s going on? Was I supposed to speak on this topic?
• The Meeting to Schedule a Meeting
• Can we get together to talk about when we need to get together?
• The What was That All About? Meeting
• The meeting is so unstructured that nothing gets accomplished. Aka The I Want the Last Hour
of My Life Back Meeting
• The No-Show Meeting
• The meeting was cancelled at the last second, and someone didn’t get the memo.

14. A P R I L 1 9 , 2 0 2 0 1 4
W H A T D O B A D M E E T I N G S L O O K L I K E ? P O O R B E H A V I O R
Sometimes meetings go bad because of disruptive behaviors:
• Late arrivers and No-Showers
• Ramblers
• Side Conversationalists
• Note Passers
• Multi-taskers
• Non-participators
• Dominators
• Chronic objectors
• Gate-closers
• Off-the-wall commenters
• Eye rollers
• Sighers
• Personal attackers
• Cell-phone checkers, texters
Which do you see regularly at Our
Company?

15. A P R I L 1 9 , 2 0 2 0 1 5
W H A T ’ S R E A L L Y G O I N G O N I N M E E T I N G S

16. E V E R G O T O A G R E AT M E E T I N G ?
A P R I L 1 9 , 2 0 2 0 1 6
“One either meets or one works. One cannot do both at the same time.”
- Peter Drucker

17. A P R I L 1 9 , 2 0 2 0 1 7
W H Y H A V E G O O D M E E T I N G S ?
There IS a reason for a
meeting:
We meet to quickly
create shared
perspective in a group.
We meet to find the
elephant in the dark!

18. A P R I L 1 9 , 2 0 2 0 1 8
W H A T A R E M E E T I N G S , V E R S U S C O N V E R S A T I O N S ?
Conversation: the exchange of ideas by spoken
words
Meeting: a defined real-time gathering of two
or more people for the purpose of achieving a
common goal through conversation and
interaction
Meetings have three qualities which clearly differentiate them from conversations:
1. Meetings are declared.
• Someone decides that a meeting should happen with some group of people. Usually this
results in someone scheduling a meeting.
2. Meetings have a purpose.
• There is always a reason someone felt they needed to declare a meeting.
3. Meetings have a defined start and end.
• Each meeting has a clear before, during, and after.

19. A P R I L 1 9 , 2 0 2 0 1 9
S O , W H E N S H O U L D W E H A V E A M E E T I N G ?
There are 6 general types of meetings that should be held – but only if for the right reasons.
Meeting Type Description of Its Proper Purpose When It Goes Bad
Status Update Meeting
(click for useful info on how
to run this meeting well)
Regular team and project meetings, to align the team via updates on progress,
challenges, next steps. Should include problem solving, prioritization, and task-
assignment. Attendees should both listen and contribute. Should be engaging,
and short, with a consistent structure.
The Sharing Meeting, The Marathon
Meeting, The So What? Meeting
Information Sharing
Meeting
Lectures, lunch’n’learns, and other informational presentations. The purpose
is simply for the speaker to share information. Attendees are typically passive
listeners
The Status Meeting, The Why am I
Here? Meeting
Decision Making
Meetings
Information-gathering and sharing, brainstorming solutions, evaluating
options, voting. Not an ideal use of time.
The Sharing Meeting
Problem Solving
Meetings
Address an identified problem, or create strategies and plans to navigate the
future. Scopes and priorities need to be defined, opportunities & threats need
to be identified, and possible solutions should be brainstormed, evaluated, and
agreed upon.
The Anything Goes Meeting, the All-
Inclusive Meeting
Innovation Meetings Creative thinking, brainstorming, sharing ideas in a broad scope. Down-
selecting ideas through ranking and other decision-making techniques.
Recommendations and tasks can be assigned as a result.
The Sharing Meeting, the Anything
Goes Meeting
Team Building Meetings All-hands meetings, kick-off meetings, corporate events, etc with the purpose
of strengthening relationships and corporate culture.
The Star Show Meeting

20. A P R I L 1 9 , 2 0 2 0 2 0
W H A T M A K E S A G O O D M E E T I N G ?
1. An agenda is sent out with the meeting invitation, and the agenda always contains:
• The Goal/Purpose of holding the meeting, and the Desired Outcome
• The topics to be discussed, and who is discussing them
2. Only the people needed to achieve the Desired Outcome are invited
3. The meeting starts on time, and ends when the agenda is covered
• Action Items that work toward the Desired Outcome are recorded during the meeting, and reviewed just prior
to adjournment
• Discussion is kept to only the agenda items. All other topics are tabled.
4. The meeting minutes/notes and Action Items are emailed to the attendees directly after the meeting.
5. No cell phones, laptops, etc open during the meeting, unless they’re being used FOR the meeting. If
you’re not completely focused in the meeting, you shouldn’t be there.

21. A P R I L 1 9 , 2 0 2 0 2 1
Y O U R R E S P O N S I B I L I T I E S A S A N I N V I T E E
1. One option is to NOT accept the meeting invitation. You have the right to decline!
David Grady: “Mindless Accept Syndrome”
• Ted Talk: “How to save the world (or at least yourself) from bad meetings
• Video: The Conference Call. (Another video about conference calls, just for fun.)
2. Another option is to request (require) an agenda and stated outcome for each
meeting before you accept the invitation. “No agenda, no attenda”
Once you’ve decided to attend:
1. Identify your role in the agenda
2. Prepare ahead of time
3. Stay focused during the meeting – no phones, laptops, etc
4. If you’re not needed in the meeting anymore, excuse yourself and leave
5. Identify and Confirm your Action Items by the end of the meeting
6. Follow up after the meeting

22. A P R I L 1 9 , 2 0 2 0 2 2
H O W T O R U N A G O O D M E E T I N G
1. Set a clear intention/purpose
2. Identify the key players
3. Prepare the (short) agenda
• Provide Expected Outcome, Agenda Items, Clear reason for attendance
4. Take ownership of your meeting.
• Make sure video, telecon, seating, etc is ready. Test beforehand.
• Take attendance. Review prior meetings’ Action Items, if any.
• Explain where you expect participants to focus their attention/discussion
• Create a culture where confrontation is welcomed and expected. Ask probing questions.
• Confront by saying things like, “Times up, let’s do something.” Stay on topic.
5. Begin all meetings with the “low lights”.
• Give room for creative tension. Polite meetings (topics) waste time!
6. Adopt a format and stick to it. Stay on time.
7. Develop an Action Plan: includes action items, names, dates. Email it to everyone.
• Delegate the note-taking, and take turns doing it.
8. Follow through on the plan

23. A P R I L 1 9 , 2 0 2 0 2 3
E X A M P L E : G O O D M E E T I N G I N V I T A T I O N A N D A G E N D A
Read about How to Design an Agenda for an Effective Meeting, and
How to Create Standard Agendas for Your Business
This meeting invitation explains what
the expected outcome of the
meeting is, shows an agenda, and
generally gives enough information
to tell the invitee WHY they need to
be there

24. A P R I L 1 9 , 2 0 2 0 2 4
E X A M P L E O F A M E E T I N G F O L L O W - U P
This email was sent within 30
minutes after the meeting, by
simply clicking “reply all” on
the meeting notice in
Outlook.
It includes the meeting notes
collected during the meeting,
with Action Items highlighted
in red font.
Note that each Action Item
should include a specific
person who is responsible,
and a due date.

25. A P R I L 1 9 , 2 0 2 0 2 5
O T H E R I D E A S F O R A B E T T E R M E E T I N G C U L T U R E
1. Attempt to eliminate your Company’s dependence on formal meetings:
• “No Meeting Friday”
• No meetings after 1pm, or no meetings between 11am and 3pm, etc
• Block off your own time in Outlook for focused work sessions
• Analyze the Recurring Meetings on your calendar. Do you really need them?
• Do all of the current invitees need to be there? “Walk and Talk” instead! (aka The
Drive-by Convo)
• If you’re just sharing info, cancel the meeting and send an email instead!
2. Make it a game! Challenge yourself to make meetings shorter, or even to
achieve your meeting goals without actually holding a formal meeting!
3. Insist on others following good meeting habits. Don’t attend without them.
4. Celebrate great meetings!

26. A P R I L 1 9 , 2 0 2 0 2 6
A N T I D O T E S T O S O M E P O I S O N O U S M E E T I N G S
Poison Anti-meeting Antidote
• The Sharing meeting
• The meetingis held to seeminglyget groupconsensuson a decisionthat was alreadymade by someone else
Send an email explaining the issue and
the decision. No meeting needed!
• The Status meeting
• The leader and one or two othersdiscuss statusitems while everyoneelse listens (or reads their email/texts)
Send an email that gives the status. No
meeting needed!
• The All-inclusivemeeting
• The entire team is invited to the meetingso no one feels left out
Limit attendance to only those who need
to give input. Others will get over it.
• The Anything-goes meeting
• There’s no agenda,or there’s an ambiguousagenda– and an hour to spend!
• The So What? Meeting
• No goalswere communicatedbefore the meeting and no actionitems are developedor assignedby the end of the meeting
State the Expected Outcome of the
meeting in the agenda. Stick to the
agenda!
• The Marathon Meeting
• It goes on and on with no end in sight,oftenrunningover its scheduledtime
Did you stick to the agenda? Short
agendas make for better meetings.
• The Meeting of a Thousand Technological Disasters
• Anythingcan go wrong,and it oftendoes – after you’ve startedyour presentation.
Test the equipment and connections
before an important telecon!
• The Meeting to Schedule a Meeting
• Can we get together to talk aboutwhen we need to get together?
Don’t. Just don’t. If your meeting isn’t
actionable, then don’t hold a meeting.
• The Everyone’s Unprepared Meeting
• Who knows what’s going on? Was I supposedto speak on this topic?
• The What was That All About? Meeting
• The meetingis so unstructuredthat nothinggets accomplished. Aka The I Want the Last Hour of My Life Back Meeting
Where was your clear, concise agenda
with a stated Expected Outcome and
stated reasons why specific people
should attend?

27. A P R I L 1 9 , 2 0 2 0 2 7
S U M M A R Y A N D F I N A L T H O U G H T S
• Improving our Culture takes intention and work
• Running and attending Good Meetings takes intention and work
• Therefore, it’s easy to get lazy and revert to old (bad) habits
• Ask for, and implement, feedback often!*

28. A P R I L 1 9 , 2 0 2 0 2 8
M E E T I N G R U L E S T O P O S T I N Y O U R M E E T I N G R O O M
Meeting Rules
1. Do we really need to meet?
2. Schedule a start, not an end to your meeting - it's over when it's over,
even if that's just 5 minutes.
3. Be on time!
4. No multi-tasking ... no device usage unless necessary for the meeting
5. If you're not getting anything out of the meeting, leave
6. Meetings are not for information sharing - that should be done before
the meeting via email and/or agenda
7. Who really needs to be at this meeting?
8. Agree to action items, if any, at the conclusion of the meeting
9. Don't feel bad about calling people out on any of the above; it's the
right thing to do.

29. E X T R A C R E D I T F O R O V E R A C H I E V E R S :
The Meeting Performance Maturity Model
A P R I L 1 9 , 2 0 2 0 2 9

30. A P R I L 1 9 , 2 0 2 0 3 0
H O W W I L L W E K N O W W H E N W E ’ V E A R R I V E D ?
We can chart how well an organization manages meetings with a
standard performance maturity model.
To achieve meeting maturity, an organization
must understand, design, and manage
meetings to serve their purpose within their
allotted time.
We can measure both the effectiveness and
efficiency of a meeting.
When people see meetings as nothing more
than pre-scheduled conversations, they run
bad meetings.

31. A P R I L 1 9 , 2 0 2 0 3 1
S U M M A R Y
• We learned about the Tragedy of the Commons theory from a few examples
• Our individual time (our opportunity to be productive) is the shared resource
(“commons”).
• Sometimes meetings go bad because of poor planning or purpose, poor
execution, or disruptive behaviors.
• We meet to quickly create shared perspective in a group. Meetings are NOT
conversations.
• We learned what components make up a good meeting
• We learned our responsibilities as a good Invitee and a good meeting Organizer
• We talked about how to start forming a better meeting Culture in our Company.