Meeting Monitor
by Tom Pryor

When asked how long it took to prepare for the just completed, highly effective, 10-minute staff meeting, the seasoned manager replied, "Ten hours."

"I've always attended two-hour staff meetings. How long does it take to prepare for those?" asked the new incoming manager.

"Ten minutes."

It takes longer to prepare an effective ten-minute agenda or ten-minute speech than it does for a two-hour ineffective meeting or presentation. Mark Twain once said, "It usually takes me more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech." When one person is unprepared, many people suffer.

Organizations waste valuable time and money holding ineffective, inefficient meetings. Activity Based Management (ABM) systems often find that "Attend Meetings" is one of the top ten most expensive activities of an organization. Communication at staff meetings, project meetings and employee meetings is vitally important. Problem is, most meetings consume too much time. Do you suffer from meeting misery? Answer "yes" or "no" to this quick quiz: (1)

Meeting Misery Quiz

1. Have you ever wondered how much money your company is losing waiting for meetings to start?
2. Have you ever forgotten what meeting you're in?
3. Have you ever endured a meeting where the speaker had a least five ideal places to conclude?
4. Have you left meetings with a tablet full of doodles and drawings instead of a list of To Do's?
5. Have you ever used a meeting to answer e-mail on your laptop or PDA?
6. Have you ever walked out of a long meeting without the faintest idea of what you were supposed to do - or why you were invited in the first place?
7. Have you ever sniffed a Marks-a-Lot pen in hopes the aroma will keep you awake during a boring meeting?
8. Have you ever gone into a meeting and left instructions for someone to get you out at a certain time whether the meeting was over or not?
9. Have you ever been to a meeting and somebody says, "Let me tell you a little story"? You want to say, "No, no … not another story." But instead, you just sit there and endure.
10. Have you ever sat in a meeting with a lot of people and tried to figure out how much money the company was spending having all those people in the room?

Meeting Misery Index
How many questions did you answer with a "yes"?

0 - 2: You're lucky, lying or blessed with great meeting managers.
3 - 5: You're likely wasting time. You need Meeting Monitor™
5 or more: You've suffered long enough! You need Meeting Monitor™

You need Meeting Monitor™
ICMS has a new product to help you spark change and improvement in meetings. It's named Meeting Monitor™.

• Meeting Monitor™ is like a taxi meter for meetings.
• Meeting Monitor™ displays the cost of people in your meetings.
• Meeting Monitor™ shows time is money.
• Meeting Monitor™ software installs easily on your laptop.
• Meeting Monitor™ is only $9.95!
• Meeting Monitor™ can be downloaded to your PC in five minutes or less at www.ICMS.net/meeting_monitor.htm.

With Meeting Monitor™ you'll be able to point to your laptop and say:

• "Do you realize we've already spent $173.11 and haven't even started the meeting?"
• "I love the donuts you brought, but I'm not sure they're worth $65.95 of our time."
• "Was item #1 on our agenda worth $235.48?"
• "I just spent $54.33 answering her question. I wonder if it was worth $54.33?
• "Meeting Monitor™ says I spent $89.39 preparing my monthly report for home office. I wonder if my boss would pay $89.39 if I billed him for it?"

Less is More
Some of the world's greatest speeches and meetings took less than ten minutes. Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg address took less than three minutes to deliver. Lou Gehrig's memorable "I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth" farewell to baseball took less than two minutes. President Bush's outstanding speech to the nation February 1, 2003, regarding Columbia took only 3 minutes 13 seconds.

Make it a goal to meet less and accomplish more this year. Spark improvement in the meetings you lead and attend with Meeting Monitor™.

(1) Adapted from Say It In Six, Ron Hoff, Andrews and McMeel Books, 1996

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