Meeting strategies
October 17, 2003
I discovered some really interesting things while sitting through my THREE HOUR PTA meeting today. (Yes, I said three hours!) I thought I would share some of them with you.
1. If you stare intently at someone’s mouth while they are talking, no matter how confident they are in what they are saying, they will begin to stammer and lose their train of thought. Works great on pompous people.
2. Everytime you look at a certain person, rub your cheek a just little bit (be subtle about it). After a while, they will begin to casually rub their own cheek. To the point of obsession. Trying oh so hard to rid themselves of whatever blemish must be there (but really isn’t!) It is great! (Sidenote: This works with the mouth, nose and chin as well.)
3. It is probably best not to say, “Are you still talking?” when one of the reports goes too long. More specifically, don’t say it loud enough for someone else to hear you.
4. If you’re really bored and want to gauge how bored other people are, just keep glancing at the ceiling. The same spot. Then look around and see who else keeps looking up there. This actually serves a dual purpose. (a) You see who is bored. (b) You see who is so bored they have resorted to watching you watch the ceiling.
5. And finally, and this is one is kind of important…don’t doodle things such as “I’m in meeting hell” or “Will this ever end?!!” or “blah blah boring meeting blah blah” on the report that you are supposed to turn in at the end of the meeting. Really. Make sure you know what is yours to keep and what is being handed over.
I hope my little meeting insights help you. If I can give just one person ways to maintain some level of entertainment during boring meetings, then my purpose here has been served.
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