Nine Tips for Running More Productive Meetings — which basically boil down to organization and discipline. Still, a nice checklist to glance at now and again.
As good as the advice is, the “quals” statement at the bottom, from author Merlin Mann, is worth the price of admission:
Understand – this is coming from a man who often was compelled to spend the better part of one day a week on a bi-coastal video conference call with two dozen people. Staring. Wishing death. Listening to the CTO opine at length about how exciting it would be to build and sell a national yellow pages app from scratch. If there had been cyanide capsules on the table instead of M&Ms, I don’t think I would have hesitated to indulge. “Boil the ocean” business models and long meetings are the cocktail for making Merlin wish harm upon himself.
If I got a 50% bonus for every hour I sit in a meeting, I’d either be able to retire now, or be frustrated over my inability to add more meetings into my already-busy schedule.
(via kottke)
Hmm… a 50% bonus for everyone in the room coming right out of the salary of whoever called the meeting. You’d see “getting right to the point” become a new national religion.