9 Tricks to Survive Boring Meetings

Be early so that you can get a better seat. Sit to the left side, people tend to be more positive to questions from the right side of their field of view. Sit toward the front. Every conference room has bad chairs. Being early you can get one of the good ones. Also, knowing the political lay of the land before hand can greatly improve your standing.

Be sure you are prepared before the meeting with an agenda not only for the meeting but also for yourself in the meeting. Meetings have two agendas, the one sent out with the invite for the meeting and the one the meeting is really about. Most times they line up but when they do not it can be more about company politics. Build your own agenda for the meeting. What do you want to accomplish in the meeting. Know what your manager’s agenda is and create your agenda to match. Doing so will lead to positive organizational changes.

Prepare a list of questions on topic to show interest and understanding of the topic. Find the things that you don’t know about the topic and ask to get them out there to whene you do know them. Be careful in the tone of the questions, ask to gain knowledge not to show what you know.

Take notes during the meeting using a strategy that works best for you. Will prefers to make mind maps of meetings and has described his method on his blog. Mind maps start with the central premise of the meeting in a circle in the center of the page. When a new topic or idea is brought up a line is drawn from the circle out to another circle with that topic in it. It can be iterative so related topics can spawn from sources other than the central circle. BJ prefers to use the SketchNote method to put his own doodling to functional use. This involves structured doodles to represent ideas in the meeting. Mind mapping can be incorporated into the doodles. Keep an extra sheet of paper for useful details that do not fit into the structure of your mind map or doodles.

You prepared questions for this meeting, don’t forget to ask the questions that you have prepared. By paying attention and taking notes you will likely come up with additional questions during the meeting. Ask in a way that elicits the presenter to educate you and the others in the meeting. Don’t be confrontational but cooperative in asking questions.

Be prepared to offer suggestions when appropriate. Vary suggestions based on your level within the organizations. For junior developers this will be rare but be prepared. Offer your suggestion and ask a more senior developer if it is a good idea. Your idea may have been tried before, asking why it might not work will also show that you are thinking about the issue. Set yourself up to win through running new ideas or suggestions by your manager or a senior developer. If it is a good idea you will be given credit, if not it isn’t an embarassment in a meeting and you look like you are thinking about the situation.

Corporate meetings are like a low level language. It’s just as important if not more important to know when not to speak than when to speak. Stay out of arguments especially between more senior developers or managers. Don’t try to mediate arguments either. The best practice is to stay quiet and observe and learn.

Following the meeting address the presenter. This is the best time to ask questions that might not have been appropriate for during the meeting. Some questions add to the meeting and benefit everyone involved. Others, however are better reserved for after the meeting.

If you have not received a summary within a few hours send your notes to the presenter asking for insights and if you copied down all of the important information. Compile your notes and ask the presenter if you missed anything important.