There are a variety of potential explanations for why attendees at meetings are lacking. You may have wished to respond to meeting requests innumerable times over your career.
“No, I’m not interested in going to your meeting.”
However, doing so would have given the impression that I was unprofessional and conceited, or that I didn’t care about the company or the team. Do you relate to me?
Don’t misunderstand me; I didn’t detest every meeting. In reality, they were frequently required and beneficial to my work. In this post, I’ll be explaining why people don’t want to attend your meeting and what you can do about it.
5 Top Reasons Why People Don’t Want to be in Your Meeting
- Do I have a place at this meeting?
Receiving a meeting request with a lengthy title, such as “Marketing Campaign,” but no agenda or talking topics included was another pet annoyance of mine. I used to go up to these meetings with a notepad and pen (old school), completely unprepared, and with a sneaking suspicion that the meeting would already go past its allotted time. Without an agenda, it will be impossible to keep on the subject and everything will just go awry.
Another possibility is that after sitting through one of these protracted, disorganised meetings, I would come to the conclusion that my presence was completely unnecessary. Perhaps it was focused on a project that I wasn’t a part of.
Or possibly other team members presided over the conversation and I was unable to contribute. Whatever the case, I always left these meetings feeling frustrated and like I’d wasted a lot of time. It may also be worse: the meeting’s organiser talks the entire time and doesn’t really care about input or recommendations from other staff members (one email would’ve sufficed!).
- Your conferences are dull
There just isn’t any other way to put it; I apologise if that sounds harsh. The worst meetings were those when the host wants to talk to you for an hour and goes through a 50-slide deck without engaging me or asking any questions. I was drowsy. I disconnected it. I questioned my presence there. I scribbled. I started considering the dinner I would be making that evening.
You can try spicing up things a little! You can try looking into a meeting room hire Parramatta to experience a change in environment. Don’t forget some snacks too while you’re there.
- Unending cable roulette problem
The greatest is saved for last. And by best, I really mean worst—cable roulette, of course. The cable I would require for my laptop was without a doubt the last one I would select. VGA, USB, and Mini HDMI are not acceptable. The HDMI cable is missing. It’s wandered off. Most likely into one of the other conference rooms, or perhaps into a traveller’s bag!
This relates to the first problem, which is that meetings take too long. It can take anything from 5 to 10 minutes to find the proper cable. Then another person requests access to their device’s data. In the best-case scenario, the cable was passed from one person to another while sitting in different places.
- They are too lengthy
For meetings that may run anywhere from 30 minutes to 4 hours, I would get these diary requests in my calendar. However, they were always at least 30 minutes long. This is because the obstinate scheduler insists that meeting requests be submitted for 30-minute blocks of time. This annoyed me because it implied that if someone wanted to schedule a meeting, they would estimate that it would take 20 minutes, schedule it for 30, and then somehow extend the meeting to make it last 30 minutes. It’s just the strange way our brains are wired, and it’s preconditioned because the calendar says so. Nobody is to blame; it’s just the way things are.
Then there’s the issue that it never began, continued, or ended on schedule. Not to mention that when someone arrived late, the meeting had to be completely restarted.
The worst of all, though, was when a caller joined by teleconference and we all wound up playing conference call bingo if you know what I mean.
- There is no progress
Frequently, the first 10 or 15 minutes of a meeting are devoted to idle conversation, administrative matters, or catching up on previous meetings. If it’s the first thing on a Monday morning and queries about how everyone’s weekend was prioritised, add another ten minutes to this. People need their coffee because, at this hour in the morning, they cannot operate without it.
If you’re lucky, you might start working a half-hour later. Employees dislike meetings most because they always hear the same things, according to a survey, although a somewhat old one. However, I can understand this. Frequently, it seemed as though nothing had changed since the previous meeting—why were we constantly discussing the same issues? Why were there no action items listed at the conclusion of the prior meeting?
Seven Suggestions to Boost Meeting Attendance
Think about the following advice if you really, truly want people to come and engage.
- Organize fewer meetings. If you meet weekly, consider holding ten meetings a year. Give each one a bit extra weight.
- Make plans far in advance. Ask trustees to confirm the dates and mark them on their calendars at least six months in advance if you meet on a regular schedule, such as the second Monday of the month.
- Send out the agenda in advance. Share the agenda and a reminder of the meeting’s date, time, and place at least one week in advance. Here’s a tip: contentious agenda items always increase attendance.
- Use the job description for your board to emphasise the importance of being present. Put phrases such, as “Three consecutive unexcused absences shall be considered resignation from the board,” in your contract.
- Feed people. It’s one of the earliest forms of expressing gratitude. Ask the board members to take turns covering the cost of providing meals if budget constraints are an issue.
- Every time you gather, include a “mission moment,” which should be something concrete to reconnect trustees with the mission and remind them why they serve. Examples include a personal testimonial from a client, a video excerpt from a recent performance, or a brief slide show about the land your organisation just preserved.
- Rotate who is in charge of presiding over or leading the meeting. Whenever necessary, give assistance and instruction. Participants will show up when they know their turn is approaching to observe how others handle the process and gain knowledge from their peers.
People will turn up, and they’ll be happy they did, if you make them engaging, important, and demanding, and you provide an opportunity for everyone to engage meaningfully.
