Boring meetings?

[susans]

Do you have to attend meetings that are long and boring and really don't pertain to what you do? If so, how do you stay alert in that boring meeting?

[raindance]

I don't think I ever attend meetings that don't pertain to my work.  In my opinion, a company that schedules such meetings for employees is wasting money.

However, even some of the meetings that I have to attend as PART of my work can be "boring"!    

I stay alert by taking notes.  You never know when things will be helpful.  

[geminigirl]

I rarely have to attend meetings in this job and they're few and far between.  In the 2 1/2 years I've been here I've attended three!  And they were relevant to the job.

But I have painful memories of attending long boring meetings at other jobs I've held.  I can recall being at a departmental meeting with the head of that department droning on (and he had a very monotonous voice) about stuff that was slightly off-agenda, so I kind of "zoned out" and when I came back in again he was talking about oboes, of all things.  So now when I talk about drifting out of meetings or losing the thread, I say I've had a "hearing oboes" moment...

[mlm668]

I have to attend a regional safety meeting the first Friday of each month.  Since I've been here, there have been two that I related to or understood and that is because the topics were relavent to the industry I used to work in and I was familiar with what was being presented.  

This past Friday was a real snoozer but since I was sitting next to the highest ranking person in our department, I made a point to be somewhat alert (I mostly picked at the clear nail polish I needed to take off my nails).  I did fall asleep in one meeting it was so bad.  

I wouldn't mind the meetings so much if the topics weren't so far over my head.  They are relevant to safety but the processes they discuss mean nothing to me because they are more plant/industry specific while my area is on the very fringe of it all.

Michelle

[Atlanta Z3]

In prior positions I had to attend meetings - some were a real snooze.  I took notes knowing that I would never use them.

One meeting where I was the offical minute person regularly went on so long that I needed a rest room break but couldn't for fear of missing something.  I used to watch people come and go from the meeting, while I sat there with my legs crossed!  The assistant CFO loved his pivot charts.

[gee4]

I have to say the most interesting meetings for me are the technical ones where I have to note statistics and figures.  A lot of information at meetings overlaps.  I have found information discussed at meetings further down the pecking order eventually feeds into senior management at some stage.

I can honestly say I have never nodded off or not paid attention as I would have looked rather unprofessional if I had.  There is always too much going on not to pay attention!

[Katie G]

Fortunately, our small group is pretty lively and our meetings can include a lot of laughter.  I take the notes, but also participate fully in the discussions.  

I am also called upon to attend meetings with our Finance and IT departments.  I'm not a finance or IT expert by any means, but, being a bit of a nerd in my own right, I've developed relationships with these folks to the point where they'll make an effort to make sure I understand what's being said.  

In my previous position, we had a department-wide meeting numbering over 100 people.  THAT was boring because it was basically a lecture setup.  I much prefer participatory meetings.

[peaches2160]

Meetings are what you make them.  Listen and learn, maybe ask a few questions.  We held department meetings in my old department that were always informative.  I was in charge of the agenda and offered topics of interest for the group and would also solicit topics from the department.  Kept the subject matter of interest, after we got through the financials.  As far as boring meetings, yes, I have been in a few........Just recently attended a video conference that we could have done without.  Totally not relevant to our jobs.  Win a few, lose a few.  Couldn't even ask questions since it was like we werent even in the meeting.  It was a strange one and a total waste of tme.

[itsme_calista]

I don't have to attend any meetings and it'll be even harder now as our board room has been turned into offices!

I do miss this aspect of my job a lot, but I'm in a satellite office and most meetings happen at our HQ.