How do you pass the time in a meeting?

mothmonsterman · #1 04-14-2008, 06:42 AM

Meetings are perfect examples of company wasted time and where little or no productivity ever takes place, we know this.

How do you pass the time?

I usually find a nice dot on the cinder block walls to stare at. Or read the agenda 50 million times.

pedroims · #2 04-14-2008, 06:49 AM

surfing talkbass....im in a meeting right now

TallLankyBastyd · #3 04-14-2008, 06:49 AM

First off... I agree... 95% of business meetings are a total waste of time and manpower. That said...

I try and participate as much as possible in the discussions and take notes... it is the only way to keep myself awake.

Nothing worse than hearing the endless jabbering of a meeting then suddenly there is a very loud KNOCK... and you open your eyes looking at the ceiling lights and realize that you have just nodded off to the point of banging your head against the back wall... you are drooling... and everyone in the friggin meeting is looking directly at you at this moment!!

Actually... I always love it when that happens to somebody else in a meeting!!

FL Knifemaker · #4 04-14-2008, 06:51 AM

I think it really depends on the company. Meetings can be very important. With my business, I don't hold a meeting unless it's really justified. Anyone attending is busy with their own issues. We discuss everything that needs to be discussed and it's over. No one attends that doesn't need to, no time to fall asleep. When I attend meetings at other companies, if I snooze, I could VERY well LOOOOZE

threshar · #5 04-14-2008, 07:02 AM

Its so simple: Pretend you get paged and have to go fix something else

Works like a champ.

Now that I telecommute exclusively, meetings are no big deal since I really don't have any and if I do I'm on a conf call - and I can screw around while not paying attention.

95% of meetings are a waste.

ElectrAcoustic · #6 04-14-2008, 07:08 AM

Doodle.. it's especially useful to your career if you do a drawing of the boss looking like an A$$..

Asa Samuel · #7 04-14-2008, 07:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by threshar

Now that I telecommute exclusively, meetings are no big deal since I really don't have any and if I do I'm on a conf call - and I can screw around while not paying attention.

My dad has one hell of alot of meetings with his work, and he was doing a conf call and while he was "listening" and "paying attention" he was helping me set up my bass

i just had to make sure i didn't laugh or else he'd be caught LOL.

guitfiddle0409 · #8 04-14-2008, 07:10 AM

I go back and forth between TalkBass and the Drudge Report. Corporate meetings are necessary 5% of the time and a total waste the other 95%. And at least here the blowhards are harmless.

CrazyArcher · #9 04-14-2008, 07:10 AM

Stare emptily into the space

playinpearls · #10 04-14-2008, 07:13 AM

ugh, i am the worst at meetings...i cannot stay awake...
i usually have to get a xlarge red bull on the way in...hopefully the bitter, carbonated, taste can keep me awake....no clues about passing time...

Jonyak · #11 04-14-2008, 07:15 AM

I spend my time fighting the sleep monster.

the constant struggle to keep myself conscious usually keeps me busy.

IAmTheDood · #12 04-14-2008, 07:29 AM

until it's boring i participate .. as soon as it's boring i'm fighting staying awake.

i got fired once because of it .. first day on the job and it was a contract job. meeting with about 10 - 15 people about an application ... doze in an out of it for a second.

had about 2 hours sleep the night before and not much the previous month .. was with the ex still at this time and she was going through one of her many stages of too many pain meds.

remo · #13 04-14-2008, 07:39 AM

I HAVE YOUR ANSWER...

http://www.bullshitbingo.net/cards/bull$hit/ replace $ with s

mjolnir · #14 04-14-2008, 07:50 AM

I take a box of Dots and chew on them veeeeeeerrrrrryyyyyyyyy ssssssssllllllllooooooowwwwwwwllllllllyyyyyyy.

mothmonsterman · #15 04-14-2008, 08:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by threshar

Its so simple: Pretend you get paged and have to go fix something else

Works like a champ.

Now that I telecommute exclusively, meetings are no big deal since I really don't have any and if I do I'm on a conf call - and I can screw around while not paying attention.

95% of meetings are a waste.

Ahh i remember telecommuting, termserving and fixing computers remotely, and conference calls with a 12 pack next to me. Now they don't let me "blah blah blah we need full coverage blah blah blah".

Just got out of the Monday morning meeting, i was dismantling a pen over and over again. Drank too much coffee and went of on a tangent about configuring and rolling out the exchange server.
got a few looks like

and a couple like

.

Deacon_Blues · #16 04-14-2008, 08:09 AM

The twice-a-month department meetings at my work are the worst. One and a half hour each, and only perhaps 10% of it is something that has any kind of interest to me. That's wasted time. It's even worse if I have to work as a stand-in secretary, because writing the protocol is one hour extra work...

In our coffee room, where we have these meetings, we have a bunch of various braintwisters like these ones that people have brought there. So when the meetings get boring, you can start playing with one of those. The bad thing with them is that once you've learned how to solve them, they're not very fun anymore.

MakiSupaStar · #17 04-14-2008, 09:03 AM

Depends how motivated I am. If I'm motivated, I try to take it over and steer it into a more entertaining and humorous direction. If I'm not, I'm on talkbass or working on flyers for my next gig.

FL Knifemaker · #18 04-14-2008, 09:12 AM

I don't understand why anyone would set time for how long a meeting is to last. Any successful people or companies I've worked with don't keep people in meetings for no reason. Quite often, they rotate people in and out as needed. Management often considers how efficiently you run a meeting

If the topic of the meeting no longer pertains to you and can't excuse yourself and leave, something is wrong.

lowenduser · #19 04-14-2008, 09:18 AM

I usually see if there's anything in the agenda that relates to me either directly or the work Ill be doing. If so, I make my points on the relative topics. Then I go doodling. If not, I go straight to doodling. Bass and treble clefs are most common doodles with me. A4 pages full of doodles interupted by the occasional "e-mail so-and-so about figures" or "ring so-and-so about something I can just ask him about when I see him tomorrow over coffee not that he, nor myself, will be too pushed about it". My favourite self made task note from a doodle fest meeting once was "do something about the thing" - it made sense to me at the time but I had no idea by the time I got back to my desk!

MakiSupaStar · #20 04-14-2008, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FL Knifemaker

I don't understand why anyone would set time for how long a meeting is to last. Any successful people or companies I've worked with don't keep people in meetings for no reason. Quite often, they rotate people in and out as needed. Management often considers how efficiently you run a meeting

If the topic of the meeting no longer pertains to you and can't excuse yourself and leave, something is wrong.

Obviously you work in the corporate world where time is money and the name of the game is making money. Things are a lot different in the government world where you're in the business of spending money.