![\"Full](\"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/wanfahminfaiz\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/920\/files\/2017\/09\/full_Vitae-hate-meetings-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Image: Brian Taylor<\/em><\/p>\n Why are we so angsty about meetings? At first, the possible answers to that question are obvious:<\/p>\n There\u2019s a litany of reasons why meetings \u2014 in the eyes of most academics \u2014 suck. But if we were truly honest with ourselves, we\u2019d realize that many, if not most, of our grievances are the products of our own choices, including the choice to not take action as well as the decisions we make about what, and how, we conduct the work of the institution.<\/p>\n There may not be a way to make academic meetings totally awesome all the time, for ever and ever. But there are certainly ways to make them less painful. And that is not an ignoble goal. Here are some strategies you can use to make your meetings suck as little as possible.<\/p>\n Thinking about calling a meeting? Consider the real reasons you\u2019re doing so. Is there work that needs to be done collaboratively within a specific time frame? Is there important information that needs to be disseminated? Or is it just that this committee has always met every other Wednesday and, come hell or high water, will continue to do so?<\/p>\n If possible, include time increments for each element of your agenda (i.e., “Old Business: 15 minutes”). This is a particularly useful strategy if you have one item of business that you think will take longer than the rest and want to make sure adequate time is devoted to it.<\/p>\n The most precious \u2014 and egregiously finite \u2014 commodity for an academic is time. We have so much to do and a seemingly ever-shrinking pool of time in which to do it. Yet meetings are usually accepted as simply a dreary fait accompli of academic life.<\/p>\n\n