The Meeting Meander
Don’t you just hate it when people take 723% longer to say something in a meeting than is necessary? They start their update with a rambling description of the main idea, throw in sub-points, try to weave in tangents but only create verbal knots, repeat themselves, repeat themselves again, lead up to a seeming denouement, repeat themselves again, stall with a verbal ellipsis, repeat one of the points yet another time, resist the final puncutation, add in another thought, finally dribbling off as everyone in the room catches themselves daydreaming about what must have entered their BlackBerry’s during this screed.
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What I hate is not the long-winded but the superfluous repetition of the Little Sir (and Madamae) Echoes among us.
One of my sage friends puts an end to the prattle with the wonderful line, “It seems that everything has been said, although not everyone has yet said it.”
And the other maxim for meeting-goers: It’s better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to articulate and remove all doubt.”
I need to buy you a coffee and get you out that next meeting!
One thing I love about my job: I don’t need to be part of these kinds of meetings often.
Agreed, I hate people who talk too much.
But sometimes I also love to listen to a good story.
I had a strategy meeting once with the CEO of a NGO that supports universities. He could have delivered his message succinctly and effectively. But instead he told a great story and it was much more effective.