Meetings and Conference calls

As part of my job I am frequently in meetings and on conference calls. There are some things that happen at meetings and conference calls that annoy me.

A few months I was on a conference call. Cant go into too many details but I am on a panel (or task force or whatever the hip word is this year) to help review some proposed federal changes before being released to the public for comment before they are enacted as policy. The Federal government embargoed the proposed changes (delaying everything) and wouldnt release the proposal to the group I am on (or anyone else at this time). So the conference call I was on consisted of someone describing charts and graphs they had seen to the rest of us. Seriously. "If we were able to send this to you, you would see that on the left there is ..."

I have been on calls in the past with several hundred people on the call that turn into "let's see how many people will talk to show how important they feel they are" call. Conference calls need to be limited to how many people are on the call or they need to be limited as to who can speak.

A monthly meeting that I often attend suffers from 2 problems. Either the presenters will just read the slides in their power point (as if nobody can read or they have nothing else to contribute) or there will be an attendee that comes in about 40 minutes late and their phone will go off (and be answered) in another 10-15 minutes. The same attendee coming in late almost every month shows to me that someone needs some attention. I think the person in charge of the meeting should give them a little attention by calling them out, "Hey look it is _____ coming in to today's meeting. Thanks you for being here but I hope next month you will be on time. Oh and can you please turn off your cell before it rings in a couple of minutes?"

So here I am sitting in on a conference call. I have another one this afternoon so drop back by and I'll probably have another posting. Feel free to suggest a topic.