Meetings, meetings, meetings!

Meetings can be the bane of our existence! I try not to have meetings unless they are needed -- the one exception being a weekly meeting recently instituted among the top administrators in my library. That's helpful as I have seen in other meeting venues, just to make sure everybody has heard about what is happening.

When meetings are inevitable, I used to know a lot about running them -- from having a stated time limit, to using an agenda, to managing speakers. I have to say that I have gotten sloppy about meetings, but I certainly have fewer than I used to, so maybe it balances out some. Mea culpa.

And when meetings are inevitable, but I am not the chair, I try to adopt the Zen Meeting-Goer persona. This attitude carries me through some long meetings, and some irritating or upsetting discussions. I try to focus on process and not the outcome. I try to just go with the flow.

And most important, I try to have pen and paper and draw all my emotions and thoughts about the meeting! My meeting notes are a lot less useful (actually, I still note major decisions) after a few months, but much more helpful in surviving the meeting!