By Paul Gillin, Technology Journalist, Computerworld |
Weekly insights and advice on how to use smart tech strategies to tackle modern business challenges
Do you love meetings? Neither do I.
I realized it was time to leave my last job when I noticed I was spending an average of six hours a day in meetings, many of which I had been asked to attend strictly on an FYI basis.
Read.ai has raised $10 million toward the goal of better understanding what doesn’t work about meetings so the people who run them can do it better.
Its software analyzes basic metrics such as start and end times, attendance, and time spent on different topics. It then folds in machine learning-derived observations from audio and video recordings that indicate engagement levels as measured by factors like participation, tone of voice, and visual expressions.
In April, the company issued a report based upon an analysis of more than three million tracked meeting minutes, and it contained some compelling observations.
About one in five meetings is rated as inadequate by attendees, with just 46% achieving a “good” rating.
Among the reasons given are the number of participants who arrive late increases with meeting size, topping out at 51% late attendees for meetings with seven or more people.
On average, 30% of participants show up late, one-quarter are disengaged, one person does nearly half the talking in most small meetings, and 22% of participants in meetings of seven or more people don’t say a word.
These findings mirror my own experience pretty closely, so I was interested in speaking to Read.ai Co-Founder David Shim to ask for his advice for making meetings better. They boiled down to these seven factors.
Copyright © 2022 IDG Communications, Inc.
Copyright © 2022 IDG Communications, Inc.