Meetings create a lot of waste in companies.
Employees spend 31 hours in unproductive meetings every month.
They consider 67% of meetings as failures.
What is a better way to connect and relate to each other than reflecting on our shared love (irony) for pointless meetings with the following funny meeting memes?
I am sure you can find a meeting meme fitting your current situation.
The following list of memes sums up how we all feel about meetings.
1) When the meeting just drags on
Some meetings just drag on and on. I like this meeting meme because it perfectly shows how we often feel about meetings.
Taking part in ineffective meetings is not just a waste of time, it can hurt your body.
2) When the meeting has way too many participants
When setting up meetings, the people you invite are as important as what you need to get done.
Including too many or too few people can be a waste of time for everyone involved.
With too many meeting attendees, you may have trouble focusing everyoneâs time and attention and accomplishing the meeting goals.
With too few, you might not have the right decision-makers or information providers in the meeting.
3) When there are no meeting notes
If no one remembers what you talked about in a meeting, did you have a productive meeting?
Weâve all been there.
This is why you should have a record of decisions and important discussions in the form of meeting notes for all your meetings.
4) When there is no meeting agenda
If you skip creating an agenda, your meetings can quickly go off track, get hijacked by a random topic, or include people who shouldnât be attending.
5) When you have meetings to review your existing meetings
A good sign that you have too many meetings is when you invite for a meeting to discuss the number of meetings. đ
6) When you cannot be productive and have meetings at the same time
We all have our experience with boring, unproductive meetings that do not add much value but take away the time and energy of the participants.
As Jason Fried (CEO, Basecamp) summarized it:
Meetings arenât work. Meetings are places to go and talk about work that youâre supposed to be doing later.
7) When meetings take place on Monday mornings
Monday mornings are the worst time to schedule meetings.
Lynn Taylor, author of âTame Your Terrible Office Tyrantâ, argues that employees are the most productive on Monday mornings.
She says:
Because youâve stepped away for a couple of days, these back-to-work mornings are the most memorable for the rest of the week.
On top of that, employees also tend to be out of the office on Mondays. Meetings scheduled that day will probably have a lot of no-shows.
8) When you have too many meetings on the same day
I am sure, you will have stories about pointless meetings without agendas, or recurring meetings that feel like unnecessary time sucks.
It does not have to be this way.
There are many strategies and ideas for teams with too many meetings.
Additionally, the flexibility of asynchronous communication can help us reclaim our time.
Just imagine just watching the highlights of a meeting recording instead of attending the whole meeting. đ
9) When you ask for meeting notes
You know you lost when even the meeting organizer becomes sarcastic about meeting notes. đ
10) When you add even more meetings to your calendar
This is one of my favorite memes as I am also a huge fan of the Interstellar movie.
Every meeting series can be seen as a form of culturax tax. When you do not make sure to invest the time wisely in all those sessions, you will lose a lot of time foreverâŠ
11) When meetings confuse you
This happens when you are sucked up in meetings and in the end, do not know anymore what to work on.
Maybe you have too many action items, unclear priorities or even contradicting tasks.
12) When the meeting could have been an email
This is classical.
I am sure, this happened to you as well. You find yourself in a meeting asking âWhy do we even have a meeting for it? This could have been a simple email!â
13) When you are the first to join a meeting
Too early to a meeting? Or have the wrong meeting link?
Weâve all been there.
14) When the meeting is not ending
If you constantly watch the clock and count down the minutes, you know the meeting is a huge waste of your time and energy.
In many companies, it is seen as impolite to leave the meeting but isnât it the best thing to do to use the time effectively?
15) When there is no meeting agenda for your workshop
Full-Day workshop and no agenda? Oh god, good luckâŠ
16) When you suffer from zoom fatigue
I like this Zoom meeting meme so much. đ
Zoom fatigue is a feeling of mental fatigue and exhaustion caused by video conferencing and I am sure you also suffered from it.
17) When the host drops out
I find this meme funny and scary at the same time.
Funny as it happens all the time that someone drops out and I become the host. Scary because of the face of the man on the meme. đ
18) When you accidentally share the wrong screen
Argh. Thatâs a tough one.
I am sure you also have information on your computer that you might not want others to see.
For example, some personal data that other team members should not see (performance reviews, feedback from others, etc).
19) When you cannot âjustâ reduce the number of meetings
Itâs often not simple to reduce the number of meetings without risking business outcomes.
Many companies do not have an asynchronous culture in place. If you want to reduce the meetings there, you need to start with the culture and the mindset.
20) When you do not have much time left before a meeting to finish your tasks
This happens oftentimes when your calendar is fragmented and you need to fit in some tasks between meetings.
To avoid having too many meetings and more focus time you need to make sure your meetings are not scattered around the whole day/week.
21) When a short call makes you suspicious
Some short calls with no agenda can make you suspicious?
Short meetings are often more effective than longer ones. But they should have an agenda and a goal anyway. đ
22) When there are meetings all over the place
People feel overwhelmed by meetings. No wonder, on average, they spend nearly 23 hours a week in them, up from less than 10 hours in the 1960s.
Much has been written about the problem of having too many meetings, and there are many strategies on how to tackle it:
Establish a clear agenda, only invite needed people, keep it short, have a clear meeting goal, etc.
Yet a change of such scope is rarely considered.
23) When others try to fit more meetings into your calendar
If you donât control your schedule, it will control you.
Others will send you meeting invitations to times that might not work for you or that might not necessarily require your attendance.
This is why you need to use time blocking techniques to take back control of your workday.
24) When employees ask for meeting-free Thursdays
Having meeting-free days is not helping much if you squeeze the meeting into the other days.
But they can help to reduce the fragmentation of calendars which causes a lot of unnecessary context switching.
25) When a question by a coworker prolongs the meeting
The meeting nearly is over, you want to go back to get something done and⊠Your colleague asks another question dragging the meeting for additional 15 minutes.
Stick to your agenda and stick to the timebox. If the meeting is over, try to quit it and discuss the rest asynchronously.
26) When workshops hinder you to be productive
Meetings and workshops are necessary to align on goals, the process, and much more.
They can not only be energy-draining but also hinder you to work on what matters.
Customers will not become happier when you do a lot of workshops. They will only become happy if the product or service they are getting brings value.
Invest your time in what brings value.
27) When there are meetings on the meeting-free day
If people organize meetings on meeting-free days, itâs a strong sign that you have way too many meetings.
28) When you unmute yourself just to say âokâ
I am sure you can relate to this. Silent for quite a while and then unmute yourself to just say âOKâ. đ
29) When you have to decide between more meetings and more workshops
This happens when you are not sure whether a short meeting with a small group will be enough or you need a full-fledged workshop with many participants.
30) When you cannot facilitate the meeting as you are not part of it
I know, this is a meeting meme.
But itâs so true. Happened to me. đ
I was asked why I did not facilitate a meeting I was not even part of.
31) When you could just invite the needed people but go for the big workshop
Itâs so easy to invite more people that are not needed. Although those invitees could simply reject the session, there is peer pressure kicking in.
If half of the department is invited it has to be important.
It rarely is.
32) When you are invited to a 7 am meeting
Yes, I have been there. Another anecdote.
A high-level executive invited me once to a series of 7 am meetings.
33) When there is no meeting agenda
Having no meetings certainly drops the collective intelligence by all participants by 10 IQ points.
I do not have scientific resources for this, but I saw this several times. đ
34) When you calculate the cost for the workshop
Did you ever just calculate the money your team lost by doing an unnecessary meeting?
Just estimate some average salary for your industry/niche and multiply it by the number of attendees.
I am sure you will be shocked.
35) When you wished you would have more time for your meeting
Another one for the Interstellar fans.
36) When you need a meeting to discuss other meetings
A good sign you have too many meetings.
Start by not having more meetings. Decide things asynchronously.
37) When some things never change
Here is a Zoom meeting meme.
Do you think they had Zoom fatigue 2000 years ago?
38) When your coworkers love to be in meetings
It starts with the culture.
If the people around you like the meeting number and the processes you have in your team, they will not like to change it.
This boardroom meeting meme perfectly summarizes how important the whole mindset towards meetings is.
39) When you had too many meetings
Haha. đ No energy left at the end of the day? This meeting meme is for you!
40) When you want to be productive but get more meetings
You know, it becomes crazy at work when you want to work on stuff but cannot because you get too many meeting invitations.
Well, I think you have to practice your âSay-Noâ-skills. đ
41) When your day is full of meetings
âJustâ 8 meetings?
Not sure, how your calendar looks but this is crazy if you are not a manager whose job it is to communicate with stakeholders, etc.
But I am sure behind the smiling face of this guy are lots of tears and cries. đ
42) When you feel powerful because of a day without meetings
Did you ever have the feeling of power just because you had some time to get shit done and focus?
This is because of the so-called flow time.
43) When you recognize its better to have fewer people in the meeting
This is how it should be done. Have a bias towards smaller and shorter meetings.
In most cases, you just need a small number of people to drive decisions and can inform other stakeholders asynchronously.
44) When all meetings happen on virtual calls
Well, if Covid taught workplaces one thing, it is that people can work in a remote setup.
If stuff happens nowadays, it happens on Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet.
You can end up in the same meeting fatigue using those tools.
Reduce the FOMO of attending meetings by uploading meeting highlights to Exploo and creating transparency around decisions made.
45) When a meeting got canceled
The moment when you realize that you will have more focus time. đȘđŒ
46) When the meeting is prolonged with more agenda items
This often happens when you have time left and people have spontaneous ideas about what to discuss.
This is why you need a great meeting facilitator.
If people want to discuss other topics, make sure they discuss them afterward with all other people that are needed to drive decisions.
47) When everybody is in meetings who is doing the work?
Good question.
Meetings most often do not create a direct product outcome, but usually are to align yourself to do the work afterward.
So if everybody has meetings, who are creating value in your product?
Scary.
48) When you donât reach the sprint goal because of too many meetings
I saw this quite often.
Managers complaining about missed sprint and quarterly goals. But at the same time, they create dozens of meetings for everybody to âalign on stuffâ.
49) When the meeting is over but someone has âthe last questionâ
Did you ever have this eye roll in your face (or in your imagination) when meetings are prolonged because of âone last questionâ or âone last commentâ
50) When there is a software product that can help you reduce meetings
Guess what? There is a software product that helps you reduce meetings: Exploo.
With Exploo you can share meeting recordings with co-workers and make sure that information is spread transparently.
No meeting FOMO and no need to attend all meetings anymore.
Just catch up on the relevant parts and highlights in the meeting recordings.
Did you like those meeting memes? Feel free to share them with co-workers and on social media. đđŒ
