"All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on."

Henry Ellis

August 23, 2007

Would you shut up already

I went to a seminar yesterday, talk about a sleepfest.. The subject matter wasn't boring, it was the speaker. Completely monotone, no humor, read from a script, and no audience participation. If you are going to make me sit there for 3 hours, be entertaining at least. This could have been a great seminar, it was on working relationships between the generations... He only opened up for questions at the end, by that time all most of us wanted to do is run for the exit....

6 comments:

.... said...

Sounds army related....

No really I get what you mean....if its not going to be interactive, put me in the back closest to a door, make it be close to a starbucks, caffeine is a must! Serve food....anything to break it up....

I have this meeting I attend once a month.....they used to read everything off the paperwork sitting in front of us....it's 2 hours long...I used to call it the IMI "Information Meeting for the Illiterate" because I really thought they did not know if we knew how to read....but now I think it was because they were afraid we would not read it once we left their sight....now they just touch on portions of the paperwork that are most important and bring in the speakers from other "important" areas so they can read their paperwork for us.....I've seen people play games on their phones, mess with blackberries, a few fall asleep, yawning is quite prevalent.....but my seat is always in the front, right in front of the table of those in charge, I sit with my paperwork in front of me zoned on caffeine to assure I stay awake.....wouldn't look good if I was doing any of the above during this meeting.....of course there are times when orthodontic appointments just can not be scheduled any other time but then =]

Bag Blog said...

I used to attend teacher in-service days. Teachers are like their students. If the meeting is boring, they tend to act up, drift off, or find something else to do like grade papers or pass notes, giggle, talk, etc. We were pretty hard on some speakers; of course, we learned from the best audiences - our students.

Shelly said...

A soldiers wife,
Ok yours is worse, you have to attend every month..I really hate it during a meeting when they make you feel like your back in school. If you treat me like an adult I will usually act like one.

Shelly

Shelly said...

Bab Blog,

I didn't know you were a teacher? Do you still do any teaching?

Shelly

Buck said...

There are many, many things I don't miss about working life, and interminable staff meetings (and other such gatherings) are just one. My last boss only had three direct reports yet insisted on holding a two-hour staff meeting every Friday. It was ludicrous, to be very kind.

Staff meetings and frickin' PPT presentations from vendors and such trying to sell me/us something that's billed as wondrous beyond belief but in reality is vaporware...or worse. Dunno which was worse (pointless meetings or vendor presentations), actually.

Shelly said...

Buck,
I am in a service industry and I get the marketing people all the time, I have learned to be very direct and give them a time limit.

Shelly