Another round of surprising facts about meetings
40% of employees spend up to 30 minutes daily looking for a meeting space
There are so many meetings every day. It’s no surprise that meeting spaces are scarce and in high demand. Much preparation goes into every meeting and that includes looking for a location.
Virtual meetings might offer things that physical meetings do not
With the rise of working from home, virtual meetings have become more and more prominent. These online meetings have been found to improve polling. They have also helped restructure offsite meetings and aid in brainstorming.
1 in 3 people fall asleep or feel sleepy during meetings
According to a survey by hotel chain Hilton, one-third of staff fall asleep or feel drowsy during work meetings. Furthermore, 4 in 10 Americans polled slept during a conference in the past year.
The average meeting lasts between 31 and 60 minutes
In most meetings, people need some time to digest the background and context of the topic at hand. Most calendar platforms also usually allow 30 to 60 minutes for each time block. That might be why meetings usually last for that length.
Only 25% of meetings start and end on time
Some of people’s biggest complaints about meetings are about time. More than three-quarters of meetings either start late or run over time. 45% of attendees feel that they regularly spend too much time in meetings.
Meetings are most useful when attendees actively participate
Passive observers do not gain much from attending a meeting. To truly get the most out of a meeting, attendees must be active. They must take part in the decision-making process.
Each meeting costs an average of $338
The mean salary cost of $338 is actually an adjusted average, which does not include senior level executives like high-paid CEOs. Those can cost more than $20,000 for each event!
A large organization spends up to 300,000 hours a year on meetings
Although the length of each meeting itself might not be that long, the prep time for each meeting can be quite a lot. This leads to a ripple effect. So much so that it can translate into a shocking 300,000 hours a year.
Eye contact is crucial during meetings
Less than 10% of our communication is done through the words that we say. Other factors are our facial expressions and body language. Even how we speak is important. Eye contact is one of these cues that help us create bonds with other people.
50% of meetings are considered unproductive
Even though we hold so many meetings every week, only half of them are considered to be effective. In order to get the most out of your meetings, be sure to tap on useful tools like Meetric to maximize your time and energy/