The Stand Up Meeting

"Stand up when you're on the phone."  A USC study found that your brain's information processing speed increases 5 to 20 percent when you're standing. Think you may look a little goofy standing around your office? You'd be in good company. Thomas Jefferson, Ernest Hemingway and Winston Churchill all stood while working."


~David Cottrell

I once worked at a very large company that had so many meetings nothing could ever be executed.  They decided to institute a timer so that speakers at the meetings would get off of their soap-boxes and stick to the point.  This worked for all of about 3 days. 
 
The company had a counterpart in the UK.  They actually held the same number of meetings each day but in less time. When asked how this could take place, the answer came back with the following:

1. a clear agenda with only 3 points max.
2. only decision-makers attended the meetings
3. every meeting started on time no matter if all were in attendance or not
4. the attendees could leave the meeting if the host did not appear within 3 minutes of the start time without advanced notice
5. all meeting were held standing up - NO chairs in the room

Pretty simply, this led to efficiency and productivity all around.  While the decision-makers were at the meeting, others were able to work on projects to meet deadlines.

Imagine that!!?  Try it!  It works.