I was noodling through the Internet the other day when I came across this gem from tech titan Jeff Bezos, who most of you know runs Amazon. In short, Jeff runs his general meetings quite differently than most of us do. For one, he spurns Powerpoint presentations (which he says are easy for the presenter, but not so much for the listener) in favor of everyone reading a very well crafted memo about the subject at hand after the meeting has begun (he calls this a "study hall"), and once everyone has completely read the memo only then discussing the topic with one another. His point is that after people have read the whole memo, they are all literally on the same page and now can engage fully in the subject. He even goes as far to say that there is an aesthetic beauty to such a meeting because of the level of people can involve themselves into it.
Those of you have participated in meetings with me know that I tend to ask a lot of questions and make comments because I am working on getting my arms around the subject that simply l will not be able to if I am just sitting there listening. Given the closer level of engagement on offer with Jeff's method of running meetings, I have to confess I am impressed, and seems to me worth giving it a shot sometime.
What I am NOT on board with is that Jeff does not stay to a strict schedule and his meetings often run overtime. This is anathema to me, and will not happen on my watch.
Still, for my extension colleagues and others who are involved in getting ideas and information across at a meeting in a meaningful and effective way this is worth a try.