Start of a Meeting - When to Arrive?

[dannie]

I'm beginning to get frustrated with a standing meeting that I've got every week. All of the people involved, seem to have a difference of opinion on what is an acceptable time to attend.

To me, if my meeting is scheduled to start at 10, I am there at 9:55, get sorted, organized and ready to rock at 10.

One of the attendees maintains: "the meeting is at 10, I will be there at 10 and we can get started once I get sorted out."

One of the others says: "I get organized before, slide in the door at 10, ready to go."

We as a group have discussed this and I'm finding myself between a rock and a hard place. So, I figured I'd create a poll and see which one is more of a standard protocol for other people.

[Canmorite]

I used to be early, but no one shows up on time and I'm not going to waste my time sitting around in an empty room. Show up on time and organized ready to go.

[Sugarphreak]

...

[killramos]

I maintain you should be there early, whether its 1 minute or 5. And the being prepared for your meeting for start time is a given.

Everyone gets scheduled for back to back meetings etc. so there should be occasional leeway but in general its the people who are ALWAYS 5-10 minutes late who you really notice.

We had one girl who was consistently late 5-15 minutes every week for multiple meetings. We ended up sticking her on the end of every agenda. She eventually quit. So now whenever someone is really late to a meeting we call them by her name :rofl:

Me, I'm usually the least important person in the room. So i like to always be the first one there. No way am i going to interrupt or hold up a meeting cause i wanted to grab a coffee. ( Sugarphreak beat me to this point, no one bags on the President for being late )

[sputnik]

Where I work the meetings generally start when the previous meeting vacates the meeting room I have booked.

This is usually 5-10 minutes past the scheduled start-time of my meeting.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Meh, it's 5 minutes out of a long work day, who cares. I've never been in an office work environment where anyone cared the slightest bit whether you arrived at 9:55 or 10:00. Usually the first and last 5 min are people just chatting anyway. Just schedule the meeting at 9:50 or 9:55 next time if bothers you that much. Also half the time the people using the meeting room before go late, so you aren't starting on time anyway. It's just not a big deal.

If you were meeting with upper management or something, or a job interview, then yeah you come a bit early, but it's pretty reasonable to show up at 10am for a standing weekly 10am meeting with peers. Call the meeting earlier if you want people to show up earlier. If you aren't the presenter, you are probably sitting there with a notepad and have little to prepare. It's hard to argue with anyone showing up right on time for a meeting. You also don't want to be the person everyone thinks is a meeting Nazi haha. Things come up. Maybe someone has an important phone call they have to take 5 minutes before the meeting, printer trouble, or someone comes into their office just as they're leaving. Any number of very reasonable things can make people late. If we had someone breaking people's balls for showing up to meetings on time rather than early, I know they would not be well liked at all.

[spike98]

When i book a meeting, i book the room for 15 mins prior to when my meeting is to start and plan to get rolling 5 mins after the scheduled start time. I do this as a courtesy for people that have busy schedules. Several times a week i am booked in for a meeting ending at 10 and another meeting starting at 10 on different floors. Its frustrating but its life. I also intentionally book the meeting for more time than i am sure i will need. This allows for immediate side discussions if needed and enough time to get to the next meeting.

When i show up from a meeting I do my best to arrive 5 minutes before but when that isn't an option, i ALWAYS email/text the meeting organizer 5 minutes before to give them the heads and to suggest that they get started without me and i will catch up.

[pheoxs]

Depends on the meeting. Larger safety meetings / team meetings / organizational updates it's roll in on time as I don't have an active participation role in those meetings.

If its a meeting with a client then 5 min early and be ready to go. If its a teleconference meeting and I'm not the one presenting my desktop, I'll get ready while we dial in and get ready.

If I have back to back meetings then its just do what I can, sometimes the first meeting rolls late and just lync/text that you'll be a bit.

[Hallowed_point]

5 minutes early should be considered common courtesy regardless of any pomp.

[killramos]

Originally posted by Hallowed_point
5 minutes early should be considered common courtesy regardless of any pomp.

Exactly, it is a courtesy. Noone is going to force you to show up to meetings a bit early.

But you are doing your part to not waste everyone elses time by doing so.

[ExtraSlow]

As mentioned before, it depends on who is attending that meeting, and how high ranking they are.

If you are at the bottom of the totem pole, the top folks can waste your time all they want, that's their right.

I like to arrive on time, or slightly before. I don't mind sitting around in an empty meeting room while I organize my notes.

If it's a really important meeting with a VP or higher, I'll actually spend half an hour earlier int eh morning typing my notes and printing out any reference material, putting it in a folder etc.


If you are running the meeting, and folks are coming late, just start without them. I worked with a guy who started meeting right on time, every time. "Alright, it's ten o'clock, let's get started". When folks show up late after that, they look like assholes, so most of them stopped doing it eventually. You need to be a little aggressive to get the ball rolling though.

[That.Guy.S30]

Always early. It shows work ethic and respect.

[mr2mike]

5 min early. Come prepared, spend the 5 min, deleting emails from cell or whatever.

That being said, meetings within my team, no one shows until right at or just after the start time. Usually leaving you to second guess if the meeting was cancelled or changed rooms last minute.

[phreezee]

Some people have back to back meetings, and meetings do run over despite saying you have a hard stop. I always leave the first 5 minutes for stragglers and idle chit chat before actually starting the meeting.

[M.alex]

start on time and come prepared

although it frustrates me greatly that meetings usually turn into such a waste of time as people just sit there spewing drivel that translates into it 'i do dick all and shouldn't be employed here anymore'

[Nast]

If you're like any of the senior members at my old work, in between the 5 shits you take a day, and leaving early (at noon) to take the rest of the day off to "meet a client downtown" for a half hour chat, then you probably show up 5-10 minutes late. You'll stroll in, disrupt the meeting by asking the same questions and wanting to cover topics that were already discussed. By the end of it you'll be talking in circles and try to tell people what needs to be done, while everyone else in the room will realize they pretty much have to do the exact opposite in order to accomplish what the client wants. It boggles my mind that these people still have jobs, even though they can't land any clients, in a time like this. /rant

[Hallowed_point]

Originally posted by Nast
If you're like any of the senior members at my old work, in between the 5 shits you take a day, and leaving early (at noon) to take the rest of the day off to "meet a client downtown" for a half hour chat, then you probably show up 5-10 minutes late. You'll stroll in, disrupt the meeting by asking the same questions and wanting to cover topics that were already discussed. By the end of it you'll be talking in circles and try to tell people what needs to be done, while everyone else in the room will realize they pretty much have to do the exact opposite in order to accomplish what the client wants. It boggles my mind that these people still have jobs, even though they can't land any clients, in a time like this. /rant

So true.

[riander5]

If you're not early you're late

[max_boost]

Originally posted by Hallowed_point
5 minutes early should be considered common courtesy regardless of any pomp. :thumbsup:

[sexualbanana]

Office department meetings for me just start at the scheduled time. There's only 3 of us so we just stroll into my manager's desk at the exact time.

When I meet with some of my groups though, I show up 5 minutes early and I'm usually the first person in. I'm the only person that doesn't externally bill my hours, so everyone else tends to show up at the scheduled time. Plus, the meetings are super efficient (which is awesome) since any time they spend in meetings is unbillable, so everyone wants to get the meeting done and go back to real work.

[Unknown303]

I'd just tell people you show up 5 minutes early to get sorted and the meeting begins at 10. If your late don't show up and see how well that goes for you.

[Disoblige]

3.5 minutes early, prepared. Sit and chat a bit depending on the environment.

[ZenOps]

15 minutes late.

To prove that you are too important to start the meeting without.

[lilmira]

Hi y'all,

Where are we at?

[AndyL]

In construction - it was 20min ahead so I could nail down a solution with the other trades - so when it started - we all looked like geniuses, with answers, details, sketches, pricing and just needing an "OK go ahead - change order to follow'

I'm always at least 10-15 early... But its an ocd thing...

[KO22]

Depends on the setting.

If I am in the office - 5 min before.
If I am on site, maybe like 10 min?

[HiTempguy1]

Why isn't there an option for being late?

There are some meetings that I am purposefully late for to prove a point. OP is not violating common courtesy rules for scheduling office meetings, but plenty of people do.

[NoPulp]

Early. Always early. And prepared.
Find it extremely disrespectful to be late, I don't care who I'm meeting with or how important it is.

[TYMSMNY]

Always be there early, set a good example for my employees!

What point are you trying to prove by being intentionally late?

[Sugarphreak]

Originally posted by HiTempguy1
Why isn't there an option for being late?

There are some meetings that I am purposefully late for to prove a point. OP is not violating common courtesy rules for scheduling office meetings, but plenty of people do.

Is this a union thing? Haha

[killramos]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak


Is this a union thing? Haha

Yea its called "can't be fired for being an ignoramus or ill grief to the union rep".

If you don't want to attend a meeting don't accept it, or don't show up and tell the organizer.

Wasting everyone else's time in a meeting is not a good excuse for proving a point to the organizer. Take care of your pissing contests and hissy fits on your own time.

How can we guess who is a public employee or what :facepalm:

[max_boost]

Simply do the Asian time thing.

Meeting at 10am. Tell everyone it starts at 9:45am. Even the late ppl will be on time. Don't know if this works in a professional environment but definitely works at shinny. :rofl:

[HiTempguy1]

Originally posted by killramos


How can we guess who is a public employee or what :facepalm:

Done it at other jobs too :dunno: Obviously if its the boss-man, you show up as the boss is the boss, doesn't matter what job it is.

I know its tough for a lot of people to understand that having a job doesn't mean bending over backwards to accommodate people in it and basically being someone else's bitch, but I digress :nut:

[killramos]

Originally posted by HiTempguy1

I know its tough for a lot of people to understand that having a job doesn't mean bending over backwards to accommodate people in it and basically being someone else's bitch, but I digress :nut:

I agree, so don't be a little bitch and passive aggressively try to piss people off and deal with your problems like a man without involving everyone else on a team.

[Disoblige]

Originally posted by spike98
spike, can you clear your inbox?

Edit: Thanks man!

[zieg]

I'm usually in the room 5-10 minutes early depending on what else I have on the go. But around here, if the meeting is 10:00, it starts at 10:00, sharp. Where you prepare is up to you.

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by max_boost

Meeting at 10am. Tell everyone it starts at 9:45am. Even the late ppl will be on time. Don't know if this works in a professional environment but definitely works at shinny. :rofl:

Work with women too.

Her - "What time is our reservation again?"
Me - " Umm, 6:45"

Makes it to the restaurant at exactly 7pm, when the reservation really is for.

Back to OP though, 5 minutes prior. I see it the same as your workday start time. If I were to be paid for 9am-5pm, strolling through the door at exactly 9am makes a person look like an idiot.

[taemo]

IMO it varies to the type of meeting and the culture of the company.

within our small group, we all try to be in the boardroom within +-3 min of the scheduled meeting.
it helps though that once one of us starts heading to the boardroom, we all start heading as well.

if we have vendors coming, they usually arrives 5-10min prior to the meeting, then about 5min chit-chat once inside the boardroom.




Originally posted by max_boost
Simply do the Asian time thing.

Meeting at 10am. Tell everyone it starts at 9:45am. Even the late ppl will be on time. Don't know if this works in a professional environment but definitely works at shinny. :rofl:

yup, Filipino time usually means extra 1 to 2 hour.
if you setup a dinner party at 6pm, rest assured that guests will start showing after 7pm :rofl:

[topmade]

I always try to be early but meetings are a gong show at my work. Ton's of back to back meetings and we are spread over 3 different buildings. 5-10 minutes late is very common for us, especially with PM's and managers who seem to do nothing but attend meetings all day. For me if you are late or not you should be ready to roll when you walk in the room, so many people try to be funny but are just wasting everyone's time.

[D'z Nutz]

Where I work, available meeting space and time is a premium so I totally have no problems if people are showing up at the scheduled time and start getting ready then, however I'm almost always early even if the room isn't available. Almost everyone in our group carries laptops so most times it's just a simple matter of plugging into the projector because any documents are already opened and ready to go.

However showing up 10-15 minutes late just because you can't keep track of time is not an acceptable excuse, especially if it's a meeting you're chairing.

Also, and maybe it's because I'm a dick, but

1) If you start the meeting with preamble that has nothing to do with the meeting, work, or the organization and more about your personal life or how cute your kids are or whatever, I will interrupt you and tell you to get to the point of the meeting.

2) If you show up late to your own meeting because you can't manage your own time and it hasn't concluded by the end of the allotted time, I will get up and leave even if there's still stuff left on the agenda.

Is it really hard to respect other peoples' time?

[Sorath]

We have alot of pointless meetings at work. When i say pointless its easily 5-10 meetings a week.

depends on if you're hosting or not. i say show up at 10 and good to go

[BigShow]

The worst is a conference call with a large group, late attendees beeping in disrupting the speaker.

[Redlyne_mr2]

Originally posted by Sorath
We have alot of pointless meetings at work. When i say pointless its easily 5-10 meetings a week.

depends on if you're hosting or not. i say show up at 10 and good to go

that sucks man, big auto groups love their meetings. I do 1 maybe 2 per week.

[ZenOps]

IMO its ok to be late. The bigger question is how many Timbits do you have to bring to smooth it over?

[Feruk]

Four types of meetings:

1) I'm running the meeting: 5 minutes early
2) I'm a required attendee: no more than 5 minutes late, but never early. On time is best, but no need to stress it. They'll wait.
3) I'm an optional attendee: no show; waste of time
4) I am forwarded a meeting invite: no show. Not important enough to be thought of? They can go without me. Some exceptions apply, but they are few and far between. These types of meetings are usually a time wasting trap.

To those that come 15 minutes early... don't you have anything better to do than sit there twiddling your thumbs for 12 minutes after you comfortably get your fat ass into a seat??

EDIT: The poll results are shocking. If I show up 5 minutes early to a meeting, the room is empty.


Originally posted by Sorath
We have alot of pointless meetings at work. When i say pointless its easily 5-10 meetings a week.
Just don't go...

[Hallowed_point]

Originally posted by ZenOps
IMO its ok to be late. The bigger question is how many Timbits do you have to bring to smooth it over? All bets are off if the person is late with food.

[killramos]

Wow a lot of you guys seem to have some major animosity towards meetings.

Me I relish the opertunity to get away from my desk, catch up on what other people are doing. Fill people on on what's going on in my world.

I don't beat myself up about not showing up though.

[Disoblige]

Originally posted by killramos
Wow a lot of you guys seem to have some major animosity towards meetings.

Me I relish the opertunity to get away from my desk, catch up on what other people are doing. Fill people on on what's going on in my world.

I don't beat myself up about not showing up though.
Unlike you, maybe others have more important meetings to attend other than their generic weekly update meeting. Just sayin'.

/harsh

:D

[killramos]

Originally posted by Disoblige

Unlike you, maybe others have more important meetings to attend other than their generic weekly update meeting. Just sayin'.

/harsh

:D

Lol I have never made the argument that anything I do or attend is important :rofl:

[Disoblige]

That's what I mean though. Some people might have pretty pressing and time sensitive projects, and if people are late and disorganized, it's super annoying. A person attending could be utterly useless if they didn't review what was asked to be reviewed before the start of the meeting. And my motto is, every person who's in the meeting should has something to add. Otherwise they shouldn't be there.

So back to the point, I can definitely see why the animosity from others and I was not trying to point out that you're not important.

[timdog]

Originally posted by killramos
Wow a lot of you guys seem to have some major animosity towards meetings.

Me I relish the opertunity to get away from my desk, catch up on what other people are doing. Fill people on on what's going on in my world.

I don't beat myself up about not showing up though.

I used to think this. I used to kind of like meetings when I had like 1 or 2 a week. Now I have at least 20 per week.. some days I have like 3 or 4 back to back. now I am very annoyed when I'm invited to meetings without agendas, or meetings that discuss something that could be resolved over email, etc. I am never early for meetings, but very rarely am I late either. but halfway through if it's a waste of my time, i'll just make up an excuse and leave.

[Manhattan]

As long as you're not the last person in the door you're golden. :rofl:

[BavarianBeast]

5 min early if i'm leading, on time if i'm not.

[yellowGTS]

Damn, I need a job, being laid off has made me want to be part of something more exciting. When I attended meetings they were always a welcome way to take a break from doing actual work. Often they are just babble and prevent management from doing any true work so keeping them on time is important

[jwslam]

Forbes = success right?

I'm gonna go with this:
5 Minutes Early Is On Time; On Time Is Late; Late Is Unacceptable (http://www.forbes.com/sites/brentbeshore/2015/08/02/5-minutes-early-is-on-time-on-time-is-late-late-is-unacceptable/?utm_content=buffer13595&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer)

[JustinMCS]

If you're not 5 minutes early, you're late.

[bjstare]

Originally posted by HiTempguy1
Why isn't there an option for being late?

There are some meetings that I am purposefully late for to prove a point. OP is not violating common courtesy rules for scheduling office meetings, but plenty of people do.

You shouldn't plan on progressing into any upper management position. You wouldn't last long on my team at all with a ridiculous stance like this. How old are you, 15?