Since I work from home and am often involved in Skype teleconference "meetings" leaving the laptop out of the meeting isn't really an option for me! :) I've found I need to be really disciplined to not be web surfing and so on while the meetings are going on!

emmzee

I totally agree with JFlaming.
But I'm going to post my thoughts too!

I've decided that if I ever run a meeting or speak to a group, I will announce that all electronic devices are welcome and should be left on.

It's time that those at the head of the room should not impose their will on those sitting in chairs. We ask people to multi-task and then put up this antiquated barrier?

Shall we ask them to lay down their pens lest they doodle?

Rise up O Meeting Attenders - Revolt Against the Luddites.

GoingLikeSixty

If meetings were more engaging and a wiser use of time, people might use laptops less. Most of the time when I hear speakers/meeting leaders complaining about this they are guilty of holding court over hours of mindless powerpoint-blathering. Their prisoners are trying to recoup their hours or keep entertained.
Not always, mind you. There are people who never seem to give anything their undivided attention, no matter how warranted.
How about trying to keep the meeting so short and intense that the participants are so busy they never get time to wander off to other activities?

jflaming

I have been thinking recently that meetings are an outdated technology for dispensing information to a group. They made sense as a way to keep a group up to date in the days before email and the web, but these days if someone is standing at the front of the room droning on then its a certainty that the same information could be communicated to the same group much more efficiently using email or the web. All this to say that people using laptops to get other stuff done during meetings is not the problem. The problem is the meeting and the laptop use is actually an appropriate attempt to mitigate some portion of the massive damage to productivity caused by braindead meetings.

Meetings where issues are discussed and decisons are made with everyone participating are, of course, very productive, but you won't find people doing their email at those.

AndyFromTucson

And for those of us who would prefer to take notes on a laptop or mobile device? Ban my laptop from meetings, and I'm either going to take no notes at all, in which case I won't remember what happened or what I'm supposed to do, or I'll take them on paper, which will then get lost in a pile somewhere, in which case I won't remember what happened or what I'm supposed to do.

Having people sitting in a meeting constantly answering and sending emails/IMs/etc. is clearly an annoying waste of time and resources. However, it seems like the devices are a symptom, not a cause.

Seems like having one would be better off a)having fewer meetings, b)making sure that the people invited *actually* need to attend, and/or c)making an effort to engage the participants. Frankly, when I run across the person in my meeting who is glued to the laptop and not paying attention, actively involving her/him in the conversation works a good 90% of the time.

downdb

What about those who need to use excell to write down, and calculate figures that come up during meetings!?

Laptops are useful for some situations, but they are always a distraction.

Maurik

Laptops are required for workshops - not meetings, so be clear in defining your event.

Workshops require tools, access to data, recording of results and so on. Meetings do not.

A Meeting is a gathering of stakeholders to collectively address issues, share information and solve problems.

You do not need to take notes in meetings (unless you are 'Scribe'. That's what minutes are for.

Meetings don't have slides. Meetings with slides are called Presentations.

Meetings require each person to be engaged to achieve the goal of the meeting.

If there is no goal, find out why the meeting was called.

If you cannot contribute - ask why you were invited and if you need to come next time.

On ther other hand, if the catering is good - why make time ? :-)

doublej

Most meetings I have been subject to were ostensibly to address issues with everyone's input needed, but in actuality so that whoever called the meeting could rant and vent and tell everyone what to do, or to report "news" that everyone already knew to begin with and could have been e-mailed to everyone just as well. I would say less than 5% of meetings I have ever been required to attend were anything but an utter waste of my time. And I was not allowed to bring anything but pen and paper, so yes, I did just doodle, or write personal lists for myself for later.

nyc_live

@doublej:

A meeting like "deciding the price of our product for this trading period" requires at least one person to bring a laptop with some sort of spreadsheet software that can quickly do the calculations.

Since starting to bring my laptop to meetings I have found that the goal of the meeting has been reached much quicker.

I dont think the problem of many meetings are the laptops etc. I think the productivity issues lie elsewhere, as you say, erroneous members being present. A meeting of 5 people is much more effective than a meeting of 10.

Maurik