Biggest Meeting Pet Peeves

At its most fundamental level, the office plays an integral part in an infinite number of industries. It exists as a nexus of activity, a hub of productivity, and – perhaps most importantly – a meeting place of minds. While formal meetings can propel a company’s progress, they can also be ineffective at times, aggravating employees and obstructing objectives.

In order to determine what makes a meeting useful, we surveyed 1,000 people who have worked in an office environment on how they feel about meetings, covering everything from buzzwords to conference calls. Many agree on a few certain points: No one should use the phrase “think outside the box,” meetings should only be scheduled when absolutely necessary, and conference calls should never take place in noisy spaces with poor reception.

However, there were some outliers. Millennials, for instance, are more likely to say that meetings are a productive use of their time, and men and women reacted differently to jargon. Women especially were annoyed when people talked over others during conference calls. To read more and to find out what makes a successful meeting, check out the infographic below.