Most of us are too familiar with tedious, unfocused, time-wasting, energy-sapping meetings. We wade through monotonous minutiae to deal with issues on which most attendees make no meaningful contribution. Useless and annoying meetings lead to countless jokes and cartoons.
Meetings also have positive features, however. And the primary alternative to meetings—getting information on paper or in digital form—has limitations. People are influenced far more by a speaker’s appea