Comments on: Closing your laptop in meetings

By: The Three C’s Of Interviewing « WebbTech Solutions

The Three C’s Of Interviewing « WebbTech Solutions — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 14:46:31 +0000

[...] Closing Your Laptop In Meetings [...]

By: How I Use My iPad for Business « WebbTech Solutions

How I Use My iPad for Business « WebbTech Solutions — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 13:35:08 +0000

[...] the temptation to mentally check out of the meeting when it drags on and on is too much. I’ve written about that already. Secondly the laptop screen places a subtle barrier between you and the person on the other side of [...]

By: Conducting Effective Meetings « WebbTech Solutions

Conducting Effective Meetings « WebbTech Solutions — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:07:47 +0000

[...] written about some of those experiences and my short-sightedness in a prior post entitled “Closing Your Laptop in Meetings“. If you haven’t read it, I’d encourage you to do so and then take the [...]

By: notebook sales

notebook sales — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 05:32:46 +0000

hey nice tip, thank for your article. it really help to increase my productivity

By: Kevin Kline

Kevin Kline — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:32:12 +0000

I’m with you 100%, Joe. You can tell by looking at my laptop whether I’m invested in the meeting. If I care about it, the laptop is always closed and I’ll use pen & paper for notes.

A key element of a successful meeting is understanding the purpose of the meeting. So many times, meetings are a huge waste of time because the organizer doesn’t even know the purpose of the meeting. Sometimes the reason for some meetings is only that “we always meet at Thursdays at 10:00 am”. What a huge waste of time. Meetings to be for a reason, like “we’re here to prioritize our current bug fix requests” or “we’re here to set UI guidelines for the new project”.

And, if everyone is invested and productive in the meeting, you can even adjourn early when you achieve the goal of the meeting. That only ever happens when the organizer has explained what the goal of the meeting is all about.

Great tip, Joe!

By: akrasheninnikov

akrasheninnikov — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:57:20 +0000

Yeah, that’s a good point. But I’d specify: leave your personal laptops and only use a shared wireless KVM (keyboard/mouse, wall projector) to adopt things like IBIS during the meetings and not lose time retyping the pen-and-paper notes. See cleverworkarounds.com for more on that topic. I think that would make the meetings even more productive.

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:00:03 +0000

Awesome. If I’ve gone off the deep end, at least I’m in good company.

By: Bill Graziano

Bill Graziano — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 12:59:55 +0000

You’re my HERO! I find the exact same thing to be true. I’ve always made an effort to keep my laptop closed. It’s interesting to look around the room and see how many laptops are open and where people’s attention is. Long live pen and paper!