Meeting = Greeting + Reading + Leading

(I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t proud of coming up with that.)

I like this meeting format:

1. (First 5%) Say hi and chit chat for a minute while you wait for stragglers.
2. (Next 20%) Have everyone silently read whatever is necessary for context. This could be a pre-read for an open discussion, a chapter of a book for a book club, the bug report before a pairing session, whatever. PROTIP: Tell them to turn their webcam off while they’re reading and only turn it back on when they’re done.
3. (Last 75%) Lead the conversation around that thing.

If step two makes you uncomfortable, why? Usually it’s because “we need to make the most of our time together” (good luck doing that when people haven’t done the reading) or “people read at different speeds” (that’s OK, we’ll wait for everyone to finish).

Your attendees will love you for it, I promise.

Related: Talk, type, read, review