Ten Things That Annoy People at Business Meetings

Posted on July 26, 2007

Opinion Research USA has run an "Ouch Point" survey to determine what frustrates people at business meetings. They found out that disorganization is not good for meetings - this probably doesn't surpise you.

Disorganization is the greatest frustration for workers attending business meetings, according to Opinion Research USA's first "Ouch Point" survey, a new monthly study examining tolerance thresholds in a variety of common scenarios facing Americans in both their professional and personal lives. Surprisingly, tardiness is far better tolerated by the business community than disorganization, with only four percent frustrated by meetings starting late and five percent annoyed by attendees arriving late, the survey found.

Jeff Resnick, President of Opinion Research USA, says in a statement, "Structured business meetings with a closely followed agenda are often the most productive, particularly when attention spans can be short. Our first 'Ouch Point' survey indicates that a disorganized meeting is a disengaged meeting that will rarely result in the desired outcomes."

Here are some of the things occuring during meetings that really frustrate people.

1. Disorganized, rambling meetings - 27%
2. People who interrupt peers and try to dominate the meeting - 17%
3. Cell phone interruptions - 16%
4. People who fall asleep in meetings - 9%
5. Meetings with no bathroom breaks - 8%
6. Long meetings without refreshments - 6%
7. People leaving early or arriving late - 5%
8. People who check their Blackberries during meetings - 5%
9. Meetings starting late - 4%
10. No written recap of the meeting outcomes - 4%

Have a plan for the meeting. Start the meeting on time. Serve food and drink. Ask people to turn off their cell phones. Ask people not to interrupt or ask questions until a certain time. Just follow these five things and your meeting will be off to a good start.

Having too many meetings can also be annoying. They should do another "Ouch" study to find out just how many meetings people can tolerate in a day, week or month.

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