\nNo one really knows how the parties got to yes,
\nThe pieces that are sacrificed in every game of chess
\nWe just assume that it happens
\nBut no one else is in the room where it happens\u2026<\/em><\/p>\nWe want our leaders to save the day
\nBut we don\u2019t get a say in what they trade away
\nI\u2019ve got to be in the room where it happens<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nWhat meetings do you attend because you feel you have got to be in The Room Where \u201cIt\u201d Happens?<\/p>\n
Sometimes we are actually invited by the organizer, sometimes by other attendees \u2013 and sometimes we just crash – because we do not want to be left out. We want to know what pieces are being sacrificed \u2013 and if any of those pieces are ours. So, ask yourself:<\/p>\n
Are you trying to be in the room, just to reassure yourself that nothing bad is going to happen? Or, that if it is, you know before anyone else?<\/p>\n
If ![\"kate-left-out\"](\"https:\/\/b-spoke.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/kate-left-out.png?w=300\")
you find yourself in the irrational pull of attending simply to scratch that \u201cwhat if\u201d itch, there are a few questions you should ask first:<\/p>\n
\n- What will you do differently, once you have the information?<\/li>\n
- How will learning now help you with your daily activities or projects?<\/li>\n
- Your time is an investment \u2013 is the return of attending this meeting worth it?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
If you do not have solid answers to these questions, you would be better off tending to your own work and dealing with the meeting\u2019s outcome when it actually affects you.<\/p>\n
Is It A Society Event?<\/h4>\n
Alternately, many believe that political capital can be earned simply by being in The Room Where It Happens, perception being that attendance denotes status. Those that attend certain meetings have greater agency in decisions, the fantasy goes; we complain about meetings, but we want<\/em> to be wanted. Sometimes we just want to rub elbows with decision makers \u2013 or just to be seen in the room.<\/p>\nIf you find you treat events on your calendar as a souvenir t-shirt from some exclusive happening, screaming \u201cLook how cool I am\u201d \u2013 skip the meeting. Use that time to advance your own career.<\/p>\n
Sometimes we just do not know what is going to happen in the room\u2026 Usually because we did not receive an ag![\"imperial-conference-room\"](\"https:\/\/b-spoke.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/imperial-conference-room.png?w=600\")
enda in advance. So we attend because our curiosity simply gets the better of us. Stop that! See this post<\/u> for tips on how to deal with that. If you think you will have a say in what is traded away, or you can get<\/em> a say, you should know in advance.<\/p>\nWill Anything Even Happen?<\/h4>\n
Lastly, how sure are you that anything will actually happen in The Room Where It Happens? How often do key decisions actually get made \u2013 particularly in a meeting \u2013 in your organization? Think about \u2013 what is the ratio of \u201cmeetings\u201d to \u201csignificant decisions made\u201d? Then, reduce that by a factor of \u201csignificant decisions made\u201d to \u201cthose specific decisions actually getting implemented\u201d? If those are pretty low ratios, you can be confident that not much is happening in The Room Where It Happens. As such, if you politely decline the meeting, you will likely thank yourself later.<\/p>\n
Conclusion<\/h4>\n
If your calendar is overflowing with meetings, at the sake of your being productive, you need to take a hard look at the meetings you attend. If you are attending for self-preservation or to minimize your own paranoia, you would be better off focusing on your own work and getting summaries later.<\/p>\n
Alexander Hamilton was not in The Room Where It Happens because he fought a revolution to attend more meetings; he was an accomplished man of action, and It happened because<\/em> he was in The Room. No one ever got promoted, received a raise, or found life satisfaction because they attended more meetings than anyone else. Focus on being the one who makes things happen, and worry less about who you are in the room with.<\/p>\nSave<\/span><\/p>\nSave<\/span><\/p>\nSave<\/span><\/p>\nSave<\/span><\/p>\nSave<\/span><\/p>\nSave<\/span><\/p>\nSave<\/span><\/p>\nSave<\/span><\/p>\nSave<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If paranoia, fear, and\/or curiosity are the primary reasons to attend a meeting, consider finding more productive things to do with your time.<\/p>\n
No one ever got promoted for attending meetings.<\/p>\n
Continue reading The Room Where It Happens<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":209,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10],"tags":[28,35,50,57,61],"class_list":["post-142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-managing-meetings","tag-decisions","tag-featured","tag-meetings","tag-pop-culture","tag-prioritize"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/the-room-where-it-happens-featured.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2528,"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142\/revisions\/2528"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"meetings\"](\"https:\/\/b-spoke.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/meetings.png?w=300\")
<\/a>than we lead. The upshot is most of us are victims of poor meeting management, not perpetrators. Time is a zero-sum game; hours spent in someone else\u2019s conference room is, by nature, hours spent away<\/em> from our work (multitasking to be discussed another time). If we presume that meetings will be poorly run, ineffective, and wasteful, what can we do about that \u2013 how can we reclaim our own time?<\/p>\n![\"aaron-burr-musical\"](\"https:\/\/b-spoke.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/aaron-burr-musical.jpg?w=300\")
The showstopper in Broadway\u2019s Hamilton<\/em> comes in Act Two: \u201cThe Room Where It Happens\u201d features Aaron Burr expressing resentment and frustration at his own political impotence:<\/p>\n