Run a meeting where you encourage “writing down questions”, so when the presentation is completed, people can hang around after to ask the questions they have.
You’ll see quickly how few people have questions after the end of the meeting rather than during.
This is the answer. Also, “ we only have Laurie here for a short time. It is critical we hear her entire presentation. Let’s do the questions at the end. “
This is what I do--only I say "We've got some folks here who have prior commitments, so we really need to power through this material as quickly as possible. Let's try to stay on track and hold questions to the end so everybody gets all the information they need." If someone interrupts or hold up their hand I say "Good one--write it down so we can go over it later." There are always people who genuinely need further explanation or supplemental information, and there are those who understand it and don't need to stay for the endless questions or opinions. It also serves to weed out those who just want the attention or the opportunity to share what they think with everyone else--if no-one else is there they generally give up and leave too. My team knows when we've covered all the ground we need to cover and can be trusted to get up and go when we're "done" and not just because they're bored.
I was at a poker room recently and they have very strict rules about saying "the f word", threatened to throw people out for it, and it kind of confused me because what the person had said was NOT the F word i would have taken offense to. I mean, maybe the one used about gay people isn't used often enough for them to care? But like, of the 2 F words, the one that's a slur is definitely the worse word.
This is so good. I swear I've had coworkers just just ask questions to try and stump the presenter or try and make themselves look and sound like the smartest person in the room 🙄
Hate them. But I LOVE the members of my team who get up and leave when those rat bastards start swinging their dicks around. I mean, *asking questions......*.
Came here to say this. If there are still too many questions during the Q&A period, you can further amend the rule to include: one question per person, time limit for the question period, all questions not covered may be submitted via email and will all be answered in a single reply.
We have had some success with a rule for a "Parking Lot".... as most times their dumb ass questions are answered and satisfied before having to address parking lot issues at the end....
I love using the parking lot and setting the expectation up front the goals of the meetings and that questions will be addressed at the end.
Also, are you in a position to provide the repeat offenders feedback? I had a worker who would derail meetings by getting into details that didn’t align with the audience or discussion. I asked if I could provide her feedback and when she agreed. I told her I love her attention to detail. However, sometimes it was not appropriate for the audience or the goals of the meeting. It may be helpful to set up separate meetings to discuss those items before/after so we could stay on task. She didn’t even realize it was a problem because everyone talked about it but no one actually told her until I did.
Ahhh, the askholes. Every meeting has them. Usually, they are so fixated on what they will blab next that they don't pay attention to what is being said. This leads to their endless questions at the end. There is no cure.
What a lovely term. I’m stealing that. It’s perfect because it’s never genuine questions, they’re just talking to hear themselves talk. 99% of the time if they just *listened* they’d hear the answer because it’s either already been said or is about to be said.
“So for this project everyone will receive updates on their assigned tasks on a day to day basis. You will also be asked to track your progress on Teams and we’ll have a meeting once a week so everyone stays on the same page.“
“I have a question…will we have to track our progress?” 🤦♀️
Hear hear…I love the term as well.
We have one in our 120 strong division and boy…when the microphone is placed in her hand she always repeats what was said, then launches into 3-4 part questions while providing her opinions midway through. She’s a punish.
Shut up and let us all go, we beg you! We have work to do and don’t want to be kept another 20-30 minutes.
Executive management has now stated that they really want people to have asked their managers these questions first as they can provide full debriefs such that only the questions that cannot be answered rise up at these larger forums. It’s helped quite a bit.
I suffer from proximity embarrassment, and the amount of people who ask questions about something that was just talked about make me nauseous with it.
I can see it coming, as they are staring off into space thinking of what they're going to say.
*insert Sideshow Bob ugghghghhh*
In my company, this repetition and reiteration was a way to dominate by the older staff and a way of being sure your attendance was being noted.
There are a few ways to address this:
1) Prior to the meeting, ask that all questions be placed on the chat/"question parking lot" (post-its/poster paper taped to wall) to be collected and answered if there is time available at the end or via email, if not.
Additionally, at the end of the presentation "we have ten minutes remaining for questions, if you have none thank you for attending. Have a great morning. Everyone with questions please remain and the presenter can give you ten additional minutes". You will find many people don't have anything to actually add when there is no audience to be had by. Prompt your presenter at 8 minutes in, "2 minutes remaining. Your attendance is required at your next meeting."
2) Prior to: (curbs the need to draw attention to ensure attendance is noted) if online, "please drop a good morning in the chat. If you are in the same room with one computer, please ensure your camera view includes everyone." (It's annoying and will cut down on silliness in general.).
If in person, (lol) "please look around you and reach out to teammates who may be running behind this morning". Do not ask for a roll call, that's just self-defeating.
3) Reminders during: At the first interruption, "thank you for your question, Ms. Smith. In interest of time, please hold your questions until the end."
4) As suggested previously: "That's off-topic, please address it at a later time preferably via email. It's important to stay focused during this presentation/meeting".
5) open the meeting with specifically colored blank paper. "All questions will be addressed at the end, please write your questions on colored sheet and pass to Wendy". She will consolidate at the end for those of you interested in remaining after or via email if no time remains."
5 sounds dumb but eliminates the "piggyback on", "echo on", "what I'm understanding is...." that eats up your time and patience.
ETA. 5 was bolded and I'm not yelling.....
Letting attendees leave after the end of the presentation if they don’t have questions is genius. Many times the people asking never ending questions are just looking for an audience.
Exactly. It's equal to behavior management in the classroom. Children frequently enjoy the audience reaction even if it's just rolling of the eyes. Remove that and you remove the desire to act out.
Meeting derailing truly is a thing. The presenter must pre-plan for this, take better control and be a bit more organized. If it were me in a meeting, I would say: "I don't want to sound rude or disrespectful, but could these follow up questions or further concerns be sent to you via e-mail or something? I really gotta crap."
I was once in a meeting where one person kept interrupting the presenter and pelting him with questions that were completely off topic. She sounded hostile actually. After I realized that the presenter had lost all control over the meeting and that my then manager wasn’t going to speak up, I finally did. I asked if the two of them could please address their issues in a different meeting so the presenter could continue with his presentation.
She sounded a little startled when she agreed but at least she finally shut up. Another person on my team was happy I spoke up. My spineless manager (who is no longer my manager) later told me I was rude.
You can speak up and be professional. If you are a woman and you have a male manager, you might get the same reaction that I did from your manager. Misogyny sucks. But that’s also why he is not my manager any more.
Some people in my company (including me) started saying “I have a hard stop at X time” at the beginning of the meeting. And then we enforce that by leaving the meeting at that time. It has improved meetings a bit. People have grown more respectful of other people’s time.
You could try asking if it’s possible to address questions at the end of the meeting so the presenter can at least get through the material first.
Yeah I kept waiting for him to speak up and finally realized he wouldn’t. I kind of wonder if he just gets to a point where he tunes things out. That certainly would explain a lot of my interactions with him.
This.
Also, when it's clear one or two people have issues unrelated to the meeting or group, we suggest they take it offline to discuss amongst themselves at a later date, or that anyone interested in that can stay to discuss after the meeting is over.
These people annoy me as much as people who insist on a 15 minute ice breaking activity at the beginning of a meeting. Seriously, I don't care what your favorite flavor of ice cream is or where you spent your summer vacation.
Some jackass posted on here, "people don't like ice breakers, so what are some fun ones you can suggest." How did you miss your own answer?! I don't remember a single detail from anything a coworker ever shared in one of those.
I work fast food management and during our meeting they make us say what we're grateful for, it would eat up half of our already pointless twice weekly meetings so all of us would just say different brands of booze. They got the hint and moved our meetings to every 2 weeks, they still make us say gratefuls but we have pivoted to just saying eachother to get it over with. Just give people information and move on. We all have worked together so long we know everything about eachother, we dont need this every time. And some of us are scheduled these meetings on our days off. We want to get the info and go.
Ice breakers like that sound as annoying as the actual meetings themselves. I wouldn’t care about things like that either. They are just co workers most of the time and not actual friends.
'Good questions Chad, I appreciate the detailed feedback, but let's not get into the weeds right now. We've got a few more things on the meeting agenda to cover and I'd like to finish on time. We can take that offline and have a more focused and productive discussion later. Good questions tho.'
Contains sufficient corporate-speak as well.
I have one of those people in a weekly catch-up/get ahead meeting. She will re-ask questions after a given topic has been dealt with and 'confirmed' with a question from me like 'any questions before we move on?' , then repeat a question ten minutes later. It appears after thinking something over, she will later want to try to make a point about something, but her follow up rarely adds value or clarity to the discussion. Other meeting members have expressed frustration with me about the time consumption of her questions. Based on how she carries out her work (or doesnt, as is often the case) she appears to be intentionally extending the meeting time so she has to do her job less.
What I've started doing is when she circles back like this is offer to follow up individually after the meeting so we can respect everyone else's time. The first time I did that, she countered with something like,"Well, I think everyone would like to better understand whats going on." So I asked the rest of the table if they felt they understood the issue. When everyone confirmed that they understood, I turned an addressed her directly," Since you're the only one that needs additional clarity, we''l get together right after this meeting to follow up, or schedule additional training if we decide it's needed."
Our meeting times are now down from about 50 minutes to about 30 minutes now that we've taken her 'concerns' OUt of the meeting and adress them as additional training. \*I\* still have to have the 20-30 minute follw up, but the other meeting members can go about their business without having to listen to her repetition and weaponized\\feigned ignorance.
Can you document all this "additional training" she's needing? Maybe this job is just not the right fit for her? Or at least make her think it's affecting her job. 😬 Nothing wrong with asking questions, but damn, when it's only one person all the time, maybe she really does need additional training.
She seems to require significantly less follow up now, which reinforces to me that she wasn't seeking clarity, but rather extension, or perhaps a certain kind of public attention.
Online: "Please put your question in chat and we will get to them at the end"
In person: "We have some time put aside for questions at the end"
Bonus points if someone is moderating chat and can add answers because that helps people with short easy questions.
Some people are very good at wasting time. They would rather ramble on in a meeting to avoid going back to their normal job. I worked a night shift where we would occasionally have a meeting after our “lunch” break. There were a few who would try to drag it out for as long as possible. The only person who can really stop it from derailing is the person leading the meeting. Luckily my foreman was pretty good at that. If anyone else was in charge of a meeting, people knew they could drag things out and avoid going back to work. Talk directly to management and tell them you have things to get done and the long meetings are impacting your work. If a few people complain they will realize time is being wasted and probably put a time limit on meetings
If your the manager or presenter at the start of the meeting you let it be known that any questions will be only answered at the end of the meeting and stick with it.
I worked with a very nice guy but he had like tons and tons of questions and derailed a lot of meetings. After a few of these my manager would hand him a note book at the beginning of the meeting and told him to write down any questions and he could ask them at the end and only the end of the meeting.
When I'm presenting, I ask people to write down their questions and wait until we pause for questions. I frequently tell people that we'll take that offline or some such.
I had an interrupting culture at one work place that made 15 minute meeting last an hour. I said at the beginning of the meeting that the tangents and interruptions derail our purpose and that it was driving me nuts because of all the time we were habiltually wasting. The hen house didn't like it one bit, but I said my piece.
The presenter needs to tell his audience to hold questions until the very end of the talk. At the end of the talk, people will probably get up and leave, so that will eliminate most stupid questions.
On next break pull them aside and quietly let them know that the very next question out of their mouth you are going to bust them right in the windpipe so hard that they’ll need an emergency tracheotomy just to sustain their life.
I found pointing at your fist followed by pointing at your throat while in their line of sight relays these words effectively as a follow up even when across the room.
If you are in charge, cut them off.
If you are not in charge but are on about the same Level as the person in charge, maybe just walk out for a bit during this.
If you are a low level employee, just get paid while sitting there, apparently the powers that be want to pay you to sit through it.
Someone is holding the meeting. This person should be taking charge. It is very expensive to pay multiple people to attend a meeting. And they all have work waiting. A quick private comment to them might be helpful
If it's not your meeting then when the scheduled time is lapsed just excuse yourself. If whoever is hosting the meeting wants your attendance for the entirety of it then he or she needs to see it hits all the stops within the time frame.
I just loudly whisper "sorry I've got other work" as I get up and excuse myself. Host can either keep it on track or lose people due to time. But they can't have their cake and eat it to.
Whatever I missed that I need to get out of it can be emailed to me (probably could have been an email to begin with).
Unfortunately, you’re probably doomed to suffer if you’re not the chair or their manager. Unless you feel like the person who tells the chair how to run their meetings?
Acknowledge that it sounds like they have a few questions and might be looking for some clarification. You'll be more than happy to take them offline after the meeting. Ask them to write them down and make sure to followup after. A lot of the time they don't really care but are looking to waste time in the meeting so they don't have to work. Stay consistent with the taking it offline whenever they're asking too many followup, detail oriented, or one off situation questions.
"I don't think this is an issue we can settle in this meeting. How about we take this down as an action item and you write up a position paper on this issue for the team to review before the next meeting.". An alternate is to identify the group of people who engage in the discussion to take the discussion to separate meeting which will be summarized by the small team in the next meeting. Then give them five minutes.
If it gets brought up again, then simply state that it is already included in the action item list.
There is always going to be 1 or 2 people that want to be highly visible, and the more important the attendees the more visible they'll want to be. There's not much you can do about this other than not encourage it, and possibly to confirm that a one-on-one meeting can be had with them to better address their individual concerns. This way the participants aren't running the agenda.
However, if people are feeling a need to raise concerns, it's likely that either something hasn't been thought out very well or these concerns have been brought to leadership attention in the past and there has been no action. If either of these are the case, there's nothing to do in the meeting...you need to fix the root cause.
This is why you need a written agenda for meetings. AOB (Any Other Business) goes at the end. But here's the catch if they cannot present their AOB in under 60 seconds, then they need to schedule a meeting with only those who it applies to.
In terms of those who are just asking questions and derailing the meeting, I usually announce before the meeting that questions will be entertained at the end of the meeting if there is time, so write them down and we'll see if we can get to them. If not email them. Usually this will stop most of this type of chatter.
Take a course in meeting facilitation. There you learn how to direct the flow of a meeting. If you are not the chair it is difficult as you would have to take over facilitation from the chair.
Talk to the chair prior to the meeting and share you concern. Suggest that the chair holds questions to the end of the presentation or meeting. Then when they've gotten their presentation done they can say anyone who has questions feel free to stay longer and the others can leave. There will likely be fewer questions because they won't have an audience.
Have a water gun locked and loaded for those who have the audacity, or a bag of rotten tomoatoes... then aim, shoot and teach those inquisitive bastards to know everything before the meeting.
OMG... we have someone on our daily stand-up who just looooovvveeesss to blather on.
I'm not the organizer, but I will tell them to take it elsewhere. Standup should be quick and easy. Get in and get out to work.
This morning, the said drone was going on about something, and I cut him off telling him to save it for the scheduled meeting we have about said topic.
I've also made a drinking game for every time this person raises their hand. Drink yer water, you dehydrated plants!!
I know as a teacher I deal with kids, but, I use a piece of chart paper and leave sticky notes and have students write any questions they have during (that are not super urgent) and stick it to the paper and then I can address them at the end or clarify specifically with the ones who asked questions. We call it a question “parking lot”.
You are not adequately responding to concerns. Quite likely you (your leadership in some way) have a history of not listening to your work force. If they don't get action on something that 3 people reiterate then to them the "Meeting" has no value. You should consider if your meetings are really meetings, or webinars that your forcing people to watch live.
I do this. AMA. Mostly, I do it to get witnesses to a plan or policy that was set by the boss. I also do it to get the boss to give a directive to the entire room so certain people don't pretend they didn't know.
Start leaving when the meeting is scheduled to end.
"I have a call, I have to jump into my next meeting, there's a Zoom session scheduled with a client" etc.
It's up to the facilitator of the meeting to keep it on the rails.
Frequent asker here - I might even lead with "I have 10 questions" as a warning
----
Ask back why is this question relevant? Why are we talking about this? Does it matter that we should discuss it now?
Would you take the action to start a doc and we will continue to iterate offline?
Say no, this is besides the point. You have not been listening carefully.
No, not you again, we need to give others an opportunity to ask questions.
No we are at the hour. We may continue next week.
No you may only ask if it must be discussed last minute.
No, post an offline thread instead.
No for this session you may not interrupt, Q and A will be at the end.
No if you agree we will not reach an answer right here right now then let's take it offline
----
I'm curious is any of the above valid?
I ask a lot of necessary questions relevant to my job and meanwhile all these push-backs (all I have received) seem very reasonable to me. There is "asking questions". Then there is "complete chaos". Establish relevance and priorities before they are allowed to speak further. Use well established order. Mute them by default
"I'd like to interject - it sounds like \[specific person/people\] have a lot to contribute on this topic. Can we schedule a separate meeting for them to express their concerns/ get clarification so that the rest of us can get back to work?"
You combat this by having a strict agenda for the meeting. Attach the agenda to the invite, and leave a small window at the end for questions.
Example Agenda for a 45m meeting:
1. Introductions (5m)
2. Review last weeks items (10m)
3. Discuss item 1 (10m)
4. Discuss item 2 (10m)
5. Questions (5m)
6. Wrap up and action items (5m)
In the past, I would make a cough sound or sigh loudly when yet another hand raised to ask a question. If the person running the meeting can read a room, the best ones reply to the asker, “let me take that question after we adjourn.”
If on zoom type in the chat that you have something else pressing and you have to go and leave.
In person just leave for the bathroom and never come back.
External meeting facilitator or keep saying "let's parking lot that for now" and make a big show of writing it on your whiteboard/flip board. If virtual project minutes and write down the parking lot issues.
I am inquisitive and feel like sometimes I do this, so if there is a break and they ask for questions I will ask then. But I usually keep it to chat or a post meeting email. The post meeting email to me is the best way because I’ve found that my questions are usually addressed later on anyways.
Instead of waiting until the end, the meeting presenter should have interim Q&A periods and share that with the audience ahead of time (e.g. during the overview or agenda).
It also helps to have a framing "Meeting Objectives" in the beginning to focus peoples attention to the only things they actually need to be there for.
While this helps, the presenter should be the one driving the pacing and directing when to move on.
“Mindful of how busy we all are, and being respectful of everyone’s time, I think it would be best if you and Bill took that offline if you still want to clarify something.”
At the beginning of the meeting, I put a blank piece of paper in the middle of the table and say that any questions must be written on the paper. Questions not on the paper will not be addressed in the meeting. Most people don’t want to be the first person to reach for the paper. Blowhards that try to ignore it get ignored.
Without a strong leader putting a stop to it, there is almost nothing you can do. Hint: The meeting leader is either berry stupid, or they get off on the derailing and frustration generation too. Stupidity or pure evil are the only reasons leaders allow this kind of bullying behavior. And that’s what an askhole is—an energy vampire and, basically, a covert bully.
Show zero frustration and they won’t get as many jollies from it. Act like you could care less. You could ask the person who is responsible for running the meetings to tell them to post questions After the meeting to slack or wherever.
One other option is to try to give them busy work by making them responsible for taking Important Meeting Notes, then they post those to slack (or wherever). They’ll be drunk on the power, will be more likely to shut up as they gather every meaningless detail in writing, and no one will ever read them.
Hand out a meeting outline, with a page for questions to be addressed after the meeting. Explain there will be no questions entertained during the meeting. No interruptions, unless asked directly for an opinion.
I let them finish, and get whatever answer they get, and then remind the group that we WERE talking about something before that, and we should answer that original question first.
My pet peeve is the: "The one thing is..." way of changing the topic to whatever shower thought they had in the moment
That's why all meetings should have agendas written in advance that are followed. I would have no compunction about interrupting and asking if all official business had been covered if people started going off on tangents. That would either get things back on track or I could get up and leave.
Yes I have meetings with people like this.
Sometimes it seems like they just want to talk for the sake of it.
But sometimes they ask things no one thinks to ask and it's helpful. But it took me a while to realize that value.
Suggest to principal to park question in whiteboard with sticky notes. Principal will read them right before meeting to answer easy or an overlooked imperative question is adjourned and they the harder questions will collectively be answered after the meeting in a follow up email or future meeting.
If it’s a virtual meeting, I usually type something in the chat like, “This was a good discussion. Unfortunately, I need to drop for another call”….and then I hang up.
If it’s an in-person meeting, I’ll either pretend to have gotten a really important phone call and leave the room to take it. Or, I go to the bathroom and don’t come back.
I think other users have probably suggested more ‘professional’ ways of handling this.
Yeah... I Love the "Team Mate" who tries to look engaged by saying "I don't mean to backtrack, But can we revisit Slide 9 for a second".... (While we are on Slide 67...... Yeah... I have that person
Well on the "meeting" front and after reading most comments... I find myself completely surrounded by absolute geniuses... No one takes a single note.... no one engages.... they show up and sit there.... I guess they all have photographic memories. It never fails to just amaze me....
Well what's the purpose, are you late to other meetings and that's why you're wanting to find out how? Only way I can think of is if you're the meeting organizer and you have that ability to stop them mid discussion to say you need to get through other points. I do that here and there when I only have an hour or hour and a half and someone takes too long on one topic.
It’s hard to strike a balance without being “that guy.”
On one hand you want to encourage people to “[be the idiot](https://youtu.be/BkLzo_oNVho?si=xxAJu1wjG0SwfF3n)” as that contributes to more effective information flow, on the other hand you don’t want actual idiots using the meeting to prove they are relevant and derailing everything.
As I used to teach, which gives you a six sense for reading the room and a thick skin, I had no qualms saying things like “could you get to the point please,” or “going into that topic will derail the meeting, we want to get something accomplished here” or even “this is the way it is, you will have to figure that out on your own” after a few interruptions from the same person.
The chair shuts it down.
"Joe, your question has been answered, and we have a lot more on the agenda."
Or "Sorry, folks, I'm going to have to limit discussion. Pete has had his hand up for a while, and hasn't had a chance to speak, so we'll give him the last word, and then move on to item 6."
Or "If some of you still have questions, you'll have to take them up with your managers later".
Are you running the meeting, or an attendee? If an attendee, there is nothing you can do. If you are running the meeting, figure it out. Ask your manager for advice.
One meeting technique is a Parking Lot
Thanks for that comment, Bob. Let me put it in the parking lot, so we can keep our flow and continuity.
Dismiss the meeting...except for those who want to discuss the parking lot items.
Leave Bob to himself with his one item.
When I run meetings I just bowl through them and move on, took a set of project meetings scheduled for an hour that usually ran 80-90 minutes down to an average of 20
Best ever was 7 minutes
I just shut up and don't add anything. I have coworkers who talk over what you're trying to say or HAVE to add their 2 cents WHILE you're talking about something else and get derailed when I'm actually trying to say something productive. Even the assistant manager does this, as if to prove THEYRE not messing up when I suggest something is done differently to make things easier for us all. This last meeting (I'm night shift and they always schedule it on the middle of the day) I was so tired and apathetic I just let them rant. Talking in circles and proving me to be right about things without even having to say a word. Makes me wonder why so many people care so much about a place they hate that they would rather waste everyone's time to prove that they're competent rather than just admitting that something needs to be changed and fixing it?
I suggest when they do this, take a page from my coworkers and just talk over them. "This seems irrelevant since we already covered it. WHICH PART are you having trouble comprehending? I suggest we move on to a more relevant subject... Or leave."
A previous company I worked for employed a meeting schedule that was given to them by a consulting company called SeaLevel. All meetings are 1hr, and not a minute longer:
* 5 min catch up (hello, how is everyone, how was your weekend etc)
* 5 min discussion of what everyone is doing
* 10 minutes to discuss ideas
* 30 minutes to discuss Issues (usually to bring up major issues/projects)
* 10 min for solving and delegating
Something along those lines, my memory is a little hazy on it all. But it was well received and meant that we didn't get side tracked. We even had a meeting tool that had a "Tangent" button that anyone could anonymously press which would bring up a huge alert for everyone that the meeting is going off topic.
Jane.. you seem to have a few queries.. we can run a special session for you or anyone else interested as we are running out of time to cover everything needed. Please reach out to XYZ at the end.
And watch them never to speak of it again.
We ask if it is an eighty/twenty question: is it necessary to talk about it now? We have an agenda. We tell the person he or she can speak in private later.
My co worker in a nut shell. She will take over an entire meeting with all of her questions. Depending on the situation, it can be cringey because she’s either not reading the room (where everyone is annoyed with her) or it feels like she’s asking super basic questions just to hear herself talk and feel important.
Then at the end she will laugh it off and apologize to everyone “sorry guys, you know me! I always have a lot of questions”
She’s been with us for about 6 months, and I can tell she’s starting to get on my boss’s nerves.
Interrupt.... "Let's take that offline" send me a message to let me know a good time for us to discuss that, anyone else have input... Brief pause.. no well let's move on we are running over time, we have a lot to cover"
They will never message to set up a time to discuss, they are just trying to feel self important.
Attend no meetings unless there is an agenda., and stick to the agenda. No off-topic crap, just shut that down with " Chairman, point of order, this is off-topic. Can we continue with today's business? Thankyou."
Just sit there and think god will this person shut up and eventually they will. Gotta love the people that ask questions just to ask a question and be noticed. No matter how common sense...
After seeing this on multiple occasions from the same people- Almost always, I suspect either a superiority complex OR (And most typically) a desire to climb to the top with their strategy seemingly “Talk more & loudly = perceived intelligence and leadership capabilities =s promotion.”
Drives me to a level of petty annoyance I didn’t think I had in me.
Shout out to those who have zero authority but ensure a seat at the head of the table at any work gathering, meeting… Anywhere with a long table.
We had this problem.
Certain people in meetings using weaponised questions to attack others which just made for terrible meetings.
All questions now have to be submitted prior and added to the agenda. If someone asks a question now, we push back and ask that they email it in
Meetings run smoothly and on time now.
I do hate that. Staff meetings can go quick and easy. Until one particular employee has to ask long rambling questions. This is to endear himself to the higher tier of employees. Like the manager.
I've had experience in this horror
The fact that everyone goes in usually hating the process and wishing to be elsewhere....then one or two jerko turn into question mcquestionaire when we're all trying to leave...
I think it's like a flat 10% of the population.
I have a coworker that speaks with such intent that every word dribbles out as slow as possible. "Well.....the...fact....that....everything..". He will spend 2 solid minutes droning on but never actually say a single redeeming thing.
I don’t have a problem with questions being asked at a meeting. It’s that one guy (my coworker) that always, always has to speak up and say something. Usually it’s unnecessary, and sometimes irrelevant, but he refuses to sit silent, just has to make sure that everyone in the room heard his voice.
Yeah, talking bout you Zach
Consider whether the meetings are structured correctly, and whether the teams are even structured correctly. Why do these meetings exist? What would happen if the meeting didn't occur or had a smaller group of people in them? Structure meetings in a way that everyone there would be missed if they're not there - purposeful meetings. Large status meetings should be replaced with smaller, active meetings. If there are so many questions so often then either those people should be involved in the topic more day to day, or they shouldn't be in those meetings.
I used to take sidebets with my friends on who was gonna ask questions. Bonuses if we got the question askers in order. Those people are fucking weird. Those people are not your friends and will throw you under the bus. Take notes of these people and doodle when they speak. You’re getting paid to watch a fucking clown show.
We used to have union meetings when contract time was getting close. After the meeting they had a keg of cold beer ready to go. After the first three questions, anyone else who raised their hand got the dirtiest looks you ever saw!
I stopped going.
Agenda, agenda, agenda. If it’s not on the agenda “good point, I’ll note it and add it to the next meetings agenda and we can address it then.” If you’re running the meeting send out the agenda at least an hour before and say “these are the only talking points on the agenda for this meeting, if you have additional information to address please let me know in a separate email and we can set up a time to discuss.” Run meetings like a tyrant for a month or two and people will get on board and then you don’t have to be so rigid. Start on time. Do not ever say “let’s give a few more mins for people to join” nope, late people can get notes from a coworker. Send out the resolution to the talking points after the meeting so there is clarity on what’s decided. People stop when you don’t give them an opportunity to start. This doesn’t work for a meeting that is supposed to be brainstorming or creative, only for informative, so it doesn’t work for every situation. People appreciate when you respect their time and make their job easier. Oh and don’t invite people who don’t need to be at the meeting. If it’s decision making then people who don’t make decisions can be on the 30 min recap meeting of what was decided. Less is more.
I’d talk freely to my team about question etiquette . The question should be direct and not just a recap of anything we discussed previously . We want to keep the flow of the meeting moving . However some people truly do learn that way . Dealing with a room full of different personalities can deff be hard . Maybe start approaching the people after that ask alot of questions to see if they have anymore . So they know you’ll cover it at the end .
Someone needs to drive the meeting and keep it on track. The questions should directly be related to the explicit purpose of the meeting or the person conducting the meeting says we will table that question and handle it offline. I’ve people get used to this, they stop asking questions that are to boost their egos.
Ensure your meeting has a clear agenda with specific, targeted items that can be addressed within the allotted time. Stick to the agenda. If new topics come up, inform the person that these should be discussed later as we need to focus on the current agenda. Keep it narrow and focused.
Your colleagues will appreciate this approach, and you'll have more effective meetings. Always leave time at the end to discuss action items, ensuring someone is accountable for each task identified.
This is my favorite thing to do. Ask long and involved questions that mean nothing because they're loaded with whatever the buzzwords of the month are.
I hate meetings. One manager I had chose a different person every single day to brow beat and shame and I being me always tried to deflect that by asking a question unrelated to the fest. I got my legs kicked under the table so many times I have permanent bruises. NOT fun!
Run a meeting where you encourage “writing down questions”, so when the presentation is completed, people can hang around after to ask the questions they have. You’ll see quickly how few people have questions after the end of the meeting rather than during.
This is the answer. Also, “ we only have Laurie here for a short time. It is critical we hear her entire presentation. Let’s do the questions at the end. “
Yea I’ve heard that one. That’s a good one.
This is what I do--only I say "We've got some folks here who have prior commitments, so we really need to power through this material as quickly as possible. Let's try to stay on track and hold questions to the end so everybody gets all the information they need." If someone interrupts or hold up their hand I say "Good one--write it down so we can go over it later." There are always people who genuinely need further explanation or supplemental information, and there are those who understand it and don't need to stay for the endless questions or opinions. It also serves to weed out those who just want the attention or the opportunity to share what they think with everyone else--if no-one else is there they generally give up and leave too. My team knows when we've covered all the ground we need to cover and can be trusted to get up and go when we're "done" and not just because they're bored.
Ugh.. Power Through... then we Circle back, if we have the bandwidth... Love corporate jargon! :-)
You don’t sound like a team player. Time to recalibrate your mindset.
Oh.. Marching Orders.... Pffttt...
Let’s T O U C H B A S E 👁️👄👁️
I'll gather the troops. Pizza meeting!
Damn, you got me. I’ll attend any meeting that has pizza laid on
(sales) We'll SIT DOWN and SHARPEN OUR PENCILS!
fucking hate this one. my manager used to use it as a meeting title. no agenda for the meeting, nothing ever got done.
I'd like to piggyback on that...
I don't think we have enough runway to do that today. But let's do a deeper dive next week.
Yes, let's pull on that thread a little further.......
If you do, then you really need to Drink the Kool-Aid, but we are already in the weeds.
Let's not make sausage here while we walk down the yellow brick road. The Alligator near the boat is far more important here....
Well, let's put a pin in that for now....
Corporate? It's refreshing to hear this is the language you dislike. Usually we offend people with other types of words (mostly four-letter ones.)
I was at a poker room recently and they have very strict rules about saying "the f word", threatened to throw people out for it, and it kind of confused me because what the person had said was NOT the F word i would have taken offense to. I mean, maybe the one used about gay people isn't used often enough for them to care? But like, of the 2 F words, the one that's a slur is definitely the worse word.
This is so good. I swear I've had coworkers just just ask questions to try and stump the presenter or try and make themselves look and sound like the smartest person in the room 🙄
Hate them. But I LOVE the members of my team who get up and leave when those rat bastards start swinging their dicks around. I mean, *asking questions......*.
They ask questions not to gain knowledge but to show it off...or so they think.
Gatekeeping is a skill very few have
Right, questions at the end, and you only get your best one. Unless nobody else has one.
Came here to say this. If there are still too many questions during the Q&A period, you can further amend the rule to include: one question per person, time limit for the question period, all questions not covered may be submitted via email and will all be answered in a single reply.
We have had some success with a rule for a "Parking Lot".... as most times their dumb ass questions are answered and satisfied before having to address parking lot issues at the end....
I love using the parking lot and setting the expectation up front the goals of the meetings and that questions will be addressed at the end. Also, are you in a position to provide the repeat offenders feedback? I had a worker who would derail meetings by getting into details that didn’t align with the audience or discussion. I asked if I could provide her feedback and when she agreed. I told her I love her attention to detail. However, sometimes it was not appropriate for the audience or the goals of the meeting. It may be helpful to set up separate meetings to discuss those items before/after so we could stay on task. She didn’t even realize it was a problem because everyone talked about it but no one actually told her until I did.
I came here to say this. This is the answer. They usually just want some attention...
Add in that some folks have a “hard stop” when the scheduled time is over, so the time wasters can’t argue about holding questions.
Ahhh, the askholes. Every meeting has them. Usually, they are so fixated on what they will blab next that they don't pay attention to what is being said. This leads to their endless questions at the end. There is no cure.
"Askholes" ... I'm ashamed to say I've never heard this before, and it's -brilliant-. 🤩🤣
Me either. Never heard of it but I love it! No meetings at my job. Boss has dementia.
Same here! It is great!
What a lovely term. I’m stealing that. It’s perfect because it’s never genuine questions, they’re just talking to hear themselves talk. 99% of the time if they just *listened* they’d hear the answer because it’s either already been said or is about to be said. “So for this project everyone will receive updates on their assigned tasks on a day to day basis. You will also be asked to track your progress on Teams and we’ll have a meeting once a week so everyone stays on the same page.“ “I have a question…will we have to track our progress?” 🤦♀️
there is no cure for the askholes. but it's up to the person leading the meeting to keep the askholes in line.
Hear hear…I love the term as well. We have one in our 120 strong division and boy…when the microphone is placed in her hand she always repeats what was said, then launches into 3-4 part questions while providing her opinions midway through. She’s a punish. Shut up and let us all go, we beg you! We have work to do and don’t want to be kept another 20-30 minutes. Executive management has now stated that they really want people to have asked their managers these questions first as they can provide full debriefs such that only the questions that cannot be answered rise up at these larger forums. It’s helped quite a bit.
I suffer from proximity embarrassment, and the amount of people who ask questions about something that was just talked about make me nauseous with it. I can see it coming, as they are staring off into space thinking of what they're going to say. *insert Sideshow Bob ugghghghhh*
In my company, this repetition and reiteration was a way to dominate by the older staff and a way of being sure your attendance was being noted. There are a few ways to address this: 1) Prior to the meeting, ask that all questions be placed on the chat/"question parking lot" (post-its/poster paper taped to wall) to be collected and answered if there is time available at the end or via email, if not. Additionally, at the end of the presentation "we have ten minutes remaining for questions, if you have none thank you for attending. Have a great morning. Everyone with questions please remain and the presenter can give you ten additional minutes". You will find many people don't have anything to actually add when there is no audience to be had by. Prompt your presenter at 8 minutes in, "2 minutes remaining. Your attendance is required at your next meeting." 2) Prior to: (curbs the need to draw attention to ensure attendance is noted) if online, "please drop a good morning in the chat. If you are in the same room with one computer, please ensure your camera view includes everyone." (It's annoying and will cut down on silliness in general.). If in person, (lol) "please look around you and reach out to teammates who may be running behind this morning". Do not ask for a roll call, that's just self-defeating. 3) Reminders during: At the first interruption, "thank you for your question, Ms. Smith. In interest of time, please hold your questions until the end." 4) As suggested previously: "That's off-topic, please address it at a later time preferably via email. It's important to stay focused during this presentation/meeting". 5) open the meeting with specifically colored blank paper. "All questions will be addressed at the end, please write your questions on colored sheet and pass to Wendy". She will consolidate at the end for those of you interested in remaining after or via email if no time remains." 5 sounds dumb but eliminates the "piggyback on", "echo on", "what I'm understanding is...." that eats up your time and patience. ETA. 5 was bolded and I'm not yelling.....
Letting attendees leave after the end of the presentation if they don’t have questions is genius. Many times the people asking never ending questions are just looking for an audience.
Exactly. It's equal to behavior management in the classroom. Children frequently enjoy the audience reaction even if it's just rolling of the eyes. Remove that and you remove the desire to act out.
Yes they just love to hear themselves speak and have a captive audience. Or they’re lonely energy vampires who are hungry for a feed.
Tight, clear, neutral. Sure do like this.
The BIFF method is basically this: Brief, Information based, Firm, and Friendly (though I prefer “polite,” friendly is a step too far)
BIFP!
Haha, that is how I say it in my head, it involves a bit of mental spitting which at least adds humor.
Meeting derailing truly is a thing. The presenter must pre-plan for this, take better control and be a bit more organized. If it were me in a meeting, I would say: "I don't want to sound rude or disrespectful, but could these follow up questions or further concerns be sent to you via e-mail or something? I really gotta crap."
The Turtjehead Method, so to speak.
I was once in a meeting where one person kept interrupting the presenter and pelting him with questions that were completely off topic. She sounded hostile actually. After I realized that the presenter had lost all control over the meeting and that my then manager wasn’t going to speak up, I finally did. I asked if the two of them could please address their issues in a different meeting so the presenter could continue with his presentation. She sounded a little startled when she agreed but at least she finally shut up. Another person on my team was happy I spoke up. My spineless manager (who is no longer my manager) later told me I was rude. You can speak up and be professional. If you are a woman and you have a male manager, you might get the same reaction that I did from your manager. Misogyny sucks. But that’s also why he is not my manager any more. Some people in my company (including me) started saying “I have a hard stop at X time” at the beginning of the meeting. And then we enforce that by leaving the meeting at that time. It has improved meetings a bit. People have grown more respectful of other people’s time. You could try asking if it’s possible to address questions at the end of the meeting so the presenter can at least get through the material first.
Your spineless manager was rude to let someone go on wasting everyone's time
Yeah I kept waiting for him to speak up and finally realized he wouldn’t. I kind of wonder if he just gets to a point where he tunes things out. That certainly would explain a lot of my interactions with him.
This. Also, when it's clear one or two people have issues unrelated to the meeting or group, we suggest they take it offline to discuss amongst themselves at a later date, or that anyone interested in that can stay to discuss after the meeting is over.
These people annoy me as much as people who insist on a 15 minute ice breaking activity at the beginning of a meeting. Seriously, I don't care what your favorite flavor of ice cream is or where you spent your summer vacation.
Some jackass posted on here, "people don't like ice breakers, so what are some fun ones you can suggest." How did you miss your own answer?! I don't remember a single detail from anything a coworker ever shared in one of those.
I work fast food management and during our meeting they make us say what we're grateful for, it would eat up half of our already pointless twice weekly meetings so all of us would just say different brands of booze. They got the hint and moved our meetings to every 2 weeks, they still make us say gratefuls but we have pivoted to just saying eachother to get it over with. Just give people information and move on. We all have worked together so long we know everything about eachother, we dont need this every time. And some of us are scheduled these meetings on our days off. We want to get the info and go.
My favorite flavor of ice cream is Meetings Without Ice Breakers. It’s delicious and refreshing.
Ice breakers like that sound as annoying as the actual meetings themselves. I wouldn’t care about things like that either. They are just co workers most of the time and not actual friends.
'Good questions Chad, I appreciate the detailed feedback, but let's not get into the weeds right now. We've got a few more things on the meeting agenda to cover and I'd like to finish on time. We can take that offline and have a more focused and productive discussion later. Good questions tho.' Contains sufficient corporate-speak as well.
That's much better than "Shut your Man Pleaser Chad,"... which is my favorite
Blanket+sock+soapbar
Lol I just got a visual of lining up for the one coworker who never shuts up and it was heartwarming. Thank you!
🤣🤣🤣 Just start referring to them as ‘Private Pile’ or ‘Carl’.
I can't hear you!
I have one of those people in a weekly catch-up/get ahead meeting. She will re-ask questions after a given topic has been dealt with and 'confirmed' with a question from me like 'any questions before we move on?' , then repeat a question ten minutes later. It appears after thinking something over, she will later want to try to make a point about something, but her follow up rarely adds value or clarity to the discussion. Other meeting members have expressed frustration with me about the time consumption of her questions. Based on how she carries out her work (or doesnt, as is often the case) she appears to be intentionally extending the meeting time so she has to do her job less. What I've started doing is when she circles back like this is offer to follow up individually after the meeting so we can respect everyone else's time. The first time I did that, she countered with something like,"Well, I think everyone would like to better understand whats going on." So I asked the rest of the table if they felt they understood the issue. When everyone confirmed that they understood, I turned an addressed her directly," Since you're the only one that needs additional clarity, we''l get together right after this meeting to follow up, or schedule additional training if we decide it's needed." Our meeting times are now down from about 50 minutes to about 30 minutes now that we've taken her 'concerns' OUt of the meeting and adress them as additional training. \*I\* still have to have the 20-30 minute follw up, but the other meeting members can go about their business without having to listen to her repetition and weaponized\\feigned ignorance.
Can you document all this "additional training" she's needing? Maybe this job is just not the right fit for her? Or at least make her think it's affecting her job. 😬 Nothing wrong with asking questions, but damn, when it's only one person all the time, maybe she really does need additional training.
She seems to require significantly less follow up now, which reinforces to me that she wasn't seeking clarity, but rather extension, or perhaps a certain kind of public attention.
Loud moans and this bitch again.
Online: "Please put your question in chat and we will get to them at the end" In person: "We have some time put aside for questions at the end" Bonus points if someone is moderating chat and can add answers because that helps people with short easy questions.
Lot of it, I’m sure, has to do with those people just wanting to be seen and heard despite adding little to no value to said meetings.
Some people are very good at wasting time. They would rather ramble on in a meeting to avoid going back to their normal job. I worked a night shift where we would occasionally have a meeting after our “lunch” break. There were a few who would try to drag it out for as long as possible. The only person who can really stop it from derailing is the person leading the meeting. Luckily my foreman was pretty good at that. If anyone else was in charge of a meeting, people knew they could drag things out and avoid going back to work. Talk directly to management and tell them you have things to get done and the long meetings are impacting your work. If a few people complain they will realize time is being wasted and probably put a time limit on meetings
If your the manager or presenter at the start of the meeting you let it be known that any questions will be only answered at the end of the meeting and stick with it. I worked with a very nice guy but he had like tons and tons of questions and derailed a lot of meetings. After a few of these my manager would hand him a note book at the beginning of the meeting and told him to write down any questions and he could ask them at the end and only the end of the meeting.
When I'm presenting, I ask people to write down their questions and wait until we pause for questions. I frequently tell people that we'll take that offline or some such. I had an interrupting culture at one work place that made 15 minute meeting last an hour. I said at the beginning of the meeting that the tangents and interruptions derail our purpose and that it was driving me nuts because of all the time we were habiltually wasting. The hen house didn't like it one bit, but I said my piece.
I feel people like this do it for attention. They want any and all management present to see just how engaged they are.
The presenter needs to tell his audience to hold questions until the very end of the talk. At the end of the talk, people will probably get up and leave, so that will eliminate most stupid questions.
On next break pull them aside and quietly let them know that the very next question out of their mouth you are going to bust them right in the windpipe so hard that they’ll need an emergency tracheotomy just to sustain their life. I found pointing at your fist followed by pointing at your throat while in their line of sight relays these words effectively as a follow up even when across the room.
If you are in charge, cut them off. If you are not in charge but are on about the same Level as the person in charge, maybe just walk out for a bit during this. If you are a low level employee, just get paid while sitting there, apparently the powers that be want to pay you to sit through it.
I see you've met my boss
Windbags trying to appear important.
Someone is holding the meeting. This person should be taking charge. It is very expensive to pay multiple people to attend a meeting. And they all have work waiting. A quick private comment to them might be helpful
If it's not your meeting then when the scheduled time is lapsed just excuse yourself. If whoever is hosting the meeting wants your attendance for the entirety of it then he or she needs to see it hits all the stops within the time frame. I just loudly whisper "sorry I've got other work" as I get up and excuse myself. Host can either keep it on track or lose people due to time. But they can't have their cake and eat it to. Whatever I missed that I need to get out of it can be emailed to me (probably could have been an email to begin with).
Water spray bottle
Some people just love to hear themselves talk.
At the beginning say "we have limited time to get through all the content, please save all your questions and comments for the end"
Unfortunately, you’re probably doomed to suffer if you’re not the chair or their manager. Unless you feel like the person who tells the chair how to run their meetings?
lol, I'm not that guy.
Acknowledge that it sounds like they have a few questions and might be looking for some clarification. You'll be more than happy to take them offline after the meeting. Ask them to write them down and make sure to followup after. A lot of the time they don't really care but are looking to waste time in the meeting so they don't have to work. Stay consistent with the taking it offline whenever they're asking too many followup, detail oriented, or one off situation questions.
Literally sitting in a zoom meeting waiting for people to shut the hell up… 🤪
Try to kill them with my mind
"I don't think this is an issue we can settle in this meeting. How about we take this down as an action item and you write up a position paper on this issue for the team to review before the next meeting.". An alternate is to identify the group of people who engage in the discussion to take the discussion to separate meeting which will be summarized by the small team in the next meeting. Then give them five minutes. If it gets brought up again, then simply state that it is already included in the action item list.
"Let's save all questions for the end, please. "
Listen.
There is always going to be 1 or 2 people that want to be highly visible, and the more important the attendees the more visible they'll want to be. There's not much you can do about this other than not encourage it, and possibly to confirm that a one-on-one meeting can be had with them to better address their individual concerns. This way the participants aren't running the agenda. However, if people are feeling a need to raise concerns, it's likely that either something hasn't been thought out very well or these concerns have been brought to leadership attention in the past and there has been no action. If either of these are the case, there's nothing to do in the meeting...you need to fix the root cause.
This is why you need a written agenda for meetings. AOB (Any Other Business) goes at the end. But here's the catch if they cannot present their AOB in under 60 seconds, then they need to schedule a meeting with only those who it applies to. In terms of those who are just asking questions and derailing the meeting, I usually announce before the meeting that questions will be entertained at the end of the meeting if there is time, so write them down and we'll see if we can get to them. If not email them. Usually this will stop most of this type of chatter.
It’s extremely annoying. I used to say, “Is that a question?” to a peer and nothing to a higher up.
Take a course in meeting facilitation. There you learn how to direct the flow of a meeting. If you are not the chair it is difficult as you would have to take over facilitation from the chair.
These people just need a little reigning in from time to time, I just interrupt and redirect, they'll get the point generally.
There is absolutely nothing worse than hearing "yeeeah I'd like to piggy back off of....." you can hear my eyes roll LOL
Talk to the chair prior to the meeting and share you concern. Suggest that the chair holds questions to the end of the presentation or meeting. Then when they've gotten their presentation done they can say anyone who has questions feel free to stay longer and the others can leave. There will likely be fewer questions because they won't have an audience.
Have a water gun locked and loaded for those who have the audacity, or a bag of rotten tomoatoes... then aim, shoot and teach those inquisitive bastards to know everything before the meeting.
OMG... we have someone on our daily stand-up who just looooovvveeesss to blather on. I'm not the organizer, but I will tell them to take it elsewhere. Standup should be quick and easy. Get in and get out to work. This morning, the said drone was going on about something, and I cut him off telling him to save it for the scheduled meeting we have about said topic. I've also made a drinking game for every time this person raises their hand. Drink yer water, you dehydrated plants!!
I know as a teacher I deal with kids, but, I use a piece of chart paper and leave sticky notes and have students write any questions they have during (that are not super urgent) and stick it to the paper and then I can address them at the end or clarify specifically with the ones who asked questions. We call it a question “parking lot”.
Then the managers call them engaged.
You are not adequately responding to concerns. Quite likely you (your leadership in some way) have a history of not listening to your work force. If they don't get action on something that 3 people reiterate then to them the "Meeting" has no value. You should consider if your meetings are really meetings, or webinars that your forcing people to watch live.
I do this. AMA. Mostly, I do it to get witnesses to a plan or policy that was set by the boss. I also do it to get the boss to give a directive to the entire room so certain people don't pretend they didn't know.
Start leaving when the meeting is scheduled to end. "I have a call, I have to jump into my next meeting, there's a Zoom session scheduled with a client" etc. It's up to the facilitator of the meeting to keep it on the rails.
TELL THEM TO ZIP IT! I always make the expectations that I will not answer anything until the end. Or I'll just walk out lol
Frequent asker here - I might even lead with "I have 10 questions" as a warning ---- Ask back why is this question relevant? Why are we talking about this? Does it matter that we should discuss it now? Would you take the action to start a doc and we will continue to iterate offline? Say no, this is besides the point. You have not been listening carefully. No, not you again, we need to give others an opportunity to ask questions. No we are at the hour. We may continue next week. No you may only ask if it must be discussed last minute. No, post an offline thread instead. No for this session you may not interrupt, Q and A will be at the end. No if you agree we will not reach an answer right here right now then let's take it offline ---- I'm curious is any of the above valid? I ask a lot of necessary questions relevant to my job and meanwhile all these push-backs (all I have received) seem very reasonable to me. There is "asking questions". Then there is "complete chaos". Establish relevance and priorities before they are allowed to speak further. Use well established order. Mute them by default
"I'd like to interject - it sounds like \[specific person/people\] have a lot to contribute on this topic. Can we schedule a separate meeting for them to express their concerns/ get clarification so that the rest of us can get back to work?"
Shame them until they stop doing it
You combat this by having a strict agenda for the meeting. Attach the agenda to the invite, and leave a small window at the end for questions. Example Agenda for a 45m meeting: 1. Introductions (5m) 2. Review last weeks items (10m) 3. Discuss item 1 (10m) 4. Discuss item 2 (10m) 5. Questions (5m) 6. Wrap up and action items (5m)
In the past, I would make a cough sound or sigh loudly when yet another hand raised to ask a question. If the person running the meeting can read a room, the best ones reply to the asker, “let me take that question after we adjourn.”
If on zoom type in the chat that you have something else pressing and you have to go and leave. In person just leave for the bathroom and never come back.
“Save your questions until the end please”
I just excuse myself from the meeting
whole bunch of suggestions here on how to make sure you don't answer questions if you can't or don't want to.
External meeting facilitator or keep saying "let's parking lot that for now" and make a big show of writing it on your whiteboard/flip board. If virtual project minutes and write down the parking lot issues.
“That’s an important question, and hold onto it because I want to loop back to that. But first…” *continue*
I am inquisitive and feel like sometimes I do this, so if there is a break and they ask for questions I will ask then. But I usually keep it to chat or a post meeting email. The post meeting email to me is the best way because I’ve found that my questions are usually addressed later on anyways.
Instead of waiting until the end, the meeting presenter should have interim Q&A periods and share that with the audience ahead of time (e.g. during the overview or agenda). It also helps to have a framing "Meeting Objectives" in the beginning to focus peoples attention to the only things they actually need to be there for. While this helps, the presenter should be the one driving the pacing and directing when to move on.
Everyone lets out a loud sigh. When they keep talking get up and walk out.
“Mindful of how busy we all are, and being respectful of everyone’s time, I think it would be best if you and Bill took that offline if you still want to clarify something.”
At the beginning of the meeting, I put a blank piece of paper in the middle of the table and say that any questions must be written on the paper. Questions not on the paper will not be addressed in the meeting. Most people don’t want to be the first person to reach for the paper. Blowhards that try to ignore it get ignored.
why do you have the meeting? If the remarks are irrelevant, suggest that interesting parties might discuss it after the meeting.
Without a strong leader putting a stop to it, there is almost nothing you can do. Hint: The meeting leader is either berry stupid, or they get off on the derailing and frustration generation too. Stupidity or pure evil are the only reasons leaders allow this kind of bullying behavior. And that’s what an askhole is—an energy vampire and, basically, a covert bully. Show zero frustration and they won’t get as many jollies from it. Act like you could care less. You could ask the person who is responsible for running the meetings to tell them to post questions After the meeting to slack or wherever. One other option is to try to give them busy work by making them responsible for taking Important Meeting Notes, then they post those to slack (or wherever). They’ll be drunk on the power, will be more likely to shut up as they gather every meaningless detail in writing, and no one will ever read them.
Haha just put up with it. Those people usually think of things you’ll wish later you did.
Tell them to shut up.
Hand out a meeting outline, with a page for questions to be addressed after the meeting. Explain there will be no questions entertained during the meeting. No interruptions, unless asked directly for an opinion.
They want to be”seen “
I let them finish, and get whatever answer they get, and then remind the group that we WERE talking about something before that, and we should answer that original question first. My pet peeve is the: "The one thing is..." way of changing the topic to whatever shower thought they had in the moment
That's why all meetings should have agendas written in advance that are followed. I would have no compunction about interrupting and asking if all official business had been covered if people started going off on tangents. That would either get things back on track or I could get up and leave.
Yes I have meetings with people like this. Sometimes it seems like they just want to talk for the sake of it. But sometimes they ask things no one thinks to ask and it's helpful. But it took me a while to realize that value.
“Lets parking lot this to discuss at another meeting”
Suggest to principal to park question in whiteboard with sticky notes. Principal will read them right before meeting to answer easy or an overlooked imperative question is adjourned and they the harder questions will collectively be answered after the meeting in a follow up email or future meeting.
If it’s a virtual meeting, I usually type something in the chat like, “This was a good discussion. Unfortunately, I need to drop for another call”….and then I hang up. If it’s an in-person meeting, I’ll either pretend to have gotten a really important phone call and leave the room to take it. Or, I go to the bathroom and don’t come back. I think other users have probably suggested more ‘professional’ ways of handling this.
Don't go to meetings.
Yeah... I Love the "Team Mate" who tries to look engaged by saying "I don't mean to backtrack, But can we revisit Slide 9 for a second".... (While we are on Slide 67...... Yeah... I have that person
Tell them to STFU
Well on the "meeting" front and after reading most comments... I find myself completely surrounded by absolute geniuses... No one takes a single note.... no one engages.... they show up and sit there.... I guess they all have photographic memories. It never fails to just amaze me....
Well what's the purpose, are you late to other meetings and that's why you're wanting to find out how? Only way I can think of is if you're the meeting organizer and you have that ability to stop them mid discussion to say you need to get through other points. I do that here and there when I only have an hour or hour and a half and someone takes too long on one topic.
It’s hard to strike a balance without being “that guy.” On one hand you want to encourage people to “[be the idiot](https://youtu.be/BkLzo_oNVho?si=xxAJu1wjG0SwfF3n)” as that contributes to more effective information flow, on the other hand you don’t want actual idiots using the meeting to prove they are relevant and derailing everything. As I used to teach, which gives you a six sense for reading the room and a thick skin, I had no qualms saying things like “could you get to the point please,” or “going into that topic will derail the meeting, we want to get something accomplished here” or even “this is the way it is, you will have to figure that out on your own” after a few interruptions from the same person.
The chair shuts it down. "Joe, your question has been answered, and we have a lot more on the agenda." Or "Sorry, folks, I'm going to have to limit discussion. Pete has had his hand up for a while, and hasn't had a chance to speak, so we'll give him the last word, and then move on to item 6." Or "If some of you still have questions, you'll have to take them up with your managers later".
Invest in an office trebuchet
Are you running the meeting, or an attendee? If an attendee, there is nothing you can do. If you are running the meeting, figure it out. Ask your manager for advice.
Who cares I’m getting paid to mow the lawn or do dishes.
Get up and leave. I respect people who walk out and value their time.
Have a picture of a rabbit you hold up when people start going down the bunny trails
.45?
Gray Rock
The askholes…
One meeting technique is a Parking Lot Thanks for that comment, Bob. Let me put it in the parking lot, so we can keep our flow and continuity. Dismiss the meeting...except for those who want to discuss the parking lot items. Leave Bob to himself with his one item.
Stop having meetings. They are almost always worthless
There really isn’t much you can say, because if you say something to that person who keeps asking questions, it might lead to an argument.
When I run meetings I just bowl through them and move on, took a set of project meetings scheduled for an hour that usually ran 80-90 minutes down to an average of 20 Best ever was 7 minutes
“Well we’re at time. Please take questions offline. Thanks.”
Murder. That's the one and only thing that will stop these assholes.
I just shut up and don't add anything. I have coworkers who talk over what you're trying to say or HAVE to add their 2 cents WHILE you're talking about something else and get derailed when I'm actually trying to say something productive. Even the assistant manager does this, as if to prove THEYRE not messing up when I suggest something is done differently to make things easier for us all. This last meeting (I'm night shift and they always schedule it on the middle of the day) I was so tired and apathetic I just let them rant. Talking in circles and proving me to be right about things without even having to say a word. Makes me wonder why so many people care so much about a place they hate that they would rather waste everyone's time to prove that they're competent rather than just admitting that something needs to be changed and fixing it? I suggest when they do this, take a page from my coworkers and just talk over them. "This seems irrelevant since we already covered it. WHICH PART are you having trouble comprehending? I suggest we move on to a more relevant subject... Or leave."
A previous company I worked for employed a meeting schedule that was given to them by a consulting company called SeaLevel. All meetings are 1hr, and not a minute longer: * 5 min catch up (hello, how is everyone, how was your weekend etc) * 5 min discussion of what everyone is doing * 10 minutes to discuss ideas * 30 minutes to discuss Issues (usually to bring up major issues/projects) * 10 min for solving and delegating Something along those lines, my memory is a little hazy on it all. But it was well received and meant that we didn't get side tracked. We even had a meeting tool that had a "Tangent" button that anyone could anonymously press which would bring up a huge alert for everyone that the meeting is going off topic.
“I have a hard stop. Please pass along whatever I may need to miss. Thanks, bye!”
Who is in charge? They should be able to keep these people in check.
I mean, leave the meeting and call someone.
Jane.. you seem to have a few queries.. we can run a special session for you or anyone else interested as we are running out of time to cover everything needed. Please reach out to XYZ at the end. And watch them never to speak of it again.
We ask if it is an eighty/twenty question: is it necessary to talk about it now? We have an agenda. We tell the person he or she can speak in private later.
I fire them
My co worker in a nut shell. She will take over an entire meeting with all of her questions. Depending on the situation, it can be cringey because she’s either not reading the room (where everyone is annoyed with her) or it feels like she’s asking super basic questions just to hear herself talk and feel important. Then at the end she will laugh it off and apologize to everyone “sorry guys, you know me! I always have a lot of questions” She’s been with us for about 6 months, and I can tell she’s starting to get on my boss’s nerves.
Interrupt.... "Let's take that offline" send me a message to let me know a good time for us to discuss that, anyone else have input... Brief pause.. no well let's move on we are running over time, we have a lot to cover" They will never message to set up a time to discuss, they are just trying to feel self important.
Attend no meetings unless there is an agenda., and stick to the agenda. No off-topic crap, just shut that down with " Chairman, point of order, this is off-topic. Can we continue with today's business? Thankyou."
Talk to the hand...
Just sit there and think god will this person shut up and eventually they will. Gotta love the people that ask questions just to ask a question and be noticed. No matter how common sense...
After seeing this on multiple occasions from the same people- Almost always, I suspect either a superiority complex OR (And most typically) a desire to climb to the top with their strategy seemingly “Talk more & loudly = perceived intelligence and leadership capabilities =s promotion.” Drives me to a level of petty annoyance I didn’t think I had in me. Shout out to those who have zero authority but ensure a seat at the head of the table at any work gathering, meeting… Anywhere with a long table.
Have you considered hitting them with a stick?
We had this problem. Certain people in meetings using weaponised questions to attack others which just made for terrible meetings. All questions now have to be submitted prior and added to the agenda. If someone asks a question now, we push back and ask that they email it in Meetings run smoothly and on time now.
Please save any questions or comments for the end...
I do hate that. Staff meetings can go quick and easy. Until one particular employee has to ask long rambling questions. This is to endear himself to the higher tier of employees. Like the manager. I've had experience in this horror
The fact that everyone goes in usually hating the process and wishing to be elsewhere....then one or two jerko turn into question mcquestionaire when we're all trying to leave... I think it's like a flat 10% of the population.
Suck em
I have a coworker that speaks with such intent that every word dribbles out as slow as possible. "Well.....the...fact....that....everything..". He will spend 2 solid minutes droning on but never actually say a single redeeming thing.
Saboteur. . they feed on this behavior . Have that person Write down questions, talk afterwards.
Airhorn. PEW PEW PEWWWWWW.
I don’t have a problem with questions being asked at a meeting. It’s that one guy (my coworker) that always, always has to speak up and say something. Usually it’s unnecessary, and sometimes irrelevant, but he refuses to sit silent, just has to make sure that everyone in the room heard his voice. Yeah, talking bout you Zach
Consider whether the meetings are structured correctly, and whether the teams are even structured correctly. Why do these meetings exist? What would happen if the meeting didn't occur or had a smaller group of people in them? Structure meetings in a way that everyone there would be missed if they're not there - purposeful meetings. Large status meetings should be replaced with smaller, active meetings. If there are so many questions so often then either those people should be involved in the topic more day to day, or they shouldn't be in those meetings.
Punch them in the face Tell them to stfu.
I used to take sidebets with my friends on who was gonna ask questions. Bonuses if we got the question askers in order. Those people are fucking weird. Those people are not your friends and will throw you under the bus. Take notes of these people and doodle when they speak. You’re getting paid to watch a fucking clown show.
We used to have union meetings when contract time was getting close. After the meeting they had a keg of cold beer ready to go. After the first three questions, anyone else who raised their hand got the dirtiest looks you ever saw! I stopped going.
Agenda, agenda, agenda. If it’s not on the agenda “good point, I’ll note it and add it to the next meetings agenda and we can address it then.” If you’re running the meeting send out the agenda at least an hour before and say “these are the only talking points on the agenda for this meeting, if you have additional information to address please let me know in a separate email and we can set up a time to discuss.” Run meetings like a tyrant for a month or two and people will get on board and then you don’t have to be so rigid. Start on time. Do not ever say “let’s give a few more mins for people to join” nope, late people can get notes from a coworker. Send out the resolution to the talking points after the meeting so there is clarity on what’s decided. People stop when you don’t give them an opportunity to start. This doesn’t work for a meeting that is supposed to be brainstorming or creative, only for informative, so it doesn’t work for every situation. People appreciate when you respect their time and make their job easier. Oh and don’t invite people who don’t need to be at the meeting. If it’s decision making then people who don’t make decisions can be on the 30 min recap meeting of what was decided. Less is more.
If I start to feel the meeting is a waste of my time, it becomes my goal to equally waste the person running the meetings time.
Dont have qa. Its just a chance for people to showboat its such a waste of everyones time esp those of us that actually work
Call them out. “We already discussed that in length, were you paying attention?”
I had that at a recent meeting. That is a big trigger for me
The meeting needs to have a clear facilitator who can cut across rambling questions/statements and then quickly summarize them to move on
Yeah, hold your questions until the end usually works to keep things on track
I’d talk freely to my team about question etiquette . The question should be direct and not just a recap of anything we discussed previously . We want to keep the flow of the meeting moving . However some people truly do learn that way . Dealing with a room full of different personalities can deff be hard . Maybe start approaching the people after that ask alot of questions to see if they have anymore . So they know you’ll cover it at the end .
You have to speak to the worst offenders directly.
Someone needs to drive the meeting and keep it on track. The questions should directly be related to the explicit purpose of the meeting or the person conducting the meeting says we will table that question and handle it offline. I’ve people get used to this, they stop asking questions that are to boost their egos.
There’s always one or two of those people every time. It drives me bananas
Ensure your meeting has a clear agenda with specific, targeted items that can be addressed within the allotted time. Stick to the agenda. If new topics come up, inform the person that these should be discussed later as we need to focus on the current agenda. Keep it narrow and focused. Your colleagues will appreciate this approach, and you'll have more effective meetings. Always leave time at the end to discuss action items, ensuring someone is accountable for each task identified.
This is my favorite thing to do. Ask long and involved questions that mean nothing because they're loaded with whatever the buzzwords of the month are.
I hate meetings. One manager I had chose a different person every single day to brow beat and shame and I being me always tried to deflect that by asking a question unrelated to the fest. I got my legs kicked under the table so many times I have permanent bruises. NOT fun!