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NO B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs 29CHAPTER 3 / HOW TO DRIVE A STAKE THROUGH THE HEARTS OF THE TIME VAMPIRES OUT TO SUCK YOU DRY%u201cThey%u2019re in a Meeting%u201dThe next most dangerous Time Vampire is Mr. Meeting. Some people seem to do nothing but attend meetings. Just as I was finishing this book, a big corporate client of mine dragged me into a 20-minute, four-person conference call to discuss when we could have the next, longer conference call to plan a meeting. Geez.Being in meetings is seductive. It is a way to feel important. It%u2019s also a great way to hide from making and taking responsibility for decisions. Meetingitis is a disease that turns businesses into unproductive, indecisive, slow-moving coffee klatches. (The two toughest CEOs I know hold only %u201cstand-up meetings.%u201d No chairs.) It is my observation that this situation has only worsened, year after year. Even though we%u2019ve all been offered, and most have accepted, a whole new arsenal of gadgets and technologies supposed to make communication more efficient, everybody I try to connect with is in a meeting. They may be there by Skype or GoToMeeting or some other cyber, interstellar, or surreal means, but the effect is the same: they%u2019re in a vampires%u2019 den having their time sucked up.You need to stop and ask yourself: do I really need to be in%u2014or hold%u2014this meeting? Is there a more time-efficient way to handle this? A conference call? A memo circulated to each person? Heck, a posting on a bulletin board. On an internet or intranet site. An email. Hey, anything BUT another meeting. If you are going to hold a meeting, there are several stakes you can use to stop the vampires from making it an endless %u201cblood klatch.%u201d (Time Vampires love meetings because a bunch of blood-rich victims gather in one place at one time. It%u2019s like a buffet.)1. Set the meeting for immediately before lunch or at the end of the day so the vampires are eager to get it done and over with, turn into bats, and fly out of there.
