Information overload is felt by all knowledge workers these days, especially when more work is squeezed out smaller teams. You feel like quitting meetings but you really can't because you are no longer in the know and more importantly your boss may notice your absence. You can only do so many Webex sessions a day before you start slipping on your other deliverables.
Another thing that happens frequently is, the presenter gives our all the information via PowerPoint or demonstration etc., however the people who attended the meeting go away with different takeaways. It is amazing when the same information is presented to a group of people, especially, cross functional teams, they process and understand the presented information differently.
And then there is that occasional event, when a key person, whether a technical architect or a senior director or V.P. just cannot attend a meeting or does a no-show. The whole project is delayed by a week because the meeting needs to occur for that one key missing person.
Here is a solution, insist on whoever scheduled the meeting to do the following,
1. Record the video, especially useful for software demonstrations
2. Record the audio of all participants through out the meeting
3. Make the recordings available to the team, especially to those who missed the meeting
Take away all excuses from the cross functional team, so they cannot say oh! I missed he meeting.
