Does this sound familiar?
The meeting was scheduled for 9:00 but somehow at 9:06 Zoom still says "Waiting for host to start the meeting." When it finally starts, the organiser casually mutters "sorry, previous thing ran long" while fumbling with screen sharing.
It's okay though, because they'll happily steal those minutes back by running fifteen minutes over the scheduled end time.
Everyone waiting lost those first minutes. And everyone with a follow-up commitment will nervously look at the clock because it's highly likely the current meeting will run over and create a domino effect. Next meeting will run over, and the next and the next.
For people who plan their energy carefully, especially those with access needs who may require specific accommodations, these unpredictable timeframes aren't just annoying. They're barriers to participation. No one expects you to impose a rigid adherence to the clock. But you need to recognise that everyone's time holds equal value.
When meetings go over, you're essentially declaring your agenda more important than whatever else people had planned.
Here are three solutions to meetings that start late:
- Schedule shorter meetings than you think you need (25 or 50 minutes instead of 30 or 60) to create natural buffers between commitments.
- If starting late is unavoidable, ruthlessly prioritise your agenda items and be prepared to sacrifice the least important ones to end on time.
- Start the meeting with whoever shows up on time rather than waiting for stragglers. When latecomers arrive, don't recap. They'll learn quickly that missing the start means missing information.
Of course, it would just be better to start when you said you would. And end when you promised.
Anything else is just being sloppy.
If the meeting was important, you'd be on time, wouldn't you?