Free Business Without the Bullsh*t: 49 Secrets and Shortcuts You Need to Know by Geoffrey James Page B

attend a meeting, you should first review your personal and career goals so you can assess whether it will be time well spent, and how you’ll spend the time if you attend.
2. KNOW WHY THE MEETING WAS CALLED.
    Your strategy for dealing with a meeting varies according to the type of meeting. People call meetings for seven reasons:
    1.
To get you to decide something.
The meeting caller wants to persuade or convince you to make a decision.
    2.
To hone their own ideas.
The meeting caller wants the benefit of your experience and creativity on his or her own project.
    3.
To convey information.
The meeting caller has information that he or she wants to communicate, but is too lazy to create a stand-alone document.
    4.
To test out a presentation.
The meeting caller wants to rehearse a presentation in front of a live audience.
    5.
To accomplish group writing.
The meeting caller intends to use the creation of a document to drive toward a consensus decision.
    6.
To prove their own importance.
The meeting caller is establishing his or her place in the pecking order by wasting other people’s time.
    7.
To fulfill a process step.
The meeting caller is fulfilling a commitment to have regular meetings on a particular subject.
    As a general rule, meetings you’re asked to attend due to reasons 1 or 2 are more likely to be useful to you than meetings you’re asked to attend due to reasons 3 through 7. However (and unfortunately), youprobably will not be able to avoid all the meetings that are not useful to you, especially if they’re called by your boss or the coworkers who’ve got clout.
3. LIMIT YOUR MEETING ATTENDANCE.
    As explained above, some meetings are mandatory while others are not. If you’re absolutely required to attend a meeting, skip to Step 4.
    However, if there’s any question as to whether your presence is required, compare your own goals to the meeting’s reason and decide whether the benefit of attending is greater than the benefit of doing something else. To make this decision, ask yourself two questions: “What’s in it for me?” and “What if I pass on it?”
Example 1:
    Your boss’s peer has asked the entire division (including his group and your boss’s) to attend a meeting where the peer will give the presentation that he’s planning to give to top management next week. You ask yourself:
    1.
What’s in it for me?
I’ll get some visibility with my boss’s peer and probably my own boss, since she’ll probably attend. I may also get a better sense of how the peer approaches problems, which might prove useful in the future. I will also have the opportunity before and after to socialize with coworkers.
    2.
What if I pass on it?
Since many of my coworkers might attend, if I don’t show up, everyone might wonder why I’m not there. In addition, the boss’s peer might take my absence as an insult, making things more difficult for my own boss.
    In this case you probably want to attend.
Example 2:
    You’re an engineering manager whom the marketing group has invited to a group writing session for a press release about a new product design. You ask:
    1.
What’s in it for me?
I’ll be able to prevent the marketing group from saying something stupid or inaccurate.
    2.
What if I pass on it?
I won’t waste two hours arguing about trivia and they’ll have to run the press release by me anyway when they’re done.
    In this case you pass. Rather than attending, you send an e-mail with the technical specs you think should be included, along with a reminder that you’d like to review the final version before it’s released to the press.
    After asking the two questions (as shown in the examples above), decide whether it makes sense for you to attend. If it does, skip to Step 4.
    If it doesn’t make sense for you to attend, create an excuse that’s plausible but not insulting.
WRONG:
    “It sounds like a waste of time.”
    “I have better things to do.”
RIGHT:
    “I have a scheduling conflict.”
    “I have