Why You Shouldn’t Schedule Meetings Longer than One Hour

People have a hard time attending meetings that are longer than one hour.

Maybe it’s today’s ADD. Or perhaps, it’s just that any meeting that long is a waste of many people’s time.

Either way, there is almost no reason to schedule a meeting for over 60 minutes.

If you do, you’re scheduling more time than is necessary or productive.

The Dreaded 90-Minute Meeting

When people really want to get something done, what do they typically do?

They schedule a really long meeting.

The dreaded 90-minute (or two-hour) meeting invite arrives in your inbox.

Even before you accept it, you know that a large chunk of your day will not be productive.

‘Meetings longer that one hour take more time, but don’t produce better results.’

Tweet This

The irony here is that most “long meetings” get scheduled because someone is disorganized, uninformed, or needs other people to do their work. They want to get more done, but they are really accomplishing the opposite.

Scheduling meetings for more than an hour in non-productive. You lose people’s interest, energy, and attention.

Even worse, meetings will always expand to fill the allowed time. People will show up late, there will be wasted chit-chat, and even joking about “how much time there is” for the discussion.

Keep Those Meetings Short

Most meetings should be 30 minutes (or less).

An hour is about the maximum amount of time that produces productive discussion on one topic.

Avoid anything above that timeframe, as expanding the time doesn’t expand the results.

Shorter meetings are better meetings and don’t take up valuable time in your day.

Question: How long do you schedule meetings for? Does your organization hold 90 minute meetings? You can leave a comment by clicking here.