Stop Wasting Time: Make Every Large Meeting Count

?? “The worst meeting I’ve ever attended could have been an email.”

Sounds familiar? We have all been there—staring at a screen with 15 other people wondering, “Why am I here?” Large group meetings are often the biggest time-wasters if not handled right. But what if I told you there’s a way to turn these giant group meetings into effective, action-packed sessions that leave everyone feeling heard and productive?

I’ve spent years leading teams at Meta, GoDaddy, and eBay, and have learned (often the hard way) how to optimize meetings to drive real outcomes. In this post, I’ll share the tips and strategies I’ve learned to make large group meetings more efficient, productive, and worth your time. Ready? Let’s dive in!

The Great Meeting Purge ??

The first step to having better meetings is knowing when not to have one.

Over the years, I’ve found that many meetings happen because someone feels obligated to schedule a check-in. Don’t fall into that trap. Imagine 15 individuals X $ / hour for each of the attendees as the cost the company pays for you to host this meeting - is this meeting as valuable now?

At Meta, I learned that every meeting needs a purpose—if there’s no decision to be made or critical update to share, cancel it. You can save everyone (including yourself) precious time and energy.

What’s worked for me:

• Can the topic be resolved via Slack, email, or a quick call? If so, cancel the meeting and suggest an async catch-up instead. Give everyone the gift of time!
• For recurring meetings, I regularly review whether they're still valuable and kill them if they’re not. At a minimum, rethink the frequency.
• Introduced "No Meeting Wednesdays" to give everyone a mid-week breather

The 5-Minute Shift ?

You’ve probably noticed that most meetings start on the hour or half-hour. Here’s a trick that changed the game for me—schedule meetings at 5 minutes past the hour. This simple adjustment gives people a chance to take a breather between back-to-back sessions.

Why does this matter? Meetings don’t just start when you login; they start when you’ve had a moment to reset your mind and context switch to the topic of discussion. Most leaders continuously context switch throughout the day, and using this trick kept the pace of the day manageable.

What’s worked for me:

• Schedule large meetings at 10:05 AM instead of 10:00 AM. This gives people a chance to grab a drink, stretch, walk away from a screen, and come prepared.
• I also cap meetings at 25 or 50 minutes to avoid time creep. This forces focus and urgency, and ensures folks have “travel” time to their next meeting room.

Clear Titles and Strong Agendas ??

Your meeting title and agenda should tell attendees everything they need to know before they show up. A clear agenda, sent in advance, is a powerful tool for keeping meetings on track. It sets the tone and the expectation that you mean business.

Back when I was at GoDaddy, I ran a major product review meeting with stakeholders across multiple departments. I noticed the meetings were often chaotic because no one knew what to expect, and decisions were frequently pushed to the next call. That’s when I started sending pre-reads and outlined the meeting objective clearly in the invite.

What’s worked for me:

• Use specific titles like "Project X MVP Decision Meeting" People know what the intent of the meeting was and what success meant.
• Include a 3-point agenda in the invite:
• Intro (5 min) [Person X]
• Decision 1: Go/No-Go (15 min) [Person X + Y + Z]
• Next Steps (5 min) [Person X]

Pre-Reads for Decisions ??

If your meeting requires decision-making, sending pre-reads in advance is non-negotiable. No one should be seeing critical information for the first time in the meeting itself.

At Meta, this became a non-negotiable rule for me when I realized how often meetings would stall because people weren’t prepared. I asked teams to send a brief that summarized key points and decisions needed 24 hours in advance. The result? Meetings where people discussed the recommended decision and alternatives the team provided, and made decisions.

What’s worked for me:

• Send pre-reads to all decision-makers at least 24 hours before the meeting.
• Recommend a decision and contrast it with other potential decisions
• Highlight the sections that require attention and provide a TL; DR.
• Ask meeting attendees to leave comments in the pre-read
• Have the team review the comments and determine the response and the person who would deliver that response, before the live conversation.

Engage and Listen ??

Here’s the secret: Meetings shouldn’t be monologues. Especially in large group settings, it’s crucial to keep people engaged. When I led discussions, I found myself talking more than listening.? To foster this, I adopted a "Talk Less, Smile More" approach (yes, Hamilton fans, I see you). The best insights often come from others, not the person leading the meeting.

What’s worked for me:

• I ask at least three open-ended questions per meeting to encourage input. Most times, I prepare these questions in advance.
• I aim to speak for less than 30% of the total meeting time and leave the floor open for team members.
• Instead of summarizing the entire meeting myself, I ask different people to recap key points. This ensures everyone’s been paying attention.

Make Room for Inclusive Participation ??♀?

In large meetings, it’s easy for the loudest voices to dominate. As a leader, it’s my job to make sure everyone has a chance to speak. At Meta, we had meetings where introverted team members’ ideas were often overshadowed, so I implemented a structured check-in process.

I’d go around the virtual room to ensure everyone had a chance to share their thoughts, and I set up a signal to gently nudge speakers when they were going on too long. It wasn’t about cutting people off—it was about maintaining flow and ensuring balanced contributions.

What’s worked for me:

• Use a round-robin technique to allow each attendee to contribute.
• Encourage team members to share thoughts in chat or the document if they’re uncomfortable speaking up in large groups.

End Early ?

No one ever complains about a meeting ending early! Aiming to wrap up 5 minutes ahead of schedule gives people a breather before their next call and helps prevent the meeting from dragging on.?

When I was managing multiple product teams, we often scheduled hour-long product review sessions. At times, we were aligned with the team’s recommendation and were able to do so very quickly.? We dismissed the call early and let the team know that any further discussions could potentially change our minds. The teams left the discussion with the outcome they wanted.

What’s worked for me:

• Aim to start wrapping up at the T-5 minute mark by summarizing key takeaways.
• Allow a few minutes for raised hands or final comments.
• Suggest async follow-ups for any points we couldn’t cover.

TL; DR

Implementing these changes wasn't always easy. The most rewarding outcome was the cultural shift. People started to view meetings not as necessary evils but as valuable tools for collaboration and decision-making. The energy in our office (and on our video calls) transformed.

As leaders, it's our responsibility to create an environment where our teams can do their best work. Sometimes, that means challenging the status quo!

I challenge you: Look at your calendar. Are your meetings serving you, or are you serving your meetings? It's time to take control and create a meeting culture that energizes rather than exhausts.

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