The Art of Meeting Timing: When Early Birds Meet Strategic Latecomers
There’s something oddly fascinating about the psychological warfare that plays out in those few minutes before a scheduled Teams meeting. You know the scenario: it’s 9:25am, you’re wrapping up something else, and suddenly that little notification pops up telling you someone has already started the 9:30am meeting. What do you do?
I’ve been thinking about this lately after stumbling across a discussion online where people were sharing their meeting joining strategies. The responses revealed something quite telling about how we’ve all adapted to this brave new world of remote work and endless video calls.
The camps seem pretty clearly divided. There are the early birds who jump in the moment that meeting room opens, often out of FOMO or a genuine desire to be helpful. Then there are the strategic wait-ers (like myself) who stick religiously to the scheduled time. Some folks even take it further, deliberately joining a few minutes late to avoid what one person brilliantly described as “the most forced conversation ever” – you know, that painful small talk about weekend plans or the weather.
What struck me most about the discussion was how many people have developed sophisticated coping mechanisms. There’s the person who waits until the meeting auto-mutes because enough people have joined, ensuring they slip in past the chitchat phase. There’s the meeting organiser who starts late so everyone’s actually there when things begin. And my personal favourite: the person who joins at 9:33 to skip “the beginning of meeting faff and fake pleasantries.”
It’s almost become an art form, this dance around meeting etiquette. We’ve all encountered the classic scenarios – the person who can’t figure out their microphone for the first five minutes, the screen sharing failures, the “can everyone see my screen?” followed immediately by “oh wait, I forgot to share with sound.” Sometimes I wonder if these technical difficulties are genuine or just elaborate stalling tactics.
The whole phenomenon reflects something deeper about how we’ve adapted to remote work culture. Before the pandemic, showing up to a meeting room a few minutes early was considered professional courtesy. You’d grab a coffee, exchange pleasantries, maybe discuss the footy scores. But when your “meeting room” is your home office, and back-to-back calls are the norm rather than the exception, those extra five minutes become precious.
What really gets under my skin though are the serial meeting restarters – those people who create a new meeting when there are still three minutes left on the original one. It’s the digital equivalent of renovating while people are still eating dinner in the restaurant. Just let the thing end naturally, for crying out loud.
The cynical part of me wonders if Microsoft could solve half these issues with some simple interface improvements. Why is the “leave” button right next to “share screen”? Why can’t we have better controls over when meetings actually become joinable? But then again, maybe the chaos is a feature, not a bug. Maybe these awkward few minutes serve as a social pressure release valve in our increasingly digital work lives.
What bothers me more is how this reflects our relationship with time and boundaries in the modern workplace. The fact that so many people feel compelled to join early, or conversely, feel genuine anxiety about those forced interactions, suggests we’re still figuring out the social norms of digital collaboration. We’re all just making it up as we go along.
The discussion did make me reflect on my own approach though. While I’m firmly in the “join at 9:30” camp, I have to admit there’s something to be said for the people who use those early minutes productively – checking their screen sharing setup, making sure they won’t accidentally broadcast something embarrassing, or simply getting mentally prepared for what’s to come.
Perhaps the solution isn’t about finding the “right” time to join meetings, but about being more intentional with our time boundaries. Maybe it’s okay to acknowledge that not every moment needs to be filled with productivity or networking. Sometimes it’s perfectly fine to join exactly when you said you would, contribute what you need to contribute, and then get back to the work that actually matters.
The beauty of remote work is supposed to be flexibility and efficiency. If we’re all spending mental energy on the strategic timing of meeting entry, maybe we’re missing the point. Whether you’re an early joiner who genuinely enjoys the social aspect, or a strategic late-comer who values every minute of focused work time, the key is being intentional about it rather than just reacting to social pressure.
Next time that notification pops up at 9:25, I’ll probably still wait until 9:30. But I’ll try to remember that the person who started early isn’t necessarily trying to show off – they might just be sitting in their car, trying to dial in before they start driving, or dealing with their own version of meeting anxiety. We’re all just trying to navigate this weird digital workplace we’ve created, one awkwardly timed meeting at a time.