Do you find your employees are avoiding meetings?

Are you finding yourself dreading your next meeting?

Have you join the legions of people that now believe meetings are a total waste of time?A widening body of research is now showing that employees equate meeting rooms with wasted time. Many feel that time spent in the meeting room is time that takes them to totally away from their responsibilities.

Here are two innovative suggestions to make your meetings more effective:

1. If your meeting lasts a half-day or more, hold it at a local hotel or conference center. Although this is the expense, you'll find your meeting will be much more productive and you will makeup the time (and expense) through increased productivity as meeting participants have a rush of productivity when they return to the office.

2. Use "Photo Op" thinking when selecting a meeting spot. oliticians have learned to introduce legislation or concepts at an appropriate venue. If they're talking about education, they go to a school. If they are talking about health-care, they may stand outside a hospital. Likewise, think about where you're holding your meeting. If your meeting is to discuss a new shipping system, hold the meeting on the shipping dock. If nothing else, the noise of the shipping dock, will eliminate small talk and sidebar discussions.

Rick Weaver is an accomplished business executive with a wealth of experience in retail, market analysis, supply chain enhancement, project management, team building, and process improvement.

Rick career began in retailing as a stockclerk, eventually becoming the Director of Vendor Development at Kmart Corporation during it