HP Innovation Journal Issue 10: Fall 2018 | Page 42

We’ve all seen the meme: A children’s
playset is arranged to look like a pretend
office scenario with a miniaturized table,
chairs and “conference” phone. Around
it, children reenact a workplace meeting
to hilarious effect. The product is
called “The Soul-Crushing Meeting.”
Its tagline: “Now your kids can suffer
just like you!”
There’s too much truth to the joke.
In the U.S., American companies
hold 11 million meetings a day, with
unproductive ones costing the country
$37 billion a year. Tips and tricks for
holding productive meetings abound,
from drafting concise agendas to Jeff
Bezos’s meeting-size limit of two
pizzas’ worth of people. Now advanced
technologies seem poised to relieve
some of that pain.
Innovation Journal Issue Ten