Close the Laptop: Reclaiming Focus in In-Person Meetings

We are living in two universes - the remote universe and the in-person universe.

If you need your laptop to have an in-person meeting - it could have been done remotely.

If you are meeting in-person, please, leverage that moment - close the laptop and talk.

A shared screen is different - if you are both engaging with the same materials - by all means, do it.

But the second your meeting turns into this 👨‍💻 👩‍💻 - it's no longer a meeting - it's a co-working session.

Meetings are for devoted attention to the agenda and task - if that's not happening - why have the meeting?

Roles matter, of course - if your job is to take notes during the meeting, go ahead, open it up.

But if your job is to get creative, contribute meaningfully, help make decisions, etc. - don't open your laptop.

Why am I so passionate about this? Because our moments together these days are precious - they should be spent working through the hard stuff, with distractions limited.

I am an advocate for using the best tools for the right moments.

In meetings - laptops are not the best tool.

The best tools are:

• White boards

• TVs for presentations

• Flip charts

• Empty tables

• Space and time to make progress as a group