9 Most Irritating Things People Do in Meetings & How to Stop Them

Excessive meetings are bad enough — whether they’re in-person or online. Add irritating habits and behaviors to the mix, and they’re even worse.

Unfortunately, no finance meeting lacks irritating behaviors within the confines of a department meeting. And we’re here to point out the worst — and ways to stop them.

Irritating All of Us

The irony of irritating behaviors in work meetings is that we spend so much time in meetings, you’d think people would know how to act when they’re in those tight quarters. Yet, some still seem oblivious to the niceties of meeting etiquette.

Still, here are the rudest behaviors and tips on curbing them in meetings so you can all get more done efficiently. You might want to post the list.

1. Spending Time Distracted on Phones

Our phones are assets for information. We can’t deny that these days.

But people are being rude and they waste other attendees’ time when they answer unrelated texts, get up to take a calls or answer emails.

Some people think they’re slick and try to do it on the down low, but guess what? Everyone sees them doing it.

When USC’s Marshall School of Business researchers surveyed employees:

• 87% believe it’s rarely or never acceptable to answer calls in business meetings
• 76% said it was unacceptable behavior to check texts or emails in business meetings
• 34% of women, and 59% of men, thought it was OK to check text messages at a business lunch, and
• More than 30% of them still found it to be rarely/never appropriate during informal lunch meetings to take a call, even if the person said excuse me.

If you’re in charge of the meeting, ask everyone to either silence their phones, leave them at their desks or leave the room if they must use them. If you’re meeting online, ask employees to stay focused on one screen, recognizing that it’s nearly impossible to enforce that.

2. Arriving Late — Every Time

Sure, everyone forgets or is late for a meeting at some point in time. But there are those who are late for EVERY meeting. That’s when we have cell phones, calendar invites, paper calendars, and email pings to remind us.

When people are constantly late to meetings it sends the message that their time is more important than everyone else’s.

These people just delay meetings, eat into your and everyone else’s time and make everyone less productive.

If you have one of these people on your team, sit them down and remind them that being late to a meeting is disrespectful, not charming.

3. Constant Fidgeting Or Tapping

People who can’t sit still and pay attention to a meeting are distracting to everyone else in the room. Whether it’s tapping their toe, wiggling their foot, shifting from side to side, twirling their hair, tapping a pen or picking their nails, it’s annoying.

The good news: A subtle glance at whatever they’re often delivers the message “stop it” clearly. Other times, you’ll have to pull the person aside after the meeting and talk to them. It might be a nervous twitch or bad habit that they’ve had for so long they don’t even know they’re doing it. Calling their attention to it can help them stop.

4. Talking Nonstop

Every company, department and meeting has at least one rambler who loves, loves, loves to hear himself talk about anything and everything. And even though no one else in the meeting thinks the person is adding anything important through their incessant chatter, the “Spotlight Lover” thinks his input is indispensable.

Ramblers are detrimental to meetings because everyone else has a tendency to tune out. This leads to long, unproductive meetings, which often means another meeting will be needed. To avoid this, interrupt the person and paraphrase (if you can) what they are trying to say to get their point across and make them shut up.

5. Repeating Points

What some people fail to understand is that they don’t have to make an earth-shattering statement at every meeting. It’s actually OK to nod in agreement or say, “I agree.” Instead, they repeat someone else’s point.

Problem is, these people waste time just like ramblers do.

Feel free to call them out by asking them if they have anything new to add. Making people aware of their annoying habit can embarrass them once or twice, but hopefully they’ll get your point and stop.

6. Pontificating

People who pontificate during meetings think the world revolves around them because they like to think they are the smartest, hardest-working or most creative person in the room.

In reality, they aren’t.

They use meetings as their stage to get pats on the back from superiors and take credit for anything and everything they can because they need to show how valuable and important they are.

With pontificators, you have to interrupt them and quickly move on to another point so you can stay on track. This will catch them off guard and make them stop talking for a split second, because who would have the nerve to interrupt their brilliant speech? Be ready to jump in and get the meeting back on track.

7. Being An Endless Negative

These people are solely in meetings to point out everything that’s wrong with everyone else’s ideas. But they never offer a solution of their own.

Instead they tear everyone else’s ideas to shreds making the other attendees so self-conscious they don’t want to participate any more.

The best way to deal with Negative Neds or Nellys is to let them express their opinion once or twice, and then remind them that if they don’t have anything positive or constructive to add, it’s best to remain quiet and listen.

8. Interrupting Others

Unlike the pontificator or the oversharer, the interrupter never lets anyone finish a sentence or thought without interjecting their own brilliant opinion, which, of course, is better than everyone else’s opinion.

Luckily for them they have a never-ending stream of opinions and ideas they feel are absolutely necessary to share.

They’ll often change the subject too before you’re finished with it, because they have something else that they just have to share.

To get the meeting back on track, beat them at their own game — interrupt them. Thank them for their opinion, but let them know you weren’t ready to move on.

Sure, it’s not nice to embarrass people, but sometimes it’s necessary for certain people to get the point.

9. Whining, Pouting And Sulking

In a professional meeting there shouldn’t be anyone who’s whining, pouting or sulking, but there are.

If they don’t get their way or their idea isn’t embraced with open arms, they whine, pout and sulk, and they do it every time.

Your best bet with these people is just to ignore them. Giving them more attention just encourages their childish behavior.

No matter which behavior annoys you most, the bottom line is they’re disrespectful to the other meeting attendees, and they’re distracting.