Many of us I’m sure spend a lot of time in meetings. In fact, barely a day goes by without being roped in to some irrelevant meeting where you have next to nothing to contribute, and even if you did, you’re too disinterested to actually participate.
So, there are some hard and fast rules that should be taken into consideration when dealing with all things meetingy.
The first rule is to determine who the alpha male is. The alpha male might well be female. In other social situations, they’re known as the ‘life-and-soul-of-the-party’. They’re loud, they’re obnoxious, they like waving their arms about and telling terminally boring witty anecdotes. Having established who the alpha male is, you can then proceed to stare at them intently every now and then. The trick to alpha males is to realise that their outward demeanour is but a sham, a mere papering over the deep insidious cracks within their fragile psyche. Staring will knock a lot of wind out of their sails, especially if you manage to look mildly disbelieving/inquisitive.
The next task is to identify the wimp. The wimp is a shy quiet type, who squirms about painfully whenever more than 3 people are in a room. They have a soft small voice, and no matter how intelligent, will be easy cannon fodder for your wrath. When the alpha male asks a question, simply repeat it later but direct it specifically at the wimp. Force them to speak up to maximise their discomfort.
