I don’t do meetings. I do tweetings.
Written on September 6, 2008 – 12:00 pm
David Petherick, Contributing Editor, United Kingdom
[ This article was originally published at Digital Biographer on 5th September ] © Copyright 2008 Clarocada Ltd. Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 UK: Scotland License.
“Meetings are an addictive, highly self-indulgent activity that corporations and other large organizations habitually engage in only because they cannot masturbate” - Dave Barry
I don’t do meetings any more. I used to do a lot of meetings. But not any more. 
The change from meeting to tweeting - where a series of brief exchanges (each a maximum of 140 characters) can make up the content - has been brought about by a variety of factors over the past 15 years or so - but here are the ten factors that I think are critical.
- IN GOOGLE TIME
I no longer have a phone book, business directories or yellow pages. Those were essential when I started my first corporation in 1993. But now, I use Google. As a result, I have less patience for slow ways of doing things - I am impatient. I demand speed, efficiency, and immediate results. - HOLA FONEROS
I have a laptop computer and a mobile phone, I can work from a cafe terrace in Banyalbufar just as easily as anywhere else. As a result, I don’t have the need to restrict myself to doing business with those who are within easy reach of where I live or work most of the time. - HOME OFFICE DRESS CODE
I don’t need to have an office in the city centre to get my work done - I can do it from my home office. As a result, I don’t need to spend time travelling, and so I use that saved time productively. I also find wearing a suit in my own kitchen a bit pointless, so feel there has to be a very good reason to dress up to go somewhere. I like the fact that my carbon footprint’s lower with less travel. - MY ONLINE VISIBILITY
Whereas I used to have to push information out to people in brochures, newspaper interviews, in meetings, at trade shows, I now have online profiles at LinkedIn, Xing, Ecademy, Facebook, Hyves, Flickr, Friendfeed, MyBloglog etc, and I have blogs and web sites that I can update easily in seconds. As a result, I don’t have to spend so much time introducing myself, and explaining what it is that I, or any of my enterprises provide - people find out about me before they meet me, or get to know me through following my activities online. People can meet me at airports because my photo is online. They can also decide whether they need to waste their time meeting me. - I HATE COFFEE
I don’t really like coffee any more. And I especially never liked paying €5 for a cup of it unless it was refilled all day and came with free wi-fi. As a result, when someone says - let’s have a chat over a coffee, I say “No. Let’s save the time and money, and spend five minutes now working out if we need to meet - and if so, what items on the agenda we can dispense with before we need to have a meeting”. - MEETINGS ARE GETTING SHORTER
I arranged a meeting in London (yes, I do still sometimes meet people) with guys coming from Amsterdam and from the USA without ever using a phone - and although we’d not met before, we have already shared dozens of pieces of information that made the business of the meeting last about ten minutes - and then we ordered some food and drinks. We then talked about other interesting stuff and new possibilities - not just ‘the business we need to discuss’. - CUT THE CHIT-CHAT
I can get to know people online by following their updates - or by looking at what they’ve said, or who they’ve been talking with, or who’s been talking about them - and so with this background, a lot of ‘chit-chat’ becomes unnecessary. As a result, I can filter out people, or filter them in. - YOU CAN DO THIS TOO
You are reading this blog. You can send me emails, you can send me stuff without a courier, you can clarify things in Skitch, you can speak on Skype for free, you can send an instant message or a twitter. But you can do this as suits your agenda - and not be dragged into it by another party with an unknown agenda who wants 100% of your attention - NOW. - I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU
I can now have customers who I never meet. That used to be very difficult. But now, I can see people, talk to them in real time, swap messages and files, send them sound files and presentations, have a video-conference with them… whether they are half a world away or live around the corner. - LIFE’S TOO SHORT
A friend of mine died suddenly this year. David was 42. He did not suffer fools gladly, and could summarise biblical volumes of information in a pithy, witty phrase. But he ran out of time. We all will.
Now, I realise this might make me sound like an anti-social douche-bag, who’d rather spend his time tapping away at his keyboard than having a normal chat face to face.
But if you’ve met me, you’ll know that I’m a very gregarious and friendly guy who’s always introducing people to each other in social situations. However, that’s because I have time to do that - because I have not been wasting time in avoidable meetings.
I asked a friend about this issue yesterday - here’s what he had to say: -
“I prefer email and tweets and other online communications over telephone and face to face meetings because it allows me to manage my own time. When I’m meeting face to face the other person will automatically assume they have an hour of my time, which seems to be the standard meeting length, and will take all of that time to talk TO me.
In an email I might grasp their concept within 2 minutes and be ready with a reply. Other times I need to think about their message overnight. All of this is impossible in face to face meetings where an immediate reaction and 100% dedication is demanded.”
Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten
So if you want to have a meeting with me here’s how to start the conversation:- Let’s tweet.
But what about you - what’s changed the way you handle meetings over the past few years?
– © Copyright 2008 Clarocada Ltd. Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 UK: Scotland License.
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By Pascal on Sep 6, 2008
Great article.
I do most of my business using the internet aswell, and it has allowed me to do business all over the world something that would normally not have been possible.
By using a business site like linkedin, I’ve been able to get into contact with people that most likely wouldn’t have scheduled a meeting, but now had no problem reading my short messages or mails and actually replied!
Using something as simple as MSN or Google-talk allows for much faster and a much more casual work atmosphere between me and my contacts (freelancers, buyers, distributors, etc)
The casual way of doing business is much more relaxing and really suits my personallity more, I never loved any type of meeting (I tend to get bored and find them a huge waste of time), thanks to the internet I can have a nice and quick chat and get the more important things written out in emails and it won’t take me a scheduled monday morning.
Basically it redefined my life, as I’ve been running my mobile game development company with great success for 4 years now, work from the comfort of my own home, capable of visiting the beach on a sunny day (5minute walk), and still am reachable using mobile-IM clients for urgent things…
[Reply]
Thanks for sharing your experience Pascal.
Your point about a faster and more casual work atmosphere is important - i think that there is an important change in the way people relate to each other when these tools are used - and I think it definitely is a positive improvement.
[Reply]
By Berislav Lopac on Sep 6, 2008
A good tool for “tweetings” would be Speeka. It lets you start public, private, or semi-public (only the chosen speak, and everyone can read) discussions in the Tweet’s style.
[Reply]
Thanks for the note Berislav.
I like the look of Speeka - and the name of the service amused me as I have a character / mascot for my business called ‘Speaka’.
See http://speaka.org for the ‘Speaka’s Plain English Blog.
[Reply]
By Şekip Can Gökalp on Sep 7, 2008
Great post. I think it’s a real big waste of time to discuss business in real time. A turn-based discussion gives us the chance to think, re-think and say things precisely, which makes things easier and more accurate. At the end, productivity is key.
The embracement of these new methods by our generation is, I think, also a reason of the fast development, which would have been impossible in another way.
[Reply]
Şekip, I think you are right to say productivity is the key - for some, these tools are a natural way to keep in touch with people, and to keep projects moving.
But for others, they may be a distraction, and get in the way of making things clearer and more precise, of course!
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By Jack on Sep 8, 2008
This seems like total nonsense; a case of a bold asertion in an attempt to display some digital credentials.
A good indicator as to the effectiveness of the tweeting vs. face to face meetings or phone calls in terms of getting things done would sales calls and meetings. Emailing or twittering will never be as effective a communication tool if you actually want to persuade someone to do something as a meeting or phone call would be.
Actually speaking to or meeting someone works far better because you pick up all the intimations and tonality that twittering and emailing lacks. You also get to build raport with the other party.
Most people know of an email they’ve written/read that has perhaps been slightly misinterpreted. A meeting or phone call will rarely be misinterpreted, not least because you are able to clarify any ambiguity there and then.
[Reply]
For some people, who take things to literal, communicating by mail or IM might indeed not be a solution.
Ways of doing things change, and internet is a medium that has a large impact on everything we do. You can stick to the old ways because they are “safe” and have “proven” to work, but you can also try and embrace the new ways of communicating and getting things done.
Having a face to face with people all over the world is simply not an effective way of doing business, time consuming and most likely more expensive then it’s worth.. having new ways of doing it with consuming less time or wasting less money is business 101.
[Reply]
It doesn’t make sense to just compare the time involved having a meeting (or make a phone call) with that taken to tweet/email; the effectiveness is vital too.
I’m not suggesting that you can only do one or the other - a happy medium is vital - but if you need to persuade someone to do something, particularly if it’s a relatively ‘big ask’, then a meeting or phone call will usually win hands down.
[Reply]
Hi Jack,
If I’d just wanted to to display my digital credentials, I’d have linked to all my online profiles, mentioned how many companies I’ve started, and told you what year it was when I created my first web site.
Now, I agree that in a sales role, face to face meetings can be effective - but what I am talking about here is using other tools to get into that meeting, and to get the chance have that conversation, and to make that phone call or meeting a formality - to just close the deal. And I build rapport through twitter all the time, Jack.
But let’s define “effective”. Email is more effective than a phone call or a meeting to get people to buy things, because it takes less time, costs less, and is scalable. In percentage terms, door to door sales may get better results than email, but it’s certainly not efficient.
If I want to persuade someone to do something, I DON’T have to meet them or call them. I have sold advertising and sponsorship deals in the past with just one twitter message. I have written emails that have brought in millions of pounds. No call, no meeting, no wasting anyone’s time. 100% effective. But then, I have made using words to persuade people my job.
That does not mean I don’t persuade and communicate in a meeting - I am simply saying I don’t have to waste as much time as I used to, because I’ve learned there are new tools and new ways to do things, and they work for me, so I save time.
If you write or speak with clarity, your reader can not misinterpret anything. Except when they don’t properly hear what you say, because they have to get to some meeting…
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