If you know me well enough, I expect you to be surprised by this post as I am not keen on meetings, but earlier this week I read an article about meetings and yeah, written by Sarah B. Weir. You should read it before proceeding to the following text.

This article is pleasant to read, isn’t it? If you were here with me, I would expect you to say “yeah!”.

I have to say that I admire those articles where authors manage to use simple English without dumbing their content down. I wish I could write finer content; I’ll keep trying until I can replace the word wish by will.

(Oh sorry), let me get back on track…  In fact I’m happy to see the evolution of meetings from the (old) formal, stressful, useless and one-way communication moment into something more casual. As I earned a degree in physics, I usually try to find an explanation to everything and the the one I’ve found for this study is linked to social networks (e.g. +1).

However, according to the article, body language hadn’t been taken in account by the study; for instance if I say yeah (monotone with an extended a sound) or yeah (brief and raising tone), the meaning is opposite. But I doubt that people would say normally say a negative yeah and would remain silent instead. Also, I’m wondering how attendees in international and multicultural environments would react if I kept saying yeah: no matter what, I will try.

Had I had some spare time, I would have read the complete study, which isn’t list on Improbable Research, a Web site publishing all kind of useless research, and therefore won’t be a candidate for the Ig Nobel prize. Looks like it’s useful.

In my humble opinion, we should have meetings on a couch, share some food, or enjoy outdoors, while walking on an alameda to the restaurant. That’s an utopia. Yeah! Can I please grab a bite before the next meeting? No! That’s a dystopia.. Yeah!