Yet Another Boring Meeting

Have you ever been an unlucky prisoner of a useless, painfully boring presentation?

You sit there, fighting to keep your mind focused or, at least, to keep your head straight. Frantically trying to look alive and alert.

You worry. Am I the only one not following?!

You sneak a look around. Ah, you are not alone in your stupor. John's eyes are glazed over. Sarah supports her head in a straight position with her hands. Dan seems to have mastered the art of yawning with mouth shut. Peter is fully absorbed in wiping his glasses. Michael nods his head every now and then and jots something down in his notepads with a raised brow. You briefly wonder what he's actually writing there.

The most important thing is to keep moving, shifting a little, making sure you look alive.

All of a sudden, Katie asks a question. Started out of their stupor, everyone looks around anxiously: is someone actually paying attention to what's being said? Am I the only one not hearing a single word?


You straighten your back, raise your chin, assertively set your palms against the armrests of your chair, trying to communicate alertness.


The talking head keeps monotonously reading from the slides. His boss bluntly cuts him off, trying to save the situation. The talking head blinks. He's clearly hurt, but tries to hide it by busying himself with scribbling on a flipchart, like that's what's planned. Trying to save his face.

The audience feels doomed for the next 2 hours.

Suddenly Mary seats straight and, triumphantly glancing at her watch, excuses her self. A few others follow suite, glancing at their watches and hurrying to imaginary meetings and conference calls.

The scarce remnants of the group, having missed their opportunity to leave, start getting really annoyed. Risking his glasses' destruction by any further wiping, Peter starts asking questions. He throws questions like darts, until he catches a discrepancy - and keeps drilling the poor presenter with further questions, looking to humiliate him. Seeking revenge for this slow torture.

The enthusiasm of a standing ovation at the end of the presentation is the first genuine emotion, though.

How do you keep yourself alive when you find yourself in one of those?