Having a day or week where your entire calendar is blocked off with meetings can be daunting, especially if you’re flitting from one to the other back-to-back. How could you possibly adequately prepare for each session, or bring your A-game with contributions to so many meetings?

What might result is something dubbed meeting fatigue or Zoom fatigue, or the mental and physical exhaustion that you might feel after attending too many meetings. Meeting fatigue sometimes feels like brain fog, exhaustion, heightened emotions, a headache, or body aches. It might manifest differently for every person, but you can identify it if you feel more tired after a meeting. 

So, how can you combat meeting burnout and become more productive both in and out of meetings? Let’s explore some tips for staying sane during a meeting-heavy workweek. 

What Causes Meeting Fatigue

Meeting fatigue occurs when you have to attend too many meetings or meetings that are overwhelming because they are too long or too disorganized. The fatigue element may creep in when you’re working hard to stay actively engaged during a meeting, or when your body starts to hurt from sitting uncomfortably during the meeting. 

The State of Meetings Today

Luckily, many companies are realizing that more meetings might not be the way to go and are workshopping how to reduce meetings in their workplaces. A glance at some key meeting statistics show that:

• Meetings are getting shorter.
• Employees believe that meetings prevent them from being productive.
• Unproductive meetings are a huge time-waster.
• The video conferencing industry is on the rise, as many meetings are now held via video chat.

So, what does this mean for the future of meetings? Most likely, it doesn’t mean that you’ll never have to log onto Zoom again. However, employee and management feedback has shown that companies are increasingly aware of meeting burnout and are working to combat it by focusing on productive, short meetings with only key people invited. 

Pros and Cons of Meetings

While meeting fatigue (and especially virtual meeting fatigue) can be a bummer, it doesn’t mean that meeting with your team is always time wasted. There are still many collaborative and social benefits to holding a meeting. 

Meeting Pros: 

• Increased productivity through idea-sharing and real-time problem-solving
• Team bonding through social interaction during the meeting
• Less confusion as team members can ask questions and gain project clarity together
• Easier spreading of training materials, company updates, and more as many people can attend the meeting at once

Meeting Cons: 

• Employees may zone out or lose focus during the meeting, which will waste their time and yours
• Quieter employees or employees attending a large meeting may have trouble speaking up and getting their voices heard
• Too many attendees may create a “too many cooks in the kitchen” scenario where projects become convoluted due to everyone’s input 
• Technical issues during virtual meetings may make it hard for people to understand what’s going on 

Five Ways to Fight Meeting Fatigue

There have been a lot of discussions about how to fight fatigue at work both in and out of a meeting. For meeting-specific fatigue, however, there are a few ways that you can save your physical and mental energy during Zoom meetings or in-person meetings. 

1. Transcribe Your Meetings With VoiceHub

We all know that sometimes meetings can go on pretty long, and with many employees reporting that they tend to lose focus during long meetings, it might be hard to keep your attention up.

Rev’s VoiceHub integration can provide quick and easy transcripts of meetings that point out key moments using artificial intelligence, so you can focus on the meeting without having to worry about taking notes (and you can have a backup to read back if your mind wanders a little bit). 

2. Schedule Yourself Breaks Around Longer Calls 

If you know you have a long or intense meeting coming up, consider blocking off your calendar for 10—15 minutes before and after the meeting. This way, no one can schedule you for another sync immediately before or after your meeting, and you’ll bake some time into your work day to prepare for the meeting and decompress afterward as well. 

3. Have a Clear Agenda

A huge catalyst for meeting fatigue is an unclear agenda, which can lead to a confusing and unproductive meeting that may quite literally become a headache. Creating a clear meeting agenda and sticking to it can make sure meetings run smoothly and go as quickly as possible, and only hit on the key talking points. 

4. Stick to Essential Personnel 

More than likely, not everyone in your department needs to attend every single meeting. Keeping meetings restricted to essential personnel who actually have input to add can not only make the meetings more productive, but it also helps preserve the energy of those who wouldn’t have input to make anyways. 

5. Make Meetings Interactive

Long, boring meetings will most likely result in bored employees who don’t contribute and don’t take anything away from the experience. Making meetings interactive by including polls, games, quizzes, or another interactive element can make employees more engaged throughout the meeting. 

A few ways to make meetings interactive include icebreaker questions, games, quizzes, and breakout rooms.

Wake Up Your Meetings

Meeting fatigue is real — but luckily, it’s easily avoidable. Making more interesting, interactive meetings can make your employees more engaged and productive throughout each session. And transcriptions of your meetings can make them accessible for employees who don’t have the mental bandwidth to attend the meeting, who zone out, or who don’t want the stress of diligent note-taking during the meeting. 

Learn more about how VoiceHub can help transcribe your meetings.