The only thing worse than a poorly run meeting is a poorly run meeting filled with people who are behaving poorly. 

So how do you get people to bring their best selves to meetings?  Here are a few tips:

This meeting started 10 minutes late. Jerry has his head down on the conference room table. Glenn, our “note taker,” is writing a long political piece on Facebook while my manager tries to rein in people who are having side conversations about the drama in this year’s Oscars. Can we just get this meeting started already? What are we talking about anyways? I literally have no clue what we’re meeting about. The only agenda item said, “Discuss important matters.” At least we got something that resembles an agenda this time. Boy, do I have a lot of work to get done that I’m not doing as I sit here in my fifth meeting of the week. (It’s Tuesday.) This meeting has officially sucked my soul right out of me.