Don’t forget your glasses

After attending a recent university business meeting, one member of the group—a graduate student—came over and said I perked up the meeting.

She meant it in a nice way.

Your face lights up and I can see the gleam in your eye, she said.

It’s because I’m a trickster.

Now the secret is out.

Attending meetings is akin to being nibbled to death by ducks, as every reluctant bureaucrat knows.

My response is to treat meetings like theatre.

A performance.

You need to invoke humor. Irreverence. And kindness.

A Buddhist approach to butt-numbing meetings.

Find the humor and humanity.

At one meeting, my job was to signal each speaker when her time was ending.

I brought a pair of Groucho Marx glasses—the kind with a rubber nose and moustache.

I slipped on the glasses and glared at the speaker at the 5-minute wrap-up signal.

The levity helped brighten a dull afternoon.

#nativescience