I try to join about 5 minutes before because I’m terrified of being the first person or the last.
Usually as soon as Teams notifies me of the first person starting the meeting.
How can you not always be the first when youre 5min early, wtf xD
I like joining 5+ mins early so I can just sit in silence and work while waiting for the meeting to start rather than stressing about needing to lock at the clock (j have adhd and tend to hyperfocus). plus I dont mind a little small talk, but even so no one else on my team seems to want to smalltalk so even if someone else joins early it’s pretty quiet
I’ve got so many meetings that I just join whenever it’s started by someone and go about my work until the meeting starts. If I’m not the target audience I’ll go off camera and listen if needed.
Usually at least an hour early to get a good seat.
One to two minutes late to most meetings. I don’t have time or energy for the BS of “How are you” etc. Let’s get down to business.
Caveat is that if it’s with a VIP I’ll be exactly on time.
A minute or two before. Just enough time to ensure my setup is working.
If I’m hosting a presentation, I usually start 15 minutes early so people can connect while I’m semi-afk, with the first slide saying “Presentation will begin shortly. Pour yourself a coffee in the mean time.”
Previous presentation I had multiple slides, three I think, each with an example of activities they could probably manage to do before starting.
Usually exactly on time, but if I’m doing something that requires concentration and there’s a chance I might lose track of time I might join 5 min earlier so that I don’t miss the meeting.
Aren’t you always the first 5 min before? I know that the times I joined even a minute or two early I’ve always been the first.
I join at the exact time it starts. If I join earlier, I may get pulled into unnecessary small-talk platitudes that are like nails on a chalkboard to my depressed-as-shit self.
I join anywhere from a few minutes before to a few minutes after, and if I don’t want to chit chat I hit the little “coffee break” status and stay on mute.
FWIW I do virtual meetings daily due to 100% remote work.
I join at exactly the designated time. If you wanted me there five minutes earlier, then schedule the meeting five minutes earlier. Don’t jerk me around with some expectation that I’m going to do anything other than what you asked for. Also, most of the folks I work with tend to be booked with lots of back to back meetings; so, no one is showing up early anyway. We all show up at the designated time and anyone late can catch up when they show up.
The “early is on time” mentality makes some sense for physical meetings and appointments. For virtual meetings, it just demonstrates that the person has no understanding of how technology works.
If I’m running the meeting, 5 minutes. If it’s large group meeting, 2 mins early. If it’s 1:1, right on time.
This is the way
Whenever I remember there is a meeting on. Have to keep those damned outlook 15min reminders on screen or I will forget
Sometimes people don’t include the reminder in their outlook invite. They have no right to expect me to show up at all if they do that. At the very least, they need to apologize when they send me the stupid “Are you attending my meeting?” Slack message.
I never cared about your meeting, Derek. No one cared about it. We only show up to meetings when Outlook tells us it’s time. Our calendars are just endless strings of soul-sucking meetings no one wants to be on, and I will never check mine pre-emptively. I accept everything I’m invited to, Derek. Everything. We all do. Remember the fucking reminder, Derek.
I join when the meeting reminder pops up and I click “join”, right on time. I don’t like small talk, no point in being early.
Plus it’s not like there’s anything happening in the first couple minutes. The more people who are in the meeting the more likely someone will be late anyway.
I feel like people who join really early are basically saying “Tell me you have nothing to do without telling me you have nothing to do.”
Not quite. I join on time because I’m busy and if I don’t join now I will completely forget. I just keep working until everyone else gets there and the I’ll turn on my camera and mic.
Probably people who were raised by military parents. My instinct is to join early as fuck, like 10 minutes. I blame my father forcing me to show up early for everything.
Sometimes I join really early BECAUSE I have stuff to do. I lose track of time, so I’ll open the reminder and keep the room running in the background while I accomplish something else, once I hear someone talking, I’ll switch tabs and focus on the meeting.
I teach over teams. I plan bullshit for the first 5 - 10 minutes, because there will always be late people.
Exactly on point, because there’s always people early or late. This way I neither have to start it nor be embarresed to be the last.
Also:
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to
My first meeting working in a fully-remote job, I joined a Teams meeting with the whole team (~8 people) 5 minutes early. I wasn’t the host, of course.
People were (invisibly) giving me the side eye.
I soon learned that starting the meeting makes a popup appear on everyone’s screen saying that the meeting started…and also that a lot of people regularly have back-to-back meetings and can’t leave early. (This was mid-pandemic, shortly before it became the norm to end meetings before the hour)
After that, I started joining all virtual meetings either second (by clicking the pop-up that someone else started it), or before XX:01 (or before 1 minute after the meeting time).
In-person, I’ll still show up to the meeting room 5 minutes early, or 15 if it’s a slow day. But do that too often and people think you’re useless, lol
I like arriving early for small talk, instead of having the rushed small talk when the meeting is “supposed” to begin.
