The Last Minute

I enter most of my virtual meeting rooms five minutes early.

97% of the time, I’m the only one there, for the full five minutes.

1-2% of the time, someone arrives less than one minute before the start time.

1% of the time, someone arrives more than one full minute before the start time.

97% of the time, all participants arrive either exactly as the clock strikes the top of bottom of the hour, or afterwards.

I’ve been in enough virtual meetings to know that intentionally waiting until the last minute is a bad idea, as sometimes, regardless of how technically proficient you are, there’s a delay in connecting.

Yet still, several years into this era of increased virtual meetings, and hundreds (perhaps even thousands for some) of meetings later, the habit of waiting until the last minute persists.

I remember that not so long ago, when we met in-person, the same thing would occur.

Some things, technology doesn’t change.