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Corporate Meetings Go Through a Makeover. Rooms with no chairs because time is money

The prevailing corporate attitude toward meetings can be summed up by a cartoon on technology and industrial firm 3M Co.’s Web site. In it, a man is pointing at a complicated blueprint on the wall; the caption reads: "And in the new meeting-room complex entrance will be a plaque commemorating the actual work once done on that site."

So it isn’t surprising that managers increasingly seek ways to make meetings more productive. At Silicon Valley start-up Ruckus Wireless, employees remove the chairs from some meetings so participants get to the point quicker. At Southwest Airlines, the director of employee learning starts all her meetings — even regular staff gatherings — with minicelebrations, often including food; one recent session celebrated a staffer’s purchase of a high-tech vacuum cleaner.

For gatherings requiring particularly creative thinking, toy maker Mattel Inc. built a meeting room to resemble a tree house, complete with a large artificial tree trunk sprouting through the floor.

By Phred Dvorak

From The Wall Street Journal Online

Full Story: http://www.careerjournal.com/columnists/theorypractice/20060307-theorypractice.html?cjcontent=mail

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