LA Times is reporting about the trend to go ‘topless’ in meetings in the valley, which means not bringing laptops to meetings. At first, I thought this was a going green idea - less hot PCs, just more hot air!

But no, it’s an attempt to avoid distractions in meetings. No laptop to look at, no Blackberry to fiddle with, nothing but a pen and paper, presumably. Maybe these too are banned - no doodling allowed. Isn’t going topless actually a bit clueless in terms of solving the problem?

I have run into this before. I turn up, turn on my laptop and then get asked to close it. I have to politely explain that this is how I take notes. Can’t I use the technology that we profess to evangelise?

I understand the problem. Recently, I had the honour of travelling with fellow mobilists Nick Allot (CTO, OMTP) and Ajit Jaokar (CEO, Futuretext). We were snowed in at Oslo airport, which was an interesting experience. I asked Ajit if he realised how often he looked at his Blackberry. “You were even looking at it during your presentation,” I remarked.

Then he explained that he uses it to take and review notes - a subject close to my heart. I too, am a mobile note taker. I’ve been doing it ever since I got a PDA, way back. I asked around and quite a few of my colleagues and peers also take notes using their mobile phones. Do you? (Please let me know - I’m doing some work in this area.)

Anyhow, this no-gadget style of meetings sucks. It isn’t a solution to the real problem. From the LA Times article, then main beef of its proponents seems to be that they feel slighted by an audience that’s not listening. Maybe you’re boring them?

I understand that there are all kinds of meetings and all kinds of situations, so perhaps a hardcore no-distractions meeting has its place. Various scenarios would fit here, like rapid-fire standing-only meetings for quick decisions, getting to know each other meetings (where if you’re not listening, it’s obviously rude and self-defeating) and so on.

The word technology comes from the Greek words ‘techne‘ and ‘ology’, the former meaning skill or art. It seems obvious that we need to develop new skills for holding meetings, taking into account the various scenarios, objectives and tools on offer. In other words, we need to think of how to embrace and utilise technology, not leave it at the door (above exceptions notwithstanding).

It is stunning that in this so-called era of the ‘knowledge worker’, it is still common to encounter meetings that are verging on pointless. Attendance is just going through the motions. Stick a bunch of distractions into that milieu and no wonder nobody’s listening. And isn’t this the culture of meetings that we’ve come to despise, which almost guarantee that meetings are going to be poorly attended, whether in person or not.

Let me give one simple example of a technique to reduce distractions. Why can’t I present my slides not only on the screen, but on your laptop too, allowing you to take notes as you go along? Why can’t I put my laptop into “single task” mode when I’m writing notes - a mode that blocks out all other GUI activity, apart from the app I’m using?

These are almost trivial examples. On top of these, there are probably hundreds of other tools that can improve meetings and improve attention, even make them fun to attend. There are also multiple disciplines that we can develop in terms of the art of holding and attending meetings. [Note to self - add this to list of things that children should know.]