Surpassingly, the return on most meeting costs is unknown. According to the Wall Street Journal, CEO's feel that meetings account for the largest share of unproductive time on the job. Attendees agree that between 30 and 50 percent of time spent in meetings is a waste. A 1989 Hofstra University study, for example, found that up to one third of all meeting time is unproductive.
Training is even less effective.
Only 10 percent of training expenditures ever result in observable changes on the job. But, new audience response techniques and technologies are helping to transform static, unproductive meetings into interactive and measurable business events. Meridia's wireless audience response system is the newest tool on the meeting horizon. CEOs and business leaders at all levels are using and praising the new technology as a cure for the unproductive meeting. The system was developed by Meridia, a Philadelphia-based interactive Information company.