Ask Lemmy

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.

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.

On time, even when presenting. Starting early makes other people feel obligated to join early, so I don't do it. No reason to extend the meeting longer than the listed time.

On the dot if I can.

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

Usually anywhere from 2 to 5min before because my stupid ass laptop has a 50% chance of just forgetting how audio devices work and I have to test them every time.

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.

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.

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.

In real life meeting most of the value is in the informal side chats that you have just before or just after, in my experience. Unfortunately that basically doesn't happen in virtual meetings, so I join dead on time, or a minute or two in for larger ones.

Five minutes earlier? God damn bro. That's coffee making time.

“A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to”

Depends on the context.

• My meeting? Right on time.
• Team meeting? On time.
• A meeting I knew about, was on my calendar, and requires my expertise? Right on time, but a lower priority.
• Something is broken and we're grouping up? Right on time.
• A meeting on my calendar that I don't really need to be in? 2-3 minutes after, I'll finish what I'm currently engaged in or get to a stopping point.
• A meeting I've been invited to with no additional context? 2-5 minutes late.
• A meeting I was invited to with no communication/context that is before/after my normal working hours? If I remember and I'm bored.
• A meeting I was inviting a to outside of my working hours and will start before I come online? Forget about it.

I work for a global corpo, so the last two happen quite a bit. Time is money friend.

1-5 minutes late

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.

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.

Join on time to virtual meetings. If you are hosting or setting up a room, then you can join a bit early. If it's a large meeting like a company or division wide one maybe even join a minute late.

Waiting around on an empty zoom is a massive waste of time.

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

I just join whenever someone else joins or about a minute or two before it starts. Or whenever, doesn't matter as long as I am not late. The main point for me is not being late, so that I respect other peoples time. If I am more than two minutes late, I apologize most of the time.

Small talk isn't that hard. Might feel a bit unnatural until you get used to having it. But is that tiny awkwardness an actual issue, or something you just should ideally get used to?

How are you doing? What's going on with x-project/your work? Looking forward to the weekend/had a good weekend? Watched any good shows lately? Have any pets?

My workweeks are 25 to 50% meetings, the vast majority online. I try to be exactly on time as much as possible, can't afford to be in advance, will notify if I will be more than 3 minutes late. I send a message to participants if they are not all here after a couple of minutes, not to put pressure, but I know it's easy to be concentrating on something and miss the meeting, it happens to me as well.

As late as possible, if I'm actually needed, then I join a minute later to not have to pretend with bs small talk

1 min early, or right on time. Never late.

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.

When I served in the military, my first supervisor taught me a valuable lesson: "15 minutes early, or you're late." I actually got in trouble with her if I was less than 15 minutes early to any meeting, appointment, or event.

Or even arriving to work. We worked in an IT field, so our office had a large row of server racks along one wall. Her desk sat facing the door, but next to the GPS server that kept accurate time for all our computers on the military base. It had a giant digital clock on the front of the server. Every day when I walked into work, she would look up at me, then turn and look at that clock. If I was even 10 seconds late (to the 15-minute rule), I got in trouble with her. I was never late to work though, because she ensured I was always there earlier than my official shift start time.

Being 15 minutes early to everything has changed my life. If I'm running behind, I have a quarter hour window to get myself back on track. If I arrive 15 minutes early, I have plenty of time to get myself set up and situated. Or just time to sit and clear out some other pending tasks while I wait for a thing to start (check phone notifications, clear out emails, etc.).

When it comes to virtual meetings, I like to join 15 minutes early, then mute myself and turn off my camera. Then I can sit at my computer and knock out some other tasks while I'm waiting for the meeting to start. That buffer gives me time to mentally switch into meeting mode while also giving me time to be productive beforehand. And no one is waiting for me to show up, so if the meeting is ever running late, it's never my fault.

Whenever I remember there is a meeting on. Have to keep those damned outlook 15min reminders on screen or I will forget

If I'm hosting 5 minutes early. If I'm attending, 2 minutes early unless I'm the only one attending from my org, in which case exactly on time.

If it’s a customer meeting I’ll join 30 seconds early. If it’s an all hands or has big wigs in it then I’ll join 10 seconds early. Smaller internal meetings I can be 10-300 seconds late.

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.

If it is at work, then as exactly as my Outlook displays that Calendar message. Everybody does that, and within less than 30 seconds all are there.

If it is just among friends, then 3-5 minutes earlier, because the tech is somewhat different each time, and I do not want to make people wait for me.

I join exactly at start time, down to the second. Once everyone has been counted or noticed and the droning idiot starts presenting I bug right TF out. Nothing will happen that matters because its a freakin' meeting - if something important was going on it would be an email.

Exact

I shut and lock my door ten minutes before a meeting. Hit the bathroom and then usually log in for a functions check, fix my blinds and pull up the relevant group chat that doesn't have the boss in it.

Organize my notes on my desk, get a coffee or water in front of me. Someone will always be later. I'll sometimes be the first. Let teams let them see that I'm starting it, whatever, everyone knows I'm getting my coffee.

Also, I like to give my colleague a fifteen minute heads up since he'll sometimes forget.

Zero minutes early to one minute late (for work ones). I hate the virtual meetings, and the software is robust enough I trust it. If it's something else where I have to use my phone (doctor appointment or similar) then more than 5 minutes ahead to make sure I have time to reach out if it isn't working.

Three minutes before. No more. No less.

Usually at least an hour early to get a good seat.