How Long Should You Wait For Someone To Show Up In Meetings?

How long should you wait for a guest in a virtual meeting?

In our other posts, we’ve discussed how long is a meeting that can be considered productive and cost-effective. This time, we’ll be focusing on meeting etiquette and time management.

So, how long should you wait for someone to show up before you proceed with the discussion? This is a common question surrounding meeting etiquette and can be a difficult one to figure out when put in this situation. When someone is late to a meeting it does not only impact the productivity of key stakeholders already in the call and waiting, but can also lead to the meeting becoming thrown off-course and can delay plans for the rest of the day. This is mainly down to the fact that if someone is running late, they are usually stressed and not in a productive state of mind to discuss potentially important material.  

To answer this question, we have gathered data from an online poll that asked individuals how long they thought it was acceptable to wait until it’s time to hang up and move on with your day.

How long do you wait for a guest in a virtual meeting?

Waiting 5-10 mins is the most popular meeting etiquette

Our research shows that out of 302 responses, 37% of those stated that they would wait up to 5 minutes for a late guest. 48% of our responses said that up to 10 minutes would be a good time limit to bear in mind when waiting and 13% said they would wait up to 15 minutes. Finally, we had 2% of voters choosing the other choice which they followed up with comments stating their reason why. As expected, no one would want to wait for one hour, regardless of the reason behind their tardiness.

There are lots of factors to consider when deciding how long to wait

It was clear from the results of the poll that how long you wait is dependent on many factors.  

One participant stated that they usually tend to wait for 20% of the overall meeting time due to the fact that things can unexpectedly come up or not work at that moment. This means the wait times can be greater for long meetings. Another participant said that they usually give the guest the benefit of the doubt and wait a few minutes before getting in contact with the person to check up and see where they are. This was quite a common response among the comments as well as others saying that guests shouldn’t be late at all. It would be best if guests are minutes early into the meeting so they can prepare for the discussion.

The Average Wait Time For Latecomers

It seems that a good amount of time to wait for a guest would be up to 10 minutes which would allow for any technical errors to be fixed or unforeseen issues to be dealt with. I think that we can agree that attendees should ideally be on time for all meetings However, understanding that things can go wrong sometimes and can lead to guests being late, is a great way to approach the issue. Once your guest has arrived, it is important to make them comfortable so that you can enjoy a productive meeting going forward.  

Should you go or wait?

We have summarized the results of the poll into some points below which you should consider before you press the red button to hang up while you are waiting for your next guest.

• Have you reminded your guest about the call ahead of time?
• Have you tried to contact your guest after a few minutes to see if they are on their way or are experiencing issues?
• Are you in the right virtual meeting?
• Has your guest tried to contact you?
• Can you start the meeting without them and they can catch up later?

‍Sometimes, late attendees come from a previous meeting that went a bit overtime. While no one should be late in a meeting, there should be a leeway to enable attendees with a valid reason for being late to still participate in the discussion. Giving them a reminder not to repeat it on the next meeting should be enough of a reminder for professionals.

Saving Time With Eric.ai

Online brainstorming meetings can be made more productive when you have an AI assistant like Eric.ai in the call. With its agenda tracking features, your team can stick with the time limit, making sure everyone stays focused on the discussion. Your team will finish on time, meaning no one would be late in case they have to attend different meetings afterward.

Plus, Eric.ai has an automatic transcription feature, so it can take down notes for your team. Everyone will be on the same page with what has been discussed since there’s a reliable program that does the note-taking job for them. Even if you conduct a longer meeting, Eric.ai will automatically transcribe and identify key points of the discussion without fail.

Try using Eric.ai today! Even if you have to wait for guests in your meeting, you can still stay focused and finish the discussion on time with the tool’s rich features.

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