Oh how I love those very important team meetings. First thing in the morning or just after lunch do it for me.

Sure, they are packed full of very useful and relevant information to help me with that end of week deadline, but I just can’t seem to keep myself awake in them.

Luckily there are steps we can take to overcome nodding off; and one in particular has worked wonders for me. Keep reading to find out more.

• Being Tired During Meetings
• The Good, Bad and Ugly
• It Works For Me
• Review
• Conclusion

Being Tired During Meetings

Meetings are a big part of our working lives. I’ve been in situations where whole days have just been meetings. And being tired made getting through the day feel like hell.

Unfortunately, they are a necessary evil, so we can find ourselves grinding through them. 

The Good, Bad and Ugly

Being tired during a meeting is no fun. It can be irritating to both your meeting host and yourself.

Also, it is very difficult to focus on the information being presented which can lead to more frustration.

And worse of all, you can appear to be unprofessional to your piers and boss if you look like you are nodding off during a presentation.

It Works For Me

I’ve seen others post similar info on the Internet and also found some of the following tips in books. But the last point is new, and I think it’s a game changer (as far as staying awake goes anyway).

• Focus on the presentation and ask questions or make suggestions
  Force yourself to be an active part of the meeting.
• If possible, drink something and have a snack
  Give your body something to do and a quick energy boost. Just be careful that you don’t consume too much caffeine or sugar.
• Move about in your chair
  Fidgeting can help by getting your body to move.
• Use a tiredness alarm
  V-CAF is a new Apple Watch app that vibrates when you are most likely to be tired. The watch app has an iPhone counterpart, which allows you to put your iPhone in your pocket so that it also vibrates when you are tired. The amount of times this app has helped me out is unbelievable, which is why it’s my favorite choice. 

Review

Using a combination of these tips can help you get through those long meetings when you’re tired. I mix and match to see what works best for any given day (depending on my tiredness and the length of the meeting). 

So once again:

• Focus and participate in the meeting
• Drink and eat something if possible
• Fidget and move about
• And my favorite, use V-CAF a tiredness alarm 

Conclusion

Don’t let tiredness embarrass you in front of your boss and piers during that all-important end of year presentation.

Use these tips to get through your meetings successfully.