I got a kick out of Jeremy's The "No Laptop" Meeting Rule.

He said he has seen some Yahoo meetings where they have a "no laptop" rule set in place. Like Jeremy, I am torn.

Why No Laptops:

  • You stop listening to the meeting to work on something else, I have done this myself.
  • It may give the appearance that you are not listening, when you are
  • You just sometimes need a break

Why Yes Laptops:

  • They can be helpful when using it as a tool to add to the meeting
  • I hate paper, I prefer to note take on laptop
  • We are all grown up, trust us to do our work
  • Sometimes emergencies come up

It really depends on the nature of the meeting. When I interview people, I try not to bring in my phone or laptop at the interview. When I am at a prospect, I obviously need my laptop to demo stuff. When I am at a meeting, I honestly don't need to hear everything that is going on at all times, so its good to have the laptop to multi-task. I guess it just depends on your job, responsibilities, what the meeting is about and so on.

But to implement it as a rule across a company, I am not too sure about that.