Have you ever noticed that once a meeting grows past a certain number of invitees, people stop trying to cater to calendar availability? The meeting evolves from “How can we make sure we have you in the room to make this decision” to “Here’s when we are meeting, figure out how to be there”.
Typically for me, this happens at five or so people. But the fact that you’re no longer ensuring attendance and instead shoving your way into calendars is likely cause to question the purpose and value of the meeting in the first place.
If you need to get a message out to a large group – is a meeting even the best approach?
Meetings can be a powerful tool to solve a problem quickly with the right people in the room. But they’re only effective if you recognize and respect their limitations, chief among them: there is such a thing as too many people in the room.