How to ... Keep meetings short and productive

Coming from the corporate marketing world, Beck Besecker recognized that meetings at most companies aren't productive. That's why his company has rules to keep meetings quick and to the point.

The first rule is no meetings in the morning because people tend to be most productive when they first get in to the office. “You let people work when they are smartest,” says Besecker, CEO of Marxent Labs, a 50-employee virtual reality firm.

The second rule is no meeting can last longer than 30 minutes. In a corporate environment, “the first 15 minutes is BS, then you have the meeting” and then you fill the rest of the booked time, Besecker says. “You're paying for people sitting and talking.” Marxent Labs avoids this trap by programming 15 minutes, instead of an hour, as the default meeting time on company calendars.