Most people who are sitting in meetings may prefer an execution--as in "shoot me, please!"-- to five more minutes of an experience often equated with getting a root canal operation.

Think about your meetings, and plan them ahead of time. Here's your first tip.

Unless it's an informational meeting, follow the "no new information" rule at each meeting. If you do not employ this rule, start doing so and you will see remarkable results. Why such improvement?

When people have to sit and read information during a meeting, everyone is doing so at different rates. Some people feel rushed, others feel bored. In such an environment, people rarely have the time or motivation to think about the information, come up with ideas of their own to effectively utilize the information, or formulate the proper questions or responses.

Consequently, the topic the new information addresses cannot be "put to bed." It's going to contaminate this meeting and then bleed over into the next.

Essentially, ambushing people with new information nearly always makes the meeting a waste of everyone's time.

What to do, instead? Before the meeting, distribute all reports and other things that people need to give their undivided attention to. How long before the meeting? This depends on the complexity of the information and how much time people will need to digest it. Waiting until the day of the meeting is probably not going to help. Organize and distribute with the goal of communicating, and you'll get the timing right.