SHOW / EPISODE

EP144 – Chris Fenning, Award-Winning Author: Bad Meetings Cost More Than Time — Here’s How to Fix Them

47m | Jun 3, 2026

Learn more about Michael Wenderoth, Executive Coach: www.changwenderoth.com

Every meeting you lead is also a reputation event—and a leadership audition: people leave judging not only the meeting, but you. This episode of 97% Effective takes aim at the mother of all time sinks at work: meetings. Host Michael Wenderoth speaks with Chris Fenning about his latest book, Effective Meetings: Great Results, Less Pain, Every Time. They cover the practical essentials — how to open a meeting, keep it on track, and manage people who derail it — but also the issues most leaders avoid: the silent reputational hit you take when you run a bad meeting, why AI can summarize meetings but cannot fix the human judgment behind them, and when the best meeting is no meeting at all. If people quietly complain about meetings in your company — or, let’s be honest, the ones you run — this episode will give you practical ways to make them sharper, shorter, and more useful.

SHOW NOTES

Michael and Chris demo

  • TPO in real time (Topic-Purpose-Output)
  • The forgotten second step: checking that everyone is aligned

 

The real reason he wrote his latest book

  • Why meetings were the next workplace problem Chris had to tackle
  • The hidden “meeting tax”: how bad meetings drain time, money, attention, morale, and credibility
  • Calculating the tangible dollar cost of a bad meeting
  • Calculating the intangible cost -- to your reputation – from running a bad meeting
  • Companies have spending controls, but no controls over calling people into meetings that don’t produce anything
  • The shocking MIT stats: online shopping, mobile games, and proof that many people shouldn’t be in the meeting at all


Before the meeting: Keys to preparation

  • The single biggest impact you can make
  • Why AI can take notes and see patterns– but cannot decide why your meeting exists
  • Why Chris thinks agendas are not the “quick fix” solution to improving your meetings
  • Don’t schedule a meeting unless you can first answer three points
  • How everything – who you invite, how you invite them and how you run the meeting -- all starts with TPO (Topic-Purpose-Output)
  • Three questions to ask to determine if you even need a meeting
  • Preparation is valuable – and doesn’t have to be a time suck

 

During the meeting: How to keep it from going off the rails

  • Top tip about running a virtual meeting
  • Ways to improve how you show up on camera online
  • Managing the person who disrupts and derails your meeting
  • What to do when a meeting feels good, but it is not advancing
  • How to cut someone off without becoming the office Darth Vader

 

Practical gems

  • “Finding your sweet spot” – the healthy middle ground between Micromanager and Lord of Chaos
  • Top tip on making meetings better if you don’t lead them
  • The 97% Effective way to nudge a bad meeting leader: leave Chris’s book on their desk
  • The next exciting project for Chris

 

BIO AND LINKS

Chris Fenning helps professionals master their communication at work. Whether it is helping experts talk to non-experts, teams talk to executives, or simply being able to start a message clearly. Chris's practical methods are used in organisations like Google, JP Morgan, and NATO, and have appeared in the Harvard Business Review. He is also the author of four award-winning books on communication and training that have sold more than 100,000 copies worldwide. Find out how Chris can help you at www.chrisfenning.com

 

Connect with Chris

 

Organizations, People and Resources Referenced

 

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