Meeting Room Etiquette

Meeting rooms are communal spaces that represent a fraternizing hub among co-workers. It even indicates a private space that’s given for employees and employers. There are certain unwritten rules with regards to meeting rooms that employees need to abide by if the space is to be maintained and utilized effectively by everyone.

Leave the meeting rooms cleaner than the way you found it.

A meeting room being a shared space that is being used by all, needs to be kept clean at all times. No one wants to clean up someone else’s mess. Clean up the room after the meeting before you leave the room. If you are scheduled to other priorities, then inform the facilities personnel to do the job for you. No matter what you do, never let another person clean the mess you just made.

Book your meeting rooms well in advance.

Barging into an unoccupied meeting room might be okay, but that doesn’t mean you have carte blanche to use it without a reservation. What are you going to do when someone else spends their time in booking the room and ending up to be rudely turned away by you when you haven’t even reserved the space ? Schedule your room in order to prevent sticky situations where you end up asking your co-workers to move their meetings just because you weren’t proactive enough in planning yours. In addition, if your meetings get cancelled, make sure you cancel the room you reserved immediately. This will ensure the availability of the room for other co-workers to reserve it for themselves.

Reserve sufficient time for your meetings.

Schedule sufficient time for your meeting to avoid being barged in by co-workers with the next reservation slot. Failing to do so, may result in a situation where there might not be a place available to extend your meeting, therefore leaving everyone in an extremely uncomfortable situation. Whether you nail all the talking points needed or not, evacuate the space when the slot of your meeting has ended. You will end up taking up your co-workers’ time by running your meeting into theirs and I assure you that they won’t appreciate it.

Ensure that you don’t double book meeting rooms.

This is usually an accident , but double check to make sure it isn’t a mistake you commit. Sometimes when we book meeting rooms we select every meeting room in the office in order to see which one is available at the required time. Then we forget to unselect the ones that we aren’t actually using. Now this results in a situation where nobody is able to book a meeting room because you accidently reserved rooms that you aren’t even using. Be considerate and double check after you reserve your room.

 Be accommodative.

If you have reserved a meeting room for two people which can actually accommodate 20, offer to move your meeting to a smaller space. Issues may arise at times and your co-worker might ask to use your conference room in an emergency situation. Understand the need of the situation and help out your peers when you can.

Ensure the doors remain closed.

The people who work around you don’t need to hear your conversation in the meeting room. Do them all a favor and close the door during the course of your meeting, In addition, any of your attendees who interrupt the meeting or barge in late for any reason should knock before entering the room. A closed door of a room indicates “Give us some privacy” and should be considered as a sign that you need to seek permission before entering the room.

Limit your food and drinks.

On a general note, its acceptable to bring your coffee, tea and water to a meeting and sip on it during the session. Anything beyond these common beverages tend to cause a distraction to the attendees of the meeting. In addition, be mindful when you sip the beverage you bring to the room and avoid loud sipping as it can draw all the attention towards you.

Put your phone away.

We are in a generation where our smartphones prioritizes amongst everything, it might even be an important business tool that you use throughout your day. Keep your phone out of sight during the course of a meeting. You don’t want to be distracted or even appear to be distracted while the others are speaking. Ensure you turn off the sound and put your phone in your pocket or bag. If your response to a phone call or a text message attains priority over the meeting, then try and leave the room as quietly and soon as possible.

Don’t get too comfortable.

You might end up getting lucky enough to have some plush and elegant chairs at your meeting rooms, be mindful and refrain from getting too comfortable during the meeting. Avoid leaning back on your chair or lowering the height so that you tend to look like a little kid. Always try to sit up straight towards the edge of the seat so that you look alert and active during the session. Nod your head and answer appropriately so that you are engaged in the conversation and ensure you are on eye level with the rest of the attendees at the table.

Ask questions throughout the meeting.

The last thing you want to do is save all your questions till the end and then throw out a barrage of ideas right when everyone thinks they are about to leave. This is a surefire way to make quick enemies of your co-workers and be the guy who caused the meeting to run over. If you have questions, be sure to raise them at an appropriate time and stay on topic

A Mother’s Love -Based on ‘Thaiammal’ by Dr.Kamal Hassan

A neonate which is born fruitless owing to the product of a couple’s love,

Its cradle is a pile of garbage and shelter from the leaves of a tree above.

From the garbage pit arises loud screams of the little one cry,

The humming sound made by a swarm of houseflies is its lullaby.

As a wandering stray dog removes the cotton, sniffs and licks the bleeding umbilical cord,

The umbilical cord turns out to be the child’s address that the world welcomes aboard.

A street sweeper lady notices the little one as she dumps the garbage from her bin,

She adopts the babe, gives him a name, admits him to a school and raises him through thick and thin.



She ameliorates the child’s life by dreaming good things for him while he slept,

She nurtures him well and witnesses him bear a child with tears of joy she wept.

With the satisfaction of completing her obligations she closes her eyes and breathes her last,

For him, his mother was his temple and her everlasting love was his caste.

It has been said that there is no better temple than a mother and no better guiding principles than those of a father,

The loss of his mother hardens his heart and now becomes a tree whose leaves begin to wither.

A mother’s love he earned while he lived amongst certain cruel beings on earth,

For he continues to worship the street sweeper lady who found him in his garbage berth.







One of the temples (mother) who gave birth to him, now lives in a ‘Home for the aged’,

She survives with her son living abroad who sends her monthly a grandiose maintenance aid.

For the fact is that after completing her life’s duties, in her own feces she remains,

For all the arrogance, illusion and bad deeds she has done the appropriate destiny she attains.

If this is known to the street sweeper lady’s son, he would rush to worship this mother,

For, in the temple he was brought up the manners differ from the other.



Living in a commensurate family where the mind’s vision is narrowed and humanity doesn’t prevail,

Where the thoughts to love only the immediate family comprising of father, mother and a child is trapped in a triangular jail.

This is dissimilar to the thinking of the street sweeper lady, whose vision is invariably broad with a heart of gold,

For good souls like hers, the world is their family and her love has no threshold.

Although she was infertile to deliver a baby, she became a mother at heart feeding her babe and narrating stories about the moon,

In contradiction to the brothers living abroad who sent their mothers to old age homes and became infertile at heart but lived a long life acquiring the 16 boons.



Children, respect thy mother, for she is a temple you need to worship every day,

Parents, never leave thy kids, for there is a mother to raise your kid you left astray.

Never admit your parents to an old age home, for they sacrificed their lives in your growth,

Be thankful that you weren’t admitted to an orphanage or laying in a garbage berth.

You cannot see God, but amongst the hearts of the sweeper lady, God is always seen,

A handful of people like the sweeper lady exist among the cruel human beings.

Everything that happens in your life is a product of your decisions

“Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m Possible’! “ – Audrey Hepburn

“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination” – Jimmy Dean.

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shots and missed. I’ve failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed” – Michael Jordon.

Audrey, Jimmy & Michael have indeed quoted meaningful words that motivate you, but the point is the relevance of these quotes with your situation. So, for you guys reading this I am sure that either one of the three or two of the three or may be all of them might be apt to your current situation you  encounter, but are you willing to accept and adapt these quotes into your practical life ?

Answer is, patience is the key. You should still be focused on your work and not compromise on its quality. Your work is what gave you your identity, this is what you were recognized and known for, your work is what made you walk proud with your head held high. People around you would flood in negativity vibes, things that demotivate, that make you lose track of work. Neglect, ignore and scorn those talks and continue to stay focused on your job and give a deaf ear to all of those demotivating talks. Never open a door and entertain all of this as it would unquestionably hinder your work and performance.

Grab your gear, sit back tight and let your work speak always. Never permit any of this to impact your work. A bird never flies high always, a boxer never wins all of his matches, a racer never crosses the finish line always. There needs to be a loss, a downfall, a dip in the curve, that’s the reason why the sun sets, so that it can rise again the next day and give us a fresh start reminding us that you need to fall down in order to get up. That’s how life is, you cannot change your fate or destiny, what is written in your name will happen and can’t be edited. Life has no erase or an undo option; we need to go with the flow. You cannot expect a silver lining all the time for all that glitters is definitely not Gold.

We are in a generation where people go haywire on motivational quotes.

You get hurt with your relationship and by your loved one, search for ‘Positive Break up quotes’.

You feel that God isn’t doing any good to you, search for ‘Biblical quotes’.

You don’t get a promotion at work, search for ‘Motivational quotes’.

 I mean, seriously, how on earth is this going to help you? Do you think that by just reading a quote from Instagram or Pinterest or whatever source you use  is going to help you achieve your goal? No man, No! you are just wasting your precious time searching on all of these quotes. This is just going to soothe your inner mind but isn’t going to give you any results. Now, don’t tend to argue on my statement, if you still persist on doing that then answer me this…

How consistent have you been in implementing these quotes in your life and able to improvise your move ?

Did you just get demotivated by one quote that you started searching for another one ?

The point here is simple, if your mind asks you a question, use the same mind to find its answers. If you are trapped in a pit of venomous snakes, I’m pretty damn sure you would do whatever your mind tells you to do rather Google or YouTube on ‘How to get out of a pit of venomous snakes?’

Strengthen your mind, upgrade your knowledge and skills, for that is what is going to make you productive in life. Set an example for yourself, be your own role model and learn from every second of your life. I am not telling you that my article is the last one you should read to get motivated, rather become a person to write an article and help others with your ideas and enrich them. For none of us are alike, we are created different and that differentiation is identified by the skills we bring to the table. Each of us possess a lot of skills but we just don’t show interest in identifying and enriching them.

I would strongly recommend some meditation, you need to find that inner peace that you threw aside. I am not asking you to become a Buddha, but all I am telling you is to realize that its time you start achieving something. Sometimes its better to isolate yourself to find the traits you possess and not aware of. If I ask you that in so many years you are living, what have you even achieved ? If you are earning now, how much have money have you saved ? If you’ve gained fame and success, are you still introducing yourself to people you meet ?

You have to choose either to go with the flow and follow your same old routine or you can be wise and go against the flow and cross all obstacles and reach your goal. Life would teach you lessons all the time but its foolish for you to learn the same lesson twice just like committing the same mistake again.

Get rid of the chains and shackles, go out to the world and prove your capability, do not ever be worried what the world is going to talk. You own your life and you lead it the way you want to, nobody has ownership of your life or on any decision you take. Tame yourself to face all challenges and overcome everything, fear not for the fall you just had or even for the depth you are further pushed to. Make sure you find a route to get back up and put up a fight and win the damn game. Never be worried that a door just shut on you and don’t wait for another door to open, instead analyze what went wrong, correct yourself and break the god damn door open and make your way in.