Did your mom ever tell you not to interrupt? What was the reason? My mom would tell me, “That’s rude,” or, “You must be considerate of others.” A common
meeting interruption is a ringing cell phone. Undoubtedly, you have worked out all kinds of methods to get people to turn off their cell phones during a meeting or service.

Listed below are meeting room distractions. One way to use the list is to pass it out to everyone at a meeting and identify the top five distractions that happen during your meetings. Take a few minutes to talk about what you could change or teach to help eliminate these distractions. Remember that you can get so accustomed to a distraction that it is no longer a distraction to you; but, to the person who is new, the distraction becomes overwhelming.

Another way to use this list is to give it to a few members of your team and let them circle any distractions that they notice during the course of the meeting. Eliminating meeting room distractions shows the importance of the meeting and of the information given during that meeting. One of the most distraction-free meetings we should have is our worship time at church. You may have to spend a little money and take a few moments to teach, but a distraction-free meeting is worth it!

Actions, amplifier feedback, ants, audio glitch

Behavior malfunction, babies, broken chair

Coolers, coughing, crying babies

Drafts, doodlers dogs barking, dress of the speaker or others on the platform, doors squeaking

Essence, entrance open, earthquake, electricity

Fish smell, flickering lights, frigid, fireplace logs crackling

Getting up, gum smacking, grime inside, going long (speaker and/or service)

Hyperactive children, halitosis, hair grooming, hot, hard seats

Insufficient information/preparation, insects, interruptions, idiosyncrasies of speaker

Jokes (too many, inappropriate, not funny), jingling coins or keys

Knowledge overload, kicking my chair, kitchen smells

Lights, lack of attention, laughter

Munching, mumbling, mice

Nodding off, no sound, nasal problems

Odors, oddities of the speaker/platform person

PDA, phones, problem campers

Quirks of the platform, quads driving by, quiet sound system

Rain, radio

Snoring, screen obstructions, schedule problems, snakes

Temperature, tired

Un-fun topic, ummm’s, un-tuned piano, unprepared

Very hot, vents, vomiting, vehicles

Wandering, whisperers, worries, window blinds

Xiting (not closing the meeting well), Xcuses without solutions

Yawns, your cell phone, yucky smells

Zipper down, zzzzz’s