Administrative meetings, where minutes go to die: a humorous survival guide for clinicians & academics

Ah, the administrative meeting. That sacred ritual where clinicians and academicians alike are gathered, corralled, politely tethered to chairs or Zoom screens, and subjected to an exercise in endurance that rivals a marathon—minus the medals, plus the PowerPoint-induced eye strain. We enter hopeful, for the express purpose of discussing…well, something. What exactly? One rarely knows, as the agendas are mysterious and discussions meander. But the clock ticks and the lost time accumulates like dust on a rarely read academic tome, and we leave painfully aware of lost hours and tested patience. And often the only “decision” made is the date and place of the next meeting—a master class in spectacularly unproductive deliberation.