The (Even More) Surprising Science of Meetings
Practical Guide to Collaboration in the New Era of Work

Steven G. Rogelberg is the world's leading researcher on meeting science. Over twenty-five years he has studied meetings through field surveys, controlled experiments, and organizational audits. The (Even More) Surprising Science of Meetings is his translation of that body of research into practice.

Listeners will come away with a clear understanding of why standard meeting practices underperform. Agendas do little to improve meeting quality—but a question-based redesign, grounded in goal-setting research, demonstrably changes how people prepare and participate. Meeting length can be determined through a deliberate formula that uses Parkinson's Law as a tool rather than a constraint. Meeting size has a well-documented negative relationship with decision quality and participation. Leader talk time is inversely related to meeting ratings—a finding with direct implications for how facilitation should be understood.

This edition goes considerably further than the first. New content covers AI as a practical tool. Hybrid and virtual meeting design are addressed with the same evidence-based rigor applied to in-person settings. Five new chapters cover the distinct science and practice of 1:1s, town halls, board meetings, off-sites, and post-mortems. A new chapter on attendee responsibilities provides the first evidence-based taxonomy of what good meeting participation requires. And a chapter on organizational meeting culture offers a systems-level framework.

The tools section has been substantially expanded. A six-phase operational checklist, decision matrix, and suite of assessment instruments give listeners concrete resources to apply the book's guidance.