Researchers observed 412 meetings over a full fiscal quarter and recorded the precise moment each participant began composing their own remarks instead of listening. The moment, on average, was the start of the meeting.
Methods
Subjects were fitted with a second calendar. Attention was measured by counting the number of times a participant said "great point" without naming the point.
Results
Attention spans declined by 94 percent within the first agenda item. The follow-up meeting has been scheduled to confirm these findings, and a pre-read has been circulated to be ignored.