# How to Have More Inclusive Meetings Over Zoom

1 Opinion October 20, 2020 Stern in the News ![Dolly Chugh Headshot](/sites/default/files/styles/246w/public/assets/images/Dolly%20Chugh%20Article.jpg?itok=7UdD9CUD) By Dolly Chugh >

Meetings can crush your soul.

My personal experience — and the prevailing wisdom of management and psychology research — is that meetings default to patterns like these:
• Whoever speaks first is likely to set the direction of the conversation.
• The higher-power, more extroverted, majority-demographic people are more likely to take up disproportionate airtime, receive credit, be given the benefit of the doubt and interrupt others.
• The larger the group, the less meaningful the conversation — and the less likely we are to break out into more meaningful, smaller group discussions because doing so is time- and space-consuming in the physical world.
• Key information is less likely to be shared when it is already known by others; lesser-known but important information tends to not be shared broadly.
• Whatever we did in the last meeting, we are likely to do again in the next meeting.

Read the full [*TED* article](https://ideas.ted.com/how-to-have-inclusive-meetings-over-zoom/).

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*Dolly Chugh is an Associate Professor of Management and Organizations.*## More from Dolly Chugh

- [U.S. History Has Plenty of Good and Bad. Here’s How to See Both.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/faculty-research/u-s-history-has-plenty-of-good-and-bad-here-s-how-to-see-both)
- [How the Oldest Brewery in New Orleans Renamed Itself to be More Inclusive and Competitive.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/faculty-research/how-the-oldest-brewery-in-new-orleans-renamed-itself-to-be-more-inclusive-and-competitive)
- [Research: To Reduce Gender Bias in Hiring, Make Your Shortlist Longer](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/faculty-research/research-reduce-gender-bias-hiring-make-your-shortlist-longer)
- [What to Do When You’re the Only Woman in the Room](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/faculty-research/what-do-when-you-re-only-woman-room)
- ['High Flying Bird' Will Entertain You and Leave You Thinking](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/faculty-research/high-flying-bird-will-entertain-you-and-leave-you-thinking)