Meeting Scheduled to Discuss Scheduling of Meeting About Meeting Room Availability

The Office of Administrative Coordination held a 90-minute meeting Thursday to discuss the scheduling of a follow-up meeting regarding the availability of meeting rooms, a process that consumed the last available meeting room slot for the week and thereby rendered its own purpose moot. 'We needed to meet about when to meet about the meeting rooms,' explained Administrative Coordinator Brenda Calendar. 'The challenge is that all the meeting rooms are booked, which is why we need to meet about meeting room availability. But to meet about it, we need a meeting room. You see the issue.' The meeting, attended by seven staff members, was held in Conference Room C from 2:00 to 3:30 PM -- the same time slot that the Facilities Subcommittee had been trying to book for their quarterly review of meeting room utilization. 'They took our slot to discuss why there are no slots,' said Facilities Subcommittee Chair Donald Booking, who learned of the conflict via an email that arrived during the meeting about the meeting. 'I submitted a formal objection, but the objection review meeting has been delayed due to meeting room unavailability.' Minutes from Thursday's meeting indicate that attendees spent the first thirty minutes reviewing an agenda for the proposed follow-up meeting, the next thirty minutes debating whether the follow-up meeting required its own agenda review meeting, and the final thirty minutes attempting to book a room for the follow-up meeting. No rooms were available. Calendar has proposed resolving the impasse by holding the follow-up meeting in the hallway, a suggestion that was tabled pending a formal risk assessment, which will require its own meeting.