The Hidden Costs of too many Meeting Notifications: How to Minimize Disruptions at work

If you’re someone who makes a living by having frequent engagements with others, you will surely be aware that the notifications that come with it can seriously impede one’s sense of productivity. It really takes no time at all to be met with a flood of requests, notifications and alerts and sometimes being on the receiving end of this oncoming barrage can be more than a little overwhelming. 

At their core, notifications are supposed to assist us in staying abreast of our daily affairs and alert us to urgent matters that require our attention. Unfortunately, with the rise of apps, social media networks and professional software, we’ve seen notifications used as a ploy to snag our attention when situations or experiences don’t necessarily beget doing so. 

This overflow of information and incessant promotional dialogue has led to many feeling distrusting of notifications and the perception around them has deteriorated to something more akin to nuisance and disturbing than helpful and empowering. Let’s take a look at notifications and how OnceHub can assist you in dealing with them. 

The consequences of too many meeting notifications

Distraction from too many notifications 

Perhaps chief among the negative side-effects of notifications is reduced focus and being constantly disrupted from your workflow. When you’re hitting your stride and effectively accomplishing tasks, there’s nothing quite like receiving a notification out of the blue to yank you straight out of your productivity. You would think silent mode would be sufficient in dealing with this, but oftentimes what ends up happening is that your sense of obligation or false urgency ropes you into checking those alerts out anyway. 

Stress and anxiety from too many notifications 

When you’re inundated with an oncoming hoard of notifications and alerts, it is all too easy to trigger your panic receptors and create a nasty case of anxiety for yourself. Notifications are hard-wired to make you notice them, so sometimes it can cause you to become overwhelmed and set your flight or fight responses right off. It’s easy to forget that other people’s crises are not necessarily your emergencies, and if it becomes a habit it is all too easy to be caught in the muck and mire of a never ending stream of information that does not even require your attention. 

Information overload from too many notifications

When we’re in the eye of an information storm, it is really difficult to discern between useful and wasteful. Our media literacy varies wildly from person to person and more often than not taking a step back and looking at your incoming info can make it all seem like unintelligible mush. Information retention relies on being able to discern and compartmentalize inputs and stimulus, but this becomes rather difficult when thinking of the volumes of data that come our way on a daily basis. At times it can all become a bit much, and being able to make sense of it all  feels like an art unto itself. 

Desensitization from too many notifications

Which brings us to the truly unfavorable outcome of being on the receiving end of too many notifications, becoming so desensitized to them that you’re not taking note of important information coming your way. By viewing notifications as inherently unimportant or unworthy of your attention, you could miss crucial inputs that could lead to more serious consequences. This is exactly why curation and discipline is required to effectively navigate and respond to notifications, as by blocking yourself off from the information being disseminated you could end up shooting yourself in the foot and miss critical opportunities along the way. 

Why meeting notifications are important

Meeting notifications, however, are of utmost importance to our daily lives as they allow us to remain informed of our pending engagements and remain mindful of other people’s schedules and intention to spend time with us. They play a crucial role in ensuring we communicate effectively and do so in a productive way that is cognizant of time management, productivity and overall professionalism. Here’s why they should always remain a fixture of your schedule: 

Meeting notifications allow for awareness 

If you’ve ever been on the receiving end of a hectic day at work, chances are that you’re familiar with having to put out fires and remain calm when everything around you is doing the exact opposite. Meeting information is easy to lose in the fray of a chaotic day, so notifications ensure that attendees are aware of their pending commitments and can make adequate preparations to still be in attendance. 

Meeting notification time management 

Meeting notifications usually include important information like meeting times, duration, a rough idea of the contents of the meeting and where or how it will take place. This in turn gives prospective attendees the opportunity to adequately prepare for the meeting and how they can shuffle or configure their other engagements in order to attend. 

Meeting notifications helps with reducing no-shows 

Sending notifications and alerts about upcoming engagements helps to decrease the likelihood of people having to cancel. It's really easy to forget about meetings and engagements when you're staring down the barrel of your calendar and to-do list, so the simple act of informing all parties of their commitments is a great way to get people to remember them in the first place. 

Rescheduling options 

Sometimes, meetings need to be adjusted in order for them to actually happen. There are many instances where unforeseen circumstances can prevent an engagement from taking place, and this is par for the course when trying to find time to meet with people. By sending alerts and notifications ahead of time, you also provide people with ample opportunity to reschedule to a later time when it is convenient for all. 

Minimizing miscommunications 

Miscommunications happen, and they can be a pain to deal with. Nonetheless, a well-timed notification can help to clear things up and prevent potential misunderstandings about meeting times, meeting contents and general expectations of the parties involved in the engagement. 

How to control your meeting notifications with OnceHub 

With OnceHub, you can edit and customize exactly how your notifications are set up and sent out. The ways in which you can do so are: 

• Adjusting your notification preferences
• Customizing your notification types
• Manage your notification frequency 
• Set reminders and confirmations 
• Adjust the recipients of your notifications 
• Configure client notification options 
• Notify according to time zones
• Test your notifications before they go out 

This helps you to ensure that important notifications and information are still able to do as they are intended and serve to help people instead of hindering them with extraneous and redundant notification overload. 

To get started on creating a notification process that works for you and your visitors, click here.