> I used to joke that in any meeting with more than 4 people, at any given time at least 1 person is day dreaming.
This is my experience too. Based on this I concluded that 3 is the optimal number of participants in a meeting. Two would be having an active conversation the third one would be actively absorbing the content of that conversation chiming in once in a while. In fact even in a meeting with 6-8 people I noticed this pattern of 3. Just that members of this 3-clique would slowly change over the course of the meeting.
This is my experience too. Based on this I concluded that 3 is the optimal number of participants in a meeting. Two would be having an active conversation the third one would be actively absorbing the content of that conversation chiming in once in a while. In fact even in a meeting with 6-8 people I noticed this pattern of 3. Just that members of this 3-clique would slowly change over the course of the meeting.
Edit: wording.