The Inefficiency of Pre-Reads

Pre-reads, which are reading materials sent to meeting attendees before a presentation, are often seen as useful in theory. However, in practice, they create more challenges than benefits. Meeting organizers must create separate content for the presentation and the pre-read, which is time-consuming and often leads to compromises. The attendees, on the other hand, rarely allocate enough time to read through the materials before the meeting. As a result, pre-reads often fail to achieve their intended goal of encouraging better questions and discussions. This inefficiency and lack of engagement make pre-reads risky and not recommended by the speaker.