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   "For anything not covered here, read the paper itself: 'fullTextSources' lists free versions first.",
   "If 'researchOverview' is present, the paper is part of one of Sean Rintel's research overviews: it gives the overview's thesis, the claims this paper is evidence for and its role in each, and the other papers in the overview.",
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 "name": "Nudging Attention to Workplace Meeting Goals: A Large-Scale, Preregistered Field Experiment",
 "author": [
  {
   "@type": "Person",
   "name": "Lev Tankelevitch"
  },
  {
   "@type": "Person",
   "name": "Ava Elizabeth Scott"
  },
  {
   "@type": "Person",
   "name": "Nagaravind Challakere"
  },
  {
   "@type": "Person",
   "name": "Payod Panda"
  },
  {
   "@type": "Person",
   "@id": "https://seanrintel.com/#sean-rintel",
   "name": "Sean Rintel",
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/",
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    "https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/people/serintel/",
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 ],
 "datePublished": "2026-04",
 "doi": "10.1145/3772318.3791199",
 "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/nudging-attention-to-workplace-meeting-goals-a-large-scale-preregistered-field-experiment.html",
 "citation": "Lev Tankelevitch, Ava Elizabeth Scott, Nagaravind Challakere, Payod Panda, and Sean Rintel. 2026. Nudging Attention to Workplace Meeting Goals: A Large-Scale, Preregistered Field Experiment. CHI 2026. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3791199",
 "bibtex": "@inproceedings{tankelevitch2026nudging,\nauthor = {Tankelevitch, Lev and Scott, Ava Elizabeth and Challakere, Nagaravind and Panda, Payod and Rintel, Sean},\ntitle = {Nudging Attention to Workplace Meeting Goals: A Large-Scale, Preregistered Field Experiment},\nbooktitle = {CHI 2026},\nyear = {2026},\nmonth = {April},\npublisher = {ACM},\nurl = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3791199},\ndoi = {10.1145/3772318.3791199},\n}",
 "abstract": "Ineffective meetings are pervasive. Thinking ahead explicitly about meeting goals may improve effectiveness, but current collaboration platforms lack integrated support. We tested a lightweight goal-reflection intervention in a preregistered field experiment in a global technology company (361 employees, 7196 meetings). Over two weeks, workers in the treatment group completed brief pre-meeting surveys in their collaboration platform, nudging attention to goals for upcoming meetings. To measure impact, both treatment and control groups completed post-meeting surveys about meeting effectiveness. While the intervention impact on meeting effectiveness was not statistically significant, mixed-methods findings revealed improvements in self-reported awareness and behaviour across both groups, with post-meeting surveys unintentionally functioning as an intervention. We highlight the promise of supporting goal reflection, while noting challenges of evaluating and supporting workplace reflection for meetings, including workflow and collaboration norms, and attitudes and behaviours around meeting preparation. We conclude with implications for designing technological support for meeting intentionality",
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   "url": "https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3791199",
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   "kind": "freeAccess",
   "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.16939",
   "label": "Preprint (arXiv - Free Access)"
  }
 ],
 "fullTextAvailable": true,
 "takeaway": "Brief goal-reflection surveys can build meeting intentionality whether they come before and after meetings or only after. Either way, people reported clearer, better-communicated goals, and most felt their meetings improved, perhaps because repeated reflection acted as micro-training. Adding pre-meeting prompts brought no further measurable gain in rated effectiveness.",
 "researchOverview": {
  "name": "Better Meetings",
  "page": "https://seanrintel.com/better-meetings.html",
  "json": "https://seanrintel.com/overviews/better-meetings.json",
  "markdown": "https://seanrintel.com/overviews/better-meetings.md",
  "thesis": "A meeting's purpose should shape everything about it, yet many meetings run without one stated. Good help with meeting goals moves people from wherever they start, with depth that fits the meeting.",
  "claimsThisPaperFeeds": [
   {
    "claim": "AI that asks what a meeting is for gets people thinking it through themselves",
    "role": "supporting evidence",
    "url": "https://seanrintel.com/better-meetings.html#m2"
   },
   {
    "claim": "Help with meeting goals should start where people are, and go deeper only for meetings that need it",
    "role": "core evidence",
    "url": "https://seanrintel.com/better-meetings.html#m3"
   },
   {
    "claim": "A meeting's purpose is everyone's job, but asking what it is can feel risky, especially for junior staff",
    "role": "core evidence",
    "url": "https://seanrintel.com/better-meetings.html#m4"
   },
   {
    "claim": "A meeting's purpose is easily lost between meetings unless something carries it forward",
    "role": "supporting evidence",
    "url": "https://seanrintel.com/better-meetings.html#m5"
   }
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    "study": "Interviews: how people hold meeting goals",
    "title": "Mental Models of Meeting Goals: Supporting Intentionality in Meeting Technologies",
    "page": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/mental-models-of-meeting-goals-supporting-intentionality-in-meeting-technologies.html",
    "researchBrief": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/mental-models-of-meeting-goals-supporting-intentionality-in-meeting-technologies.json"
   },
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    "study": "Probe study: AI-drafted meeting plans",
    "title": "The CoExplorer Technology Probe: A Generative AI-Powered Adaptive Interface to Support Intentionality in Planning and Running Video Meetings",
    "page": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/the-coexplorer-technology-probe-a-generative-ai-powered-adaptive-interface-to-support-intentionality-in-planning-and-running-video-meetings.html",
    "researchBrief": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/the-coexplorer-technology-probe-a-generative-ai-powered-adaptive-interface-to-support-intentionality-in-planning-and-running-video-meetings.json"
   },
   {
    "study": "Coaching study: an AI coach before real meetings",
    "title": "What Does Success Look Like? Catalyzing Meeting Intentionality with AI-Assisted Prospective Reflection",
    "page": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/what-does-success-look-like-catalyzing-meeting-intentionality-with-ai-assisted-prospective-reflection.html",
    "researchBrief": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/what-does-success-look-like-catalyzing-meeting-intentionality-with-ai-assisted-prospective-reflection.json"
   },
   {
    "study": "Probe study: goal check-ins during meetings",
    "title": "Are We On Track? AI-Assisted Active and Passive Goal Reflection During Meetings",
    "page": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/are-we-on-track-ai-assisted-active-and-passive-goal-reflection-during-meetings.html",
    "researchBrief": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/are-we-on-track-ai-assisted-active-and-passive-goal-reflection-during-meetings.json"
   },
   {
    "study": "Recordings and design: looking back and ahead in meetings",
    "title": "Designing Interfaces that Support Temporal Work Across Meetings with Generative AI",
    "page": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/designing-interfaces-that-support-temporal-work-across-meetings-with-generative-ai.html",
    "researchBrief": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/designing-interfaces-that-support-temporal-work-across-meetings-with-generative-ai.json"
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   {
    "study": "Position paper: goals in human-AI work",
    "title": "Goals as First-Class Abstractions in Human-AI Collaboration",
    "page": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/goals-as-first-class-abstractions-in-human-ai-collaboration.html",
    "researchBrief": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/goals-as-first-class-abstractions-in-human-ai-collaboration.json"
   },
   {
    "study": "System design: AI-mediated shared workspaces",
    "title": "Stund: Activity-Enriched Collaborative Workspaces Mediated by Artificial Intelligence",
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    "researchBrief": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/stund-activity-enriched-collaborative-workspaces-mediated-by-artificial-intelligence.json"
   },
   {
    "study": "Conversation analysis: designing for the meeting",
    "title": "(Re)Configuring Hybrid Meetings: Moving from User-Centered Design to Meeting-Centered Design",
    "page": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/reconfiguring-hybrid-meetings-moving-from-user-centered-design-to-meeting-centered-design.html",
    "researchBrief": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/reconfiguring-hybrid-meetings-moving-from-user-centered-design-to-meeting-centered-design.json"
   },
   {
    "study": "Interviews and narration: what attention in video is for",
    "title": "Classification of Functional Attention in Video Meetings",
    "page": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/classification-of-functional-attention-in-video-meetings.html",
    "researchBrief": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/classification-of-functional-attention-in-video-meetings.json"
   },
   {
    "study": "Interviews: low engagement as a choice",
    "title": "Low Engagement As a Deliberate Practice of Remote Participants in Video Meetings",
    "page": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/low-engagement-as-a-deliberate-practice-of-remote-participants-in-video-meetings.html",
    "researchBrief": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/low-engagement-as-a-deliberate-practice-of-remote-participants-in-video-meetings.json"
   },
   {
    "study": "Research synthesis: collaboration and meetings",
    "title": "Collaboration and Meetings – Chapter 1 of the 2021 New Future of Work report",
    "page": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/collaboration-and-meetings.html"
   },
   {
    "study": "Telemetry and diaries: multitasking in remote meetings",
    "title": "Large Scale Analysis of Multitasking Behavior During Remote Meetings",
    "page": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/large-scale-analysis-of-multitasking-behavior-during-remote-meetings.html",
    "researchBrief": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/large-scale-analysis-of-multitasking-behavior-during-remote-meetings.json"
   },
   {
    "study": "Survey and dashboard study: feedback on inclusive meetings",
    "title": "MeetingCoach: An Intelligent Dashboard for Supporting Effective and Inclusive Meetings",
    "page": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/meetingcoach-an-intelligent-dashboard-for-supporting-effective-inclusive-meetings.html",
    "researchBrief": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/meetingcoach-an-intelligent-dashboard-for-supporting-effective-inclusive-meetings.json"
   },
   {
    "study": "Survey and diaries: chat alongside video meetings",
    "title": "The Promise and Peril of Parallel Chat in Video Meetings for Work",
    "page": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/the-promise-and-peril-of-parallel-chat-in-video-meetings-for-work.html",
    "researchBrief": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/the-promise-and-peril-of-parallel-chat-in-video-meetings-for-work.json"
   },
   {
    "study": "Diary study: video meetings in the pandemic",
    "title": "Meeting (the) Pandemic: Videoconferencing  Fatigue and Evolving Tensions of Sociality  in Enterprise Video Meetings During  COVID-19",
    "page": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/meeting-the-pandemic-videoconferencing-fatigue-and-evolving-tensions-of-sociality-in-enterprise-video-meetings-during-covid-19.html",
    "researchBrief": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/meeting-the-pandemic-videoconferencing-fatigue-and-evolving-tensions-of-sociality-in-enterprise-video-meetings-during-covid-19.json"
   },
   {
    "study": "Survey and telemetry: chat and voice in meetings",
    "title": "Virtual voices: Exploring individual differences in chat and verbal participation in virtual meetings",
    "page": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/virtual-voices-exploring-individual-differences-in-chat-and-verbal-participation-in-virtual-meetings.html",
    "researchBrief": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/virtual-voices-exploring-individual-differences-in-chat-and-verbal-participation-in-virtual-meetings.json"
   }
  ]
 },
 "whyItMatters": {
  "stateOfTheArt": {
   "summary": "Meetings are widely seen as purposeless, and reflection tools look promising, but most evidence comes from small studies outside normal work.",
   "quote": "much of the research is conducted with limited ecological validity, relying on out-of-context reflection, unfamiliar interfaces, or small samples",
   "location": "§1, p. 1"
  },
  "contribution": {
   "summary": "A large, preregistered field experiment with a control group, run inside people's everyday collaboration tool, plus mixed-methods evidence on how people experienced it.",
   "quote": "There is also a lack of research measuring the impacts of prospective reflection, at a large scale, compared against a control condition.",
   "location": "§3, p. 3"
  },
  "whoCares": {
   "summary": "People building calendars, collaboration platforms and AI meeting assistants, and researchers who evaluate reflection and nudging at work."
  }
 },
 "researchQuestions": [
  "RQ1. Does asking workers to reflect on their goals for upcoming workplace meetings impact meeting effectiveness and engagement and upstream aspects like self-awareness and behaviour change?",
  "RQ2. What are workers' experiences of goal-oriented reflection for meetings, attitudes towards the intervention, and barriers to reflection and meeting intentionality?",
  "RQ3. What are the implications for designing technological support for meeting reflection and intentionality?"
 ],
 "concepts": [
  {
   "term": "Meeting intentionality",
   "definition": "Thinking ahead explicitly about meeting goals. It depends on organisers, attendees and other collaborators working together.",
   "quote": "Meeting intentionality is inherently interdependent, requiring coordinated effort between meeting organisers, attendees, and other collaborators.",
   "location": "§7.2.4, p. 17"
  },
  {
   "term": "Nudge plus",
   "definition": "A nudge that adds a moment of reflection rather than relying only on fast, habitual responses.",
   "quote": "The more recent 'nudge plus' involves incorporating aspects of reflection, i.e., System 2 thinking, into nudges",
   "location": "§2.2, p. 2"
  },
  {
   "term": "Workplace reflection",
   "definition": "Reflection shaped by organisational context.",
   "quote": "where competing priorities, time pressure, and social dynamics shape when and how reflection occurs",
   "location": "§2.2, p. 2"
  },
  {
   "term": "Measurement reactivity",
   "definition": "When measuring a behaviour changes it. Here, the post-meeting effectiveness surveys may have acted as a reflection prompt for the control group too.",
   "quote": "What was intended for measurement thus potentially became an active reflection prompt",
   "location": "§7.1.2, p. 15"
  }
 ],
 "method": {
  "design": "Preregistered (AsPredicted #194719) two-week randomised field experiment. Treatment: pre-meeting goal-reflection surveys plus post-meeting effectiveness surveys. Control: post-meeting surveys only.",
  "prototype": "The Meeting Survey app, a Microsoft Teams bot connected to each participant's calendar. For eligible video meetings (under 3 hours, at least two attendees, accepted, and with at least 10 minutes free beforehand) it sent a chat message 5 minutes before the start asking what success would look like for the meeting. People ticked goals phrased as success criteria, such as 'Decision is made' or 'Everyone is up to date', or wrote their own. They also rated how clearly the goal had been communicated and how effective they expected the meeting to be. Two minutes after the scheduled end it sent a short survey asking how effective the meeting had been, on a six-point scale. It was built with the Bot Framework and the Microsoft Graph calendar interface. The control group received only the post-meeting survey.",
  "prototypeFigure": 1,
  "setting": "A global technology company, inside participants' everyday collaboration platform (Microsoft Teams).",
  "sample": "361 employees (treatment = 163, control = 198) and 7196 meetings.",
  "n": 361,
  "duration": "Two weeks (10 working days), with onboarding and debriefing surveys.",
  "analysis": "Intention-to-treat mixed-effects linear regression on per-meeting effectiveness ratings with multiple imputation. Difference-in-differences models for goal clarity and communication. Exploratory CACE analysis. GPT-4o-assisted labelling (manually reviewed) and reflexive thematic analysis of open-text responses."
 },
 "findings": [
  {
   "headline": "No measurable gain in effectiveness.",
   "summary": "Across 7196 meetings at a global technology company, employees who got a short goal-reflection survey five minutes before each meeting did not rate their meetings significantly more effective than colleagues who only rated meetings afterwards. This held even when only meetings where they did the survey were counted.",
   "quote": "Thus, we do not find evidence that pre-meeting goal reflection improved self-reported meeting effectiveness measured at the meeting level.",
   "location": "§5.2.1, p. 8",
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/nudging-attention-to-workplace-meeting-goals-a-large-scale-preregistered-field-experiment.html#at-s5-2-1-p-8",
   "cite": "Lev Tankelevitch, Ava Elizabeth Scott, Nagaravind Challakere, Payod Panda, and Sean Rintel. 2026. Nudging Attention to Workplace Meeting Goals: A Large-Scale, Preregistered Field Experiment. CHI 2026. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3791199 (§5.2.1, p. 8)"
  },
  {
   "headline": "Everyone got clearer about goals.",
   "summary": "Comparing the start and end of the two weeks, employees in both groups reported feeling clearer about meeting goals and communicating them more often, with no significant difference between groups. Participants described a reflective habit building up over the study.",
   "quote": "I feel that as the study progressed I was more inclined to think about meeting goals/agenda etc. before and after.",
   "location": "§6.2.1, p. 13",
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/nudging-attention-to-workplace-meeting-goals-a-large-scale-preregistered-field-experiment.html#at-s6-2-1-p-13",
   "cite": "Lev Tankelevitch, Ava Elizabeth Scott, Nagaravind Challakere, Payod Panda, and Sean Rintel. 2026. Nudging Attention to Workplace Meeting Goals: A Large-Scale, Preregistered Field Experiment. CHI 2026. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3791199 (§6.2.1, p. 13)"
  },
  {
   "headline": "Rating meetings may itself have been a nudge.",
   "summary": "Most participants in both groups described new awareness or new habits, such as noticing that a goal clear to the organiser was not clear to others. The post-meeting ratings, meant only as measurement, seem to have prompted reflection too.",
   "quote": "I started to notice that for meetings I organised usually goal is clear for me, but I don't make sure it's clear for everyone else.",
   "location": "§6.2.2, p. 13",
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/nudging-attention-to-workplace-meeting-goals-a-large-scale-preregistered-field-experiment.html#at-s6-2-2-p-13",
   "cite": "Lev Tankelevitch, Ava Elizabeth Scott, Nagaravind Challakere, Payod Panda, and Sean Rintel. 2026. Nudging Attention to Workplace Meeting Goals: A Large-Scale, Preregistered Field Experiment. CHI 2026. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3791199 (§6.2.2, p. 13)"
  },
  {
   "headline": "Five minutes before was often too late.",
   "summary": "For many participants, pre-meeting prompts arrived too late to act on, and prompts for every meeting caused survey fatigue. Lack of time before meetings was the most common barrier to thinking about goals, for organisers and attendees alike.",
   "quote": "When the survey is sent 5 minutes before the meeting starts, we are already way past time when I would change anything about my approach.",
   "location": "§6.1.2, p. 11",
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/nudging-attention-to-workplace-meeting-goals-a-large-scale-preregistered-field-experiment.html#at-s6-1-2-p-11",
   "cite": "Lev Tankelevitch, Ava Elizabeth Scott, Nagaravind Challakere, Payod Panda, and Sean Rintel. 2026. Nudging Attention to Workplace Meeting Goals: A Large-Scale, Preregistered Field Experiment. CHI 2026. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3791199 (§6.1.2, p. 11)"
  },
  {
   "headline": "Organisers and attendees wait on each other.",
   "summary": "Attendees often felt unable to change meetings they had not organised, and organisers assumed attendees would not read the goals anyway. This loop discourages preparation on both sides.",
   "quote": "21% of all participants felt that, as an attendee, it was not their \"responsibility to think about the goals of a meeting\"",
   "location": "§6.1.5, p. 12",
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/nudging-attention-to-workplace-meeting-goals-a-large-scale-preregistered-field-experiment.html#at-s6-1-5-p-12",
   "cite": "Lev Tankelevitch, Ava Elizabeth Scott, Nagaravind Challakere, Payod Panda, and Sean Rintel. 2026. Nudging Attention to Workplace Meeting Goals: A Large-Scale, Preregistered Field Experiment. CHI 2026. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3791199 (§6.1.5, p. 12)"
  },
  {
   "headline": "Goals tied the work together.",
   "summary": "People in both groups said they added goals to invitations, declined or reshaped meetings, engaged more actively during them, and saw stated goals as useful input for AI meeting tools.",
   "quote": "I was more cognizant of being an active agenda engager rather than a passive meeting attendee.",
   "location": "§6.2.3, p. 14",
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/nudging-attention-to-workplace-meeting-goals-a-large-scale-preregistered-field-experiment.html#at-s6-2-3-p-14",
   "cite": "Lev Tankelevitch, Ava Elizabeth Scott, Nagaravind Challakere, Payod Panda, and Sean Rintel. 2026. Nudging Attention to Workplace Meeting Goals: A Large-Scale, Preregistered Field Experiment. CHI 2026. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3791199 (§6.2.3, p. 14)"
  }
 ],
 "questions": [
  {
   "question": "Do prompts to think about goals before a meeting make it more effective?",
   "answer": "Not measurably, in a large workplace field experiment. A short goal survey five minutes before each meeting did not raise how effective people rated their meetings. It possibly came too late to act on, and effectiveness depends on all attendees, not only the one who reflected.",
   "source": "Lev Tankelevitch, Ava Elizabeth Scott, Nagaravind Challakere, Payod Panda, and Sean Rintel. 2026. Nudging Attention to Workplace Meeting Goals: A Large-Scale, Preregistered Field Experiment. CHI 2026. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3791199",
   "basedOn": [
    {
     "location": "§5.2.1, p. 8",
     "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/nudging-attention-to-workplace-meeting-goals-a-large-scale-preregistered-field-experiment.html#at-s5-2-1-p-8"
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "question": "Does reflecting on meeting goals change how people work?",
   "answer": "It seems to build meeting intentionality, though the authors cannot prove it. Being asked regularly to think about meeting goals, even after the fact, coincided with people reporting clearer goals, putting them in invitations and questioning meetings. Without a comparison group that got no surveys, other influences cannot be ruled out.",
   "source": "Lev Tankelevitch, Ava Elizabeth Scott, Nagaravind Challakere, Payod Panda, and Sean Rintel. 2026. Nudging Attention to Workplace Meeting Goals: A Large-Scale, Preregistered Field Experiment. CHI 2026. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3791199",
   "basedOn": [
    {
     "location": "§6.2.1, p. 13",
     "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/nudging-attention-to-workplace-meeting-goals-a-large-scale-preregistered-field-experiment.html#at-s6-2-1-p-13"
    },
    {
     "location": "§6.2.2, p. 13",
     "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/nudging-attention-to-workplace-meeting-goals-a-large-scale-preregistered-field-experiment.html#at-s6-2-2-p-13"
    },
    {
     "location": "§6.2.3, p. 14",
     "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/nudging-attention-to-workplace-meeting-goals-a-large-scale-preregistered-field-experiment.html#at-s6-2-3-p-14"
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "question": "Why don't people think about meeting goals in advance?",
   "answer": "Lack of time before meetings was the most common barrier for both organisers and attendees. Attendees also often felt unable to change meetings, or that goals were not their responsibility, while organisers assumed attendees would not read them.",
   "source": "Lev Tankelevitch, Ava Elizabeth Scott, Nagaravind Challakere, Payod Panda, and Sean Rintel. 2026. Nudging Attention to Workplace Meeting Goals: A Large-Scale, Preregistered Field Experiment. CHI 2026. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3791199",
   "basedOn": [
    {
     "location": "§6.1.2, p. 11",
     "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/nudging-attention-to-workplace-meeting-goals-a-large-scale-preregistered-field-experiment.html#at-s6-1-2-p-11"
    },
    {
     "location": "§6.1.5, p. 12",
     "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/nudging-attention-to-workplace-meeting-goals-a-large-scale-preregistered-field-experiment.html#at-s6-1-5-p-12"
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "question": "Can measuring a behaviour change it?",
   "answer": "It may. When 361 tech company employees were randomly assigned pre-meeting goal prompts for two weeks, post-meeting effectiveness ratings were meant only as measurement. Yet they seem to have prompted goal reflection even without prompts, making the prompts' effect harder to detect. Reflection research is especially prone to this.",
   "source": "Lev Tankelevitch, Ava Elizabeth Scott, Nagaravind Challakere, Payod Panda, and Sean Rintel. 2026. Nudging Attention to Workplace Meeting Goals: A Large-Scale, Preregistered Field Experiment. CHI 2026. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3791199",
   "basedOn": [
    {
     "location": "§6.2.1, p. 13",
     "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/nudging-attention-to-workplace-meeting-goals-a-large-scale-preregistered-field-experiment.html#at-s6-2-1-p-13"
    },
    {
     "location": "§6.2.2, p. 13",
     "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/nudging-attention-to-workplace-meeting-goals-a-large-scale-preregistered-field-experiment.html#at-s6-2-2-p-13"
    }
   ]
  }
 ],
 "cites": [
  {
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/are-we-on-track-ai-assisted-active-and-passive-goal-reflection-during-meetings.html",
   "title": "Are We On Track? AI-Assisted Active and Passive Goal Reflection During Meetings",
   "location": "p. 18"
  },
  {
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/designing-interfaces-that-support-temporal-work-across-meetings-with-generative-ai.html",
   "title": "Designing Interfaces that Support Temporal Work Across Meetings with Generative AI",
   "location": "p. 21"
  },
  {
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/hear-we-are-spatial-audio-benefits-perceptions-of-turn-taking-and-social-presence-in-video-meetings.html",
   "title": "Hear We Are: Spatial Audio Benefits Perceptions of Turn-Taking and Social Presence in Video Meetings",
   "location": "p. 20"
  },
  {
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/hybridge-bridging-spatiality-for-inclusive-and-equitable-hybrid-meetings.html",
   "title": "Hybridge: Bridging Spatiality for Inclusive and Equitable Hybrid Meetings",
   "location": "p. 20"
  },
  {
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/meeting-the-pandemic-videoconferencing-fatigue-and-evolving-tensions-of-sociality-in-enterprise-video-meetings-during-covid-19.html",
   "title": "Meeting (the) Pandemic: Videoconferencing  Fatigue and Evolving Tensions of Sociality  in Enterprise Video Meetings During  COVID-19",
   "location": "p. 18"
  },
  {
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/mental-models-of-meeting-goals-supporting-intentionality-in-meeting-technologies.html",
   "title": "Mental Models of Meeting Goals: Supporting Intentionality in Meeting Technologies",
   "location": "p. 20"
  },
  {
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/the-coexplorer-technology-probe-a-generative-ai-powered-adaptive-interface-to-support-intentionality-in-planning-and-running-video-meetings.html",
   "title": "The CoExplorer Technology Probe: A Generative AI-Powered Adaptive Interface to Support Intentionality in Planning and Running Video Meetings",
   "location": "p. 20"
  },
  {
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/the-promise-and-peril-of-parallel-chat-in-video-meetings-for-work.html",
   "title": "The Promise and Peril of Parallel Chat in Video Meetings for Work",
   "location": "p. 20"
  },
  {
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/what-does-success-look-like-catalyzing-meeting-intentionality-with-ai-assisted-prospective-reflection.html",
   "title": "What Does Success Look Like? Catalyzing Meeting Intentionality with AI-Assisted Prospective Reflection",
   "location": "p. 20"
  },
  {
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/meetingcoach-an-intelligent-dashboard-for-supporting-effective-inclusive-meetings.html",
   "title": "MeetingCoach: An Intelligent Dashboard for Supporting Effective and Inclusive Meetings",
   "location": "p. 20"
  }
 ],
 "quantitative": [
  {
   "measure": "Sample",
   "value": "361 participants (treatment = 163, control = 198); 7196 meetings",
   "location": "§4.2, p. 4"
  },
  {
   "measure": "Treatment effect on per-meeting effectiveness (intention to treat)",
   "value": "p = 0.36 (not significant)",
   "location": "§5.2.1, p. 8"
  },
  {
   "measure": "Treatment effect for compliant meetings (CACE, exploratory)",
   "value": "p = 0.6 (not significant)",
   "location": "§5.2.1, p. 8"
  },
  {
   "measure": "Said study participation increased meeting effectiveness",
   "value": "57% treatment vs 52% control; p = 0.13 (not significant)",
   "location": "§5.2.2, p. 8"
  },
  {
   "measure": "Said study participation increased engagement",
   "value": "43% treatment vs 34% control; p = 0.05 (not significant)",
   "location": "§5.2.2, p. 8"
  },
  {
   "measure": "Goal clarity and communication: time effect (both groups)",
   "value": "all p-values < 0.05; treatment × time all p-values > 0.1",
   "location": "§5.2.3, p. 8"
  },
  {
   "measure": "Reported awareness or behaviour change (open text)",
   "value": "57% treatment, 60% control; χ2 = 1.97, p = 0.37 between groups",
   "location": "§6, p. 10"
  },
  {
   "measure": "Interest in a future pre-meeting prompt to think about meeting goals: overall, and treatment vs control",
   "value": "Over two-thirds 'quite', 'very' or 'extremely' interested, but treatment less interested than control, p = 0.01",
   "location": "§5.2.4, p. 9"
  },
  {
   "measure": "Post-meeting surveys completed more than 15 minutes after the meeting",
   "value": "55% control, 60% treatment",
   "location": "§5.1, p. 7"
  },
  {
   "measure": "Answering as organisers, saw 'attendees will not read or understand the goal' as a barrier to considering goals",
   "value": "27%",
   "location": "§6.1.5, p. 12"
  }
 ],
 "implications": [
  {
   "summary": "Support habitual goal reflection without overload by targeting novel, high-stakes or ambiguous meetings rather than prompting for every meeting.",
   "quote": "Target reflection for novel, high-stakes, or ambiguous meetings.",
   "location": "Table 5, p. 17"
  },
  {
   "summary": "Embed goal reflection in the rhythms and spaces of work, especially scheduling tools for organisers, and batch reflection at natural planning points."
  },
  {
   "summary": "Make reflection actionable, so that articulated goals feed invitations, pre-reads, AI facilitation and recaps.",
   "quote": "we argue that current AI systems are limited in inferring intent; explicit human goal articulation remains a critical prerequisite",
   "location": "§7.2.3, p. 17"
  },
  {
   "summary": "Support reciprocal reflection between organisers and attendees to break corrosive loops of low preparation."
  },
  {
   "summary": "Lightweight, workflow-embedded nudges may act as micro-training for meeting intentionality."
  }
 ],
 "limitations": [
  {
   "summary": "No truly passive control group, so the causal effect of the post-meeting surveys cannot be isolated.",
   "quote": "we cannot exclude the potential influence of confounding external variables",
   "location": "§7.1.1, p. 15"
  },
  {
   "summary": "All outcomes are self-reported and subject to measurement reactivity and social desirability."
  },
  {
   "summary": "Many surveys were completed late or not at all, especially in the treatment group, which reduces statistical power."
  },
  {
   "summary": "The quick survey format captured little evidence of reflection quality."
  }
 ],
 "figures": [
  {
   "src": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/figures/nudging-attention-to-workplace-meeting-goals-a-large-scale-preregistered-field-experiment/fig-1.webp",
   "caption": "Figure 1: Pre- and post- meeting surveys as they appeared in chat threads via our Meeting Survey application. In the pre-meeting survey, treatment group participants could select multiple goals from 11 options, as well as write in their own goals.",
   "alt": "Two survey forms. Pre-meeting: what success looks like, chosen from 11 goals such as decision is made, and ratings of goal clarity and expected effectiveness. Post-meeting: rated effectiveness and whether there was an agenda.",
   "location": "Figure 1, p. 5",
   "credit": "Figure 1 from Lev Tankelevitch, Ava Elizabeth Scott, Nagaravind Challakere, Payod Panda, and Sean Rintel. 2026. Nudging Attention to Workplace Meeting Goals: A Large-Scale, Preregistered Field Experiment. CHI 2026. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3791199"
  },
  {
   "src": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/figures/nudging-attention-to-workplace-meeting-goals-a-large-scale-preregistered-field-experiment/fig-5.webp",
   "caption": "Figure 5: Analysis results for the meeting effectiveness ratings. Left panel displays regression coefficients (black markers) for the condition assignment ('TREATMENT') and the covariates, along with error bars indicating 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Positive coefficients indicate a positive association with meeting effectiveness ratings, and vice versa. The numerical values to the right show the coefficients, along with 95% CIs and p-values. Statistical significance indicators: ** p<0.001, ** p<0.01, * p<0.05, + p<0.1. The right panel visualises participants' average meeting ratings (coloured markers) for each condition, as estimated marginal means derived from a linear mixed model on the complete-case data (for visualisation only). To the right are density distributions of the participant data. Black markers indicate group averages and 95% CIs.",
   "alt": "Coefficient plot: the treatment coefficient's confidence interval crosses zero (p = 0.36). Recurring meetings rate lower and meetings the participant organised rate higher. Right: control and treatment average ratings both near 'quite effective'.",
   "location": "Figure 5, p. 9",
   "credit": "Figure 5 from Lev Tankelevitch, Ava Elizabeth Scott, Nagaravind Challakere, Payod Panda, and Sean Rintel. 2026. Nudging Attention to Workplace Meeting Goals: A Large-Scale, Preregistered Field Experiment. CHI 2026. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3791199"
  },
  {
   "src": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/figures/nudging-attention-to-workplace-meeting-goals-a-large-scale-preregistered-field-experiment/fig-7.webp",
   "caption": "Figure 7: Frequency of meeting goal clarity and communication from the perspective of an organiser and attendee, measured in the onboarding and debriefing surveys, for treatment and control groups. Raw data visualised as proportions of responses in each category.",
   "alt": "Stacked bars comparing onboarding and debriefing answers for goal clarity and goal communication, as organiser and as attendee. In both treatment and control groups, the 'most' and 'always' categories grow at debriefing, more for organisers.",
   "location": "Figure 7, p. 10",
   "credit": "Figure 7 from Lev Tankelevitch, Ava Elizabeth Scott, Nagaravind Challakere, Payod Panda, and Sean Rintel. 2026. Nudging Attention to Workplace Meeting Goals: A Large-Scale, Preregistered Field Experiment. CHI 2026. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3791199"
  },
  {
   "src": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/figures/nudging-attention-to-workplace-meeting-goals-a-large-scale-preregistered-field-experiment/fig-10.webp",
   "caption": "Figure 10: Perceived barriers to considering meeting goals before a meeting, for all participants. Participants were asked to answer the same set of questions from the perspective of meeting organisers and attendees. Percentages do not add up to 100% because participants could select multiple options.",
   "alt": "Two bar charts of barriers to considering meeting goals. For organisers and attendees alike, lack of time before meetings is the top barrier, followed by prioritising other activities. 27% of organisers say attendees will not read the goal.",
   "location": "Figure 10, p. 13",
   "credit": "Figure 10 from Lev Tankelevitch, Ava Elizabeth Scott, Nagaravind Challakere, Payod Panda, and Sean Rintel. 2026. Nudging Attention to Workplace Meeting Goals: A Large-Scale, Preregistered Field Experiment. CHI 2026. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3791199"
  }
 ],
 "pageNumbersReferTo": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2602.16939",
 "verified": "2026-10-25",
 "studyFigure": {
  "about": "The opening figure on this paper's page, made for the site with AI assistance from this verified brief. It is not the paper's own figure. Evidence entries index this file's quantitative, findings and limitations arrays.",
  "study": {
   "kind": "comparison",
   "summary": "Preregistered randomised field experiment with 361 employees of a global technology company over two weeks. A Microsoft Teams bot targeted 7196 of their meetings with short surveys.",
   "columns": [
    "Before each meeting",
    "After each meeting"
   ],
   "groups": [
    {
     "name": "Goal prompt group",
     "n": 163,
     "cells": [
      "Goal reflection survey, 5 minutes before",
      "Effectiveness rating"
     ],
     "highlight": [
      0
     ]
    },
    {
     "name": "Comparison group",
     "n": 198,
     "cells": [
      "No survey",
      "Effectiveness rating"
     ]
    }
   ],
   "after": {
    "label": "End of two weeks: debriefing survey",
    "note": "Goal clarity questions repeated from onboarding"
   }
  },
  "tool": {
   "heading": "The intervention",
   "steps": [
    {
     "title": "Find eligible meetings",
     "text": "The bot reads the person's calendar and picks accepted video meetings.",
     "fields": [
      "under 3 hours",
      "at least two attendees",
      "10 minutes free beforehand"
     ]
    },
    {
     "title": "Name what success looks like",
     "text": "Five minutes before the start, a chat message asks what success would look like for the meeting.",
     "fields": [
      "Decision is made",
      "Everyone is up to date",
      "write your own"
     ],
     "part": true
    },
    {
     "title": "Rate the goal and the outlook",
     "text": "The person rates how clearly the goal was communicated and how effective the meeting is expected to be.",
     "part": true
    },
    {
     "title": "Rate the meeting",
     "text": "Two minutes after the scheduled end, a short survey asks how effective the meeting was, on a six-point scale."
    }
   ],
   "note": "Steps 2 and 3 are the goal prompt. The comparison group received only step 4."
  },
  "findings": {
   "legend": "comparison",
   "stages": [
    {
     "title": "Over the two weeks",
     "sub": "both groups rated their meetings, and only the goal prompt group answered goal surveys beforehand",
     "items": [
      {
       "dir": "none",
       "text": "Both groups: meeting goals felt clearer by the end of the two weeks.",
       "detail": "Self-reported at onboarding and debriefing. Goal clarity and communication rose reliably in both groups, p < 0.05.",
       "evidence": [
        "quantitative[5]",
        "findings[1]"
       ]
      },
      {
       "dir": "none",
       "text": "Both groups: most people described new awareness or habits around meeting goals.",
       "detail": "57% of the goal prompt group and 60% of the comparison group, in open text. Examples include adding goals to invitations and declining or reshaping meetings.",
       "evidence": [
        "quantitative[6]",
        "findings[2]",
        "findings[5]"
       ]
      },
      {
       "dir": "none",
       "text": "Both groups: rating meetings may itself have prompted reflection on goals.",
       "detail": "The authors' interpretation, since the ratings were meant only as measurement.",
       "evidence": [
        "findings[2]"
       ]
      }
     ]
    },
    {
     "title": "What the goal prompt added",
     "sub": "the goal prompt group compared with the comparison group",
     "items": [
      {
       "dir": "flat",
       "text": "Goal prompt group: meetings were rated about as effective as the comparison group's.",
       "detail": "Self-reported after each meeting. No reliable difference, p = 0.36, even counting only meetings where the goal survey was done.",
       "evidence": [
        "quantitative[0]",
        "quantitative[1]",
        "quantitative[2]",
        "findings[0]"
       ]
      },
      {
       "dir": "flat",
       "text": "Goal prompt group: 57% said taking part made meetings more effective, against 52%.",
       "detail": "Self-reported at debriefing. Not a reliable difference, p = 0.13.",
       "evidence": [
        "quantitative[3]"
       ]
      },
      {
       "dir": "none",
       "text": "Goal prompt group: many said the prompt came too late to act on.",
       "detail": "Many also reported survey fatigue from prompts before every meeting. Across all participants, lack of time before meetings was the most common barrier to thinking about goals.",
       "evidence": [
        "findings[3]"
       ]
      },
      {
       "dir": "down",
       "text": "Goal prompt group: less interested in future pre-meeting goal prompts.",
       "detail": "Self-reported, p = 0.01. Over two-thirds of all participants were still quite, very or extremely interested in such prompts.",
       "evidence": [
        "quantitative[7]"
       ]
      }
     ]
    }
   ]
  },
  "keyTerm": "meeting intentionality",
  "takeaway": "Regular, light reflection can support meeting intentionality by making meeting goals clearer. Goal prompts may help most when timely and optional, since prompts before every meeting can tire people."
 }
}