Silent Reading Meetings

A summary of Amazon/Twitch's meeting format that uses pre-written memos to ensure productive discussions and aligned understanding among participants.

Core Meeting Structure

• Write detailed 6-page memo before meeting
• Print and distribute to all attendees
• Everyone silently reads for 15-20 minutes at start of meeting
• Only begin discussion after everyone has read the memo

Key Benefits

• Ensures everyone has same baseline information
• Creates culture of writing, thinking, and talking
• Leads to more focused and productive discussions
• Eliminates time wasted explaining background context

Real Example from Twitch

• CEO Emmett would finish reading in ~7 minutes (faster than others)
• Would use remaining silent time to play games
• When discussion started, could cut to core issues quickly
• Demonstrated how format allows quick absorption of information

Implementation Tips

• Print physical copies for all attendees
• Allow adequate silent reading time
• Don't start discussion until everyone finishes
• Focus discussion on content, not context-setting

This format originated at Amazon and was adopted by Twitch as an effective way to run meetings and make decisions based on shared understanding of written information.