Depends on the context.

• My meeting? Right on time.
• Team meeting? On time.
• A meeting I knew about, was on my calendar, and requires my expertise? Right on time, but a lower priority.
• Something is broken and we’re grouping up? Right on time.
• A meeting on my calendar that I don’t really need to be in? 2-3 minutes after, I’ll finish what I’m currently engaged in or get to a stopping point.
• A meeting I’ve been invited to with no additional context? 2-5 minutes late.
• A meeting I was invited to with no communication/context that is before/after my normal working hours? If I remember and I’m bored.
• A meeting I was inviting a to outside of my working hours and will start before I come online? Forget about it.

I work for a global corpo, so the last two happen quite a bit. Time is money friend.

Usually as soon as Teams notifies me of the first person starting the meeting.

How can you not always be the first when youre 5min early, wtf xD

between on the dot and a few minutes afterwards depending on whos hosting. If i know they’re gonna waste time jibber-jabbering at the start I give it a few minutes for that to play out. I don’t care about what you did last weekend Janet.

I like joining 5+ mins early so I can just sit in silence and work while waiting for the meeting to start rather than stressing about needing to lock at the clock (j have adhd and tend to hyperfocus). plus I dont mind a little small talk, but even so no one else on my team seems to want to smalltalk so even if someone else joins early it’s pretty quiet

I’ve got so many meetings that I just join whenever it’s started by someone and go about my work until the meeting starts. If I’m not the target audience I’ll go off camera and listen if needed.

One to two minutes late to most meetings. I don’t have time or energy for the BS of “How are you” etc. Let’s get down to business.

Caveat is that if it’s with a VIP I’ll be exactly on time.

if im invited then right on time if I host then one minute early, maybe 2. usually. sometimes I have meetings that end 3mins to the next or go over which impact my ability to get to the meeting on time.

Usually at least an hour early to get a good seat.

Usually exactly on time, but if I’m doing something that requires concentration and there’s a chance I might lose track of time I might join 5 min earlier so that I don’t miss the meeting.

Aren’t you always the first 5 min before? I know that the times I joined even a minute or two early I’ve always been the first.

A minute or two before. Just enough time to ensure my setup is working.

If I’m hosting a presentation, I usually start 15 minutes early so people can connect while I’m semi-afk, with the first slide saying “Presentation will begin shortly. Pour yourself a coffee in the mean time.”

Previous presentation I had multiple slides, three I think, each with an example of activities they could probably manage to do before starting.

I join at the exact time it starts. If I join earlier, I may get pulled into unnecessary small-talk platitudes that are like nails on a chalkboard to my depressed-as-shit self.

Five minutes earlier? God damn bro. That’s coffee making time.

I join anywhere from a few minutes before to a few minutes after, and if I don’t want to chit chat I hit the little “coffee break” status and stay on mute.

FWIW I do virtual meetings daily due to 100% remote work.

Exact

I join at exactly the designated time. If you wanted me there five minutes earlier, then schedule the meeting five minutes earlier. Don’t jerk me around with some expectation that I’m going to do anything other than what you asked for. Also, most of the folks I work with tend to be booked with lots of back to back meetings; so, no one is showing up early anyway. We all show up at the designated time and anyone late can catch up when they show up.

The “early is on time” mentality makes some sense for physical meetings and appointments. For virtual meetings, it just demonstrates that the person has no understanding of how technology works.