How do you leave a meeting without appearing rude? Sometimes you have a pretty good excuse but you are not using it at the right time so you have to suffer the backlash.
When leaving a normal meeting, there are rules you must follow. To excuse yourself from an online meeting, you are required to follow different procedures.
If you don’t want to stay till the meeting is over, you can inform the participants earlier unless you don’t have a believable excuse.
If you have to leave during the meeting, you have to wait for the right time to state your excuse. If you have to avoid attending the meeting, you must prepare your excuses.
If you fail to attend the meeting, you need another set of excuses.
This article is here to guide you in all the cases mentioned above.
5 Ways to Excuse Yourself During A Zoom Meeting
- Inform the host earlier
- Make sure your reason is plausible
- Wait for an appropriate time.
- Raise your hand or use the chat feature
- Say why you are leaving the meeting
Inform the host earlier
To excuse yourself during a zoom meeting, you may want to tell the host or everyone about your wish to leave early before the meeting begins.
Make sure your reason is plausible
You have to make sure your reason can be understood by your boss or all participants in the meeting.
Wait for an appropriate time
It is wrong to leave the meeting abruptly or while an important topic is being discussed.
You should wait for a moment when an important topic has just been ended before you state your request to leave the meeting.
Raise your hand or use the chat feature
Raise your hand to get attention. If you are not seen, you can state your request in the chat feature and wait for a response.
Say why you are leaving the meeting
Say why you are leaving the meeting, even if they already know why. Wait for a response before you leave the meeting.
10 Amazing Excuses To Avoid A Zoom Meeting
- I am sick so I may not be available.
- I am having issues with my Wi-Fi
- I have a program that day.
- I have another meeting with my boss at the same time. Sorry
- Can I watch a recording of the meeting? I won’t be available
- My son has an appointment at the clinic
- I have to see the doctor.
- I think I’m pregnant
- I have a deadline to meet. I hope I catch up with you guys
- My webcam is not functioning
I am sick so I may not be available
This excuse works but it won’t work all the time. When you use it often, you may get suspected, especially if you only say it when online meetings have to be held.
When you say this, you are implying that your health issues may make you unable to attend the zoom meeting. Unless this is true, you have to make sure that no one will try to investigate your ill health.
You can prepare a list of symptoms, in case you are asked for the symptoms of your sickness. You may even claim to be seeing the doctor. Someone may also suggest checking up on you, then you’d be in trouble. Good luck!
I am having issues with my Wi-Fi
One thing about lies is that they tend to have holes that may be discovered if a person stares closely. It is advisable to only use this excuse if the meeting is happening in just a few minutes from the moment.
While this excuse has high chances of working, it may also be discovered as a lie. If this is true, it is much easier to use as an excuse.
One of the key participants at the meeting may be a computer geek who may offer to help you solve your Wi-Fi issues.
If the meeting would be happening in just a few minutes, there would be no time for him to help before the meeting.
However, a computer geek may also ask the exact problems you have with your Wi-Fi. You may check the internet for common Wi-Fi problems so you can have something to say if you are asked.
I have a program that day
Instead of blaming devices that can be fixed by geniuses in your clique, you may blame fate. However, there may still be holes in your excuse, depending on the program you pick as your excuse.
Before using this excuse, you have to consider how important this meeting is to you and the others, then consider how important that program can be considered to be.
If the meeting was set up by your employer, you have to use a program that will be understood to be important by your boss.
What makes this excuse better is that no one will try to solve the problem for you. However, the meeting may be shifted and you would have no excuse to avoid so you should pray that doesn’t happen.
If you are using this excuse, prepare to be asked questions about the program and make sure you emphasize the importance.
I have another meeting with my boss at the same time. Sorry
The last word [Sorry] does not exactly do anything. Rather than apologizing, you are expected to give a reason or an excuse and that is what the first clause does.
You can only use this if you are not already talking to your boss. It is normal to prioritize your work over virtually everything so the participants will understand when you say you have another meeting with your boss.
However, rather than giving you a chance to stay away from a zoom meeting, it may only make the zoom meeting get scheduled for a later time.
You can hope this doesn’t happen. Else, you’ll just have to deal with showing your face in an online meeting.
Can I watch a recording of the meeting? I won’t be available
If you don’t want to attend a meeting but you don’t want to state an excuse, you don’t have to state any. However, you have to consider the importance of the meeting.
If the meeting is work-related, you may get asked why you wouldn’t be available. If it is not very important, you may not need excuses.
Before stating that you won’t be available, you can suggest that the meeting should be recorded for you so you can watch it later.
This will show that you don’t consider the meeting unimportant. Your request may be granted immediately and you may be asked why you won’t be available.
You should prepare an important excuse so it doesn’t seem like you are just trying to stay away.
My son has an appointment at the clinic
This is another excuse that works just fine but may not work every time you use it. First, you need to have a child to say this unless you are talking to someone who does not know and cannot confirm.
Asides from having a son you can use in lying, you have to make this excuse at the perfect time to avoid all possibilities of being visited because of your son.
If you give this excuse a few days before your meeting, one of the participants at the meeting may want to check up on your child before the meeting.
You should give this excuse a few hours before the meeting and act like you just realized the clash.
You are lying about your son’s health issues so you may want to fill your son in on the plan, in case one of the participants at the meeting asks to speak with him.
If you have a daughter, you can use her instead.
I have to see the doctor
This is another way to lie about your health issues to avoid a zoom meeting. You are not just stating that you are feeling ill in this case.
Saying you have to see the doctor gives you the chance to pick from several possible excuses. You can claim to have been diagnosed with any kind of illness.
You can claim you don’t feel well and you are trying to check yourself up. You can also refer to your son or daughter. You can pick from the several reasons a person can choose to visit a doctor.
Make sure you are only saying this when the meeting is already closed, then mention that you didn’t know the timing would clash and apologize for informing them on such short notice.
You may be asked why you have to see the doctor so you can prepare your story. Keep it short so you don’t get discovered.
I think I’m pregnant
This is a big deal. If you want to get out of the dilemma of preparing for a video call and feeling uncomfortable for as long as it lasts, you can get pregnant for a few days or a few hours.
What makes this option beautiful is there is a high chance you won’t be asked many questions.
You can announce that you are pregnant, then inform them about your appointment with the doctor which clashes with the schedule for the meeting.
Urge them to go on with the meeting without you. You may be questioned concerning your symptoms. You can easily mention the common symptoms that suggest pregnancy.
As beautiful as this excuse is, you can only use it in some cases. You can use it if you are chatting with someone far from you and someone who won’t bother to confirm.
It is better to use a different option if there are any chances of being discovered.
I have a deadline to meet. I hope I catch up with you guys
If the zoom meeting you are trying to avoid is not work-related, you can use work as an excuse. It is often hard to get out of a work meeting since you would have to find a more important excuse.
You are not only stating that you have work. This excuse suggests that you are handling a work that has to be submitted as soon as possible.
They will not want to ask a lot of questions or any questions at all. You can also talk about catching up with them even if you don’t plan to.
It will only show that you consider the meeting to be important too. If you don’t show up, they will believe you were too busy so they won’t be angry about it.
My webcam is not functioning
We are back to blaming the device. It is good to only say this when the meeting is about to start. You should consider a few minutes from the time the meeting is scheduled to start.
This is to prevent being offered help in fixing your webcam.
If none of the participants is a computer geek, you can tell them days or hours before the meeting. However, one of them may suggest that you attend the meeting without having your webcam on.
If you were worried about being seen on a zoom meeting, you can put black tape over the webcam or put it off so they can only hear you without seeing you.
If you don’t want to attend at all, you can claim you don’t understand what the person is saying.
Since the meeting is about to start already, it will be too late to explain and you would be free from attending the meeting.
14 Legit Excuses For Missing A Zoom Meeting
- I’m so sorry. It won’t happen again.
- I didn’t get invited. I didn’t know.
- I fell asleep
- My son fell sick. I had to see the doctor.
- My computer crashed.
- Something came up. I didn’t even remember.
- I was in a rowdy place
- I had issues with my Wi-Fi
- I thought it was supposed to happen an hour later. I’m sorry.
- My device was not charged
- We’ve been dealing with electricity issues for days now.
- I thought you canceled the meeting
- I was unable to join the call.
- I had to deal with a client.
I’m so sorry. It won’t happen again
One of the best excuses to give after you have missed a missed zoom meeting is none. You can give no excuse and simply apologize for it.
You can only use this once after all. Even with excuses, you may be believed to do it intentionally. Without excuses, it is more likely to conclude that you are being carefree.
I didn’t get invited. I didn’t know
If, and only if, you have a chance of denying, then you can try denying. This will be a devastating excuse if a person can prove that you got invited to the meeting.
However, you can deny it and claim you didn’t see it. You can say you must have been busy when you opened the message but did not read it.
I fell asleep
This is another legitimate excuse. You can say you forgot to set a reminder for the meeting and you fell asleep a few hours before the meeting only to wake up when the meeting was over. You have to apologize for this.
My son fell sick. I had to see the doctor
It is much easier to make a false excuse about your son’s health after you have missed the meeting than before the meeting.
After the meeting, you can say you had to see the doctor during the time scheduled for the meeting.
If you get asked about your son’s health, you can say drugs have been prescribed for him. You may even say he feels perfectly okay already
My computer crashed
Before you say this, you have to make sure no one will try to confirm that. Saying this as an excuse after the meeting is better than before the meeting because the computer geek cannot solve a problem that is already in the past.
Something came up. I didn’t even remember
In this case, you have to be talking about an emergency but don’t tell a long story so your lies do not get discovered.
I was in a rowdy place
When you get asked where you were, you have to think of a public place where you couldn’t easily leave.
If it’s somewhere you can leave easily, you would be asked why you didn’t just go to a quiet place to honor the scheduled meeting.
I had issues with my Wi-Fi
Blame your absence on your Wi-Fi. If they ask what happened to it, you can find a short story and tell them it has been sorted already.
I thought it was supposed to happen an hour later. I’m sorry
You have to apologize for being the only one who thought the time was different.
However, this excuse still works and no one will think your absence was intentional unless you always have excuses to stay away from zoom meetings.
My device was not charged
You can say your device was not charged. When you are asked why, you can complain about electricity disconnection or instability.
We’ve been dealing with electricity issues for days now
This shows that the situation was out of your control. Since you need electricity to use your device, there was nothing you could have done.
I thought you canceled the meeting
This is a legitimate excuse but you have to provide a reason for thinking so.
I was unable to join the call
You can lie about your zoom application malfunctioning. This may not save you immediately.
You may be asked how the Zoom app malfunctioned and why you were unable to join the call. Make sure you have a true scenario to describe.
I had to deal with a client
If it is not a business meeting, you can let them know how the business comes first. Tell them you had to deal with a client’s emergency.