I’ve sat through plenty of these meetings before, so I giggled throughout your list. One thing I like to do is take a cue from boring high school assemblies – pass notes back and forth to a co-worker.

Or, you can follow what another fellow did at a recent panel discussion – cut his nails. Snip, snip, snip…

A couple tips from my experience: in very large meetings, scout out the room ahead of time. Try to sit in the back (like Xin said), out of view of the speaker, and preferably in an area with low light (better sleeping, less visibility).

For smaller meetings, try to find an excuse to be off site and teleconference in – maybe even with a few other co-workers. It is CRITICAL that your phone have a mute button. That way you can have your own side conversations, but chime in every so often so that people think you’re engaged.

Though you forgot my favorite, which is “sit next to someone cool and make fun of whoever is talking.”