Speaking confidently in meetings will help you make a positive and lasting impression with your colleagues and managers. Here are 3 tips to help you be a more effective speaker in meetings.

Tip #1

Remember everything that you want to say even when ideas are flying around the meeting room table. Prior to the meeting, write out a short headline for each point that you want to make in the meeting, take your notes with you and refer to them when you are speaking. Just glance at your headline points and if they are short no one will notice. Arriving to meetings prepared with your main talking points will help you feel confident and informed.

Tip #2

Very often someone may ask you a question during a meeting and you may not have the answer, or you might become flustered and unable to recall the answer quickly.  

It's acceptable to say, “I don't have the answer right now and I'll get back to you in a couple of hours with that answer”, or if you don't want to admit that you don't have the answer, you can say, “that's a really good question that requires some research, let me get back to you in 24 hours”. If you say that in a confident voice, people will appreciate your honesty.

Tip #3

This tip is about how to use your voice. Very often meetings are fast, people are talking quickly, or talking over each other. How do you sound impressive in this environment?

First, take a deep breath before you speak, then breathe out while you speak, don’t hold your breath. This will allow your voice to sound resonant and your voice will project. You will sound less nervous if you breathe out while you project your voice.

Second, stress the words that carry the meaning with your voice. Don't talk fast; talk at a good pace, and use your voice to stress the important words.

Use down-tone at the end of a sentence and you'll sound much more confident. Up-tone is when you raise your voice at the end of a sentence. Using an up-tone will make you sound insecure and not confident.

If you have any questions or want to improve your communication skills during meetings, reach out to me for a free 30-minute consultation.