Every employee wants to appear smart during office meetings – show me someone who says they don’t and I’ll show you a liar. Whether you want to impress your coworkers, manager, CEO, or just want to downplay the fact that you’ve been visualizing yourself on a hammock in Tahiti for the past 30 minutes, here are a few tricks to appear smart and attentive in your next company meeting.
Research first
As soon as you get the calendar invite for this meeting, immediately start searching for at least one fact that can be shared. In fact, maybe find 2 or 3, in case someone else has the same idea and shares the same fact. Brush up on some extra knowledge. When appropriate, try to weave in your fun fact mid-meeting in front of the group. It will not only make you look educated and well prepared, but will help everyone learn.
PowerPoint Nitpicking
Make observations. “So from your graph, I ‘m gathering that our click-through rate seems to have risen about… 150% over the past 2 months. Am I right?” Quick math skills are always impressive. Even a simple question such as “Can you go back to the last slide?” will successfully convince the rest of the room that you are paying careful attention.
Grab a notepad and pen
The old-fashioned way of taking notes is more and more impressive in this digital age. Bring these items with you to the meeting and nod often while scribbling a sentence, or less, from what you are hearing. Jotting notes down always looks impressive. Possibly squint your eyes while nodding as well, in order to imply deep thought. As silly as it sounds, this combination will read, “This resonates with me. I am processing what you’re saying on a much deeper level than everyone else.”
Bandwagon Wisdom
Is there an Engineer or someone from the Tech department in this meeting? If so, he or she has saved your skin and they don’t even know it. Daydream all you want but when they speak, make sure to perk up and repeat the final thing that they say in a slow and deliberate manner, “I agree, why wasn’t this site optimized for mobile?”
Take a step back
In a roundtable discussion, there are numerous moments where everyone is busy throwing in his or her 2 cents. When the chaos becomes overwhelming slightly raise your voice and say, “Everyone, let’s take a step back ok. What is the real root of the issue? What are we really trying to solve here.” Voila. You have not only quieted the noise and refocused the meeting, but you’re now the most logical person in the room. Kudos.
As funny as some of these ideas sound, they work! Many of us can even remember a time when we were in a meeting and similar statements were made. The truth is, many comments said in meetings have little to no value, and that’s ok. Some meetings are invaluable, but some you just need to get through. In those instances, use these tricks to still appear smart even when you’d rather be anywhere else but here.