Insights for Women in Business and Entrepeneurs

When you build your skillset and knowledge around your area of expertise, it will dramatically help with “owning the room”. Owning the room (or conference call, or web meeting, etc.), is essential to building rapport with your colleagues, while also building your own confidence. If you don’t speak during meetings, and “own” your meetings, it’s going to be difficult to continue to gain the respect and trust of your peers and superiors. Those who take control of meetings and add value are seen to be critical to a project, team and entire organization because they are adding a level of expertise that others may not have. You have the knowledge, so now you must share it, and you have to make sure your meetings are productive, adding value every step of the way. This will be a relatively quick way for you to get comfortable speaking in front of small groups of people in a much less stressful environment than a full presentation, while increasing your confidence level every time.

Personal Story:

I’ve attended hundreds of meetings over the years, and I’ve had my fair share of meetings where I’ve said absolutely nothing, especially at the beginning of my career. There were meetings where I had every intention of having a question to pose to the group so I knew my voice was heard. Too often, I lacked the confidence and knowledge to say anything. I recommend that if you feel the same, take time before your meetings to prepare the following:

• list 3 talking points for discussion
• list 1 or 2 wrap-up questions
• prepare an action item for yourself following the meeting

These points may change slightly as the meeting progresses, but they will keep you on track to engage during the meeting. No one knows you’ve prepared things to talk about, but this will help ensure you don’t leave the meeting without having a speaking role. It will also show others you are engaged and on the same playing field. By doing this, you will gain more confidence speaking during meetings and running your own meetings, which will help people see you in a much different and better light.

I invite you to download a copy of the chapter I recently co-authored for the book, The Female Factor: A Confidence Guide for Women. The chapter focuses on 6 strategies I have found helpful and hope this helps other early-stage female professionals (1-10 years experience), as you navigate your career in today's workplace.