In our working lives, we will always come across big important meetings in which it is make or break time. If you have one of these meetings coming up, you need to make sure that you do everything in your power to ensure it goes off without a hitch. Here are some of our best tips to help you nail that big important meeting.
Prep, Prep, Prep
You need to make sure that you put time and effort into preparing for the meeting. Whether you will be leading it or just participating, there are lots of things that you can do to make sure that you are heading in with the best mindset possible. Make sure that you understand the topic, and ensure that there is an agenda circulating so that everyone knows how the meeting will progress.
If the meeting is with strangers or those from outside your company, it might be worth doing a little research on them. With a few checks on LinkedIn and some research in other places, you should be able to build up a little profile of the other meeting participants that you can use to your advantage.
Make sure you also practise your presentation, if you are to give one. You should know it backwards and forwards, and try to prepare for some of the questions that you might be asked too.
Dress to Impress
When going into a big meeting, you need to prepare to dress to impress. This can take many forms. Some might expect you to wear professional business attire to your big meeting, while a more relaxed industry and work environment could see you in a more casual outfit. However, no matter what is acceptable, you need to make sure that you are in an outfit that is comfortable and easy for you to work in. There are so many pieces and styles out there that you should be able to put together an outfit that looks smart and stylish but will also be comfortable enough that it will not hinder you when delivering the presentation.
Remember, business professional attire can be comfortable, and it can make you feel confident. If you know that you will nail the meeting in a good pair of heels, you should consider wearing them. Likewise, if you know that a good face of makeup and the right hairstyle will help you settle into the business mindset, you should definitely take time to put them in place. Every small change you can do to give yourself confidence can really help to boost you overall.
Trial Any Tech
Nowadays, a meeting is just as likely to happen on a video conferencing platform as it is in person. It can be really awkward if someone is left stalling and having to bluff their way through a portion of the meeting while they try to get a piece of tech to work – regardless of whether the meeting is virtual or not.
Though things will always go wrong and mistakes do happen, you should try to mitigate them as much as possible. Take a look at the tech that you want to use beforehand and give it a trial run. This will allow you to ensure that you know exactly what you are doing when setting up the tech in the meeting.
This also includes audio-visual equipment. If you are going to be on a conference call, make sure that your microphone and webcam are working correctly beforehand – even if you just have a quick call with someone else in the office before things get started. You need to make sure that everything can run as smoothly as possible.
Destress Beforehand
If you head into your big meeting as nothing more than a bundle of nerves, you are going to run into issues. You might have prepared as thoroughly as possible, but being faced with the meeting itself, you can end up overly stressed and unable to deliver the results that you want to.
Therefore, you should think about taking even five minutes to destress and relax beforehand. You can just do it in your office if necessary. Listen to a good song that makes you feel confident, do a sudoku, or even go for a walk or meditate. There are so many things that you can do to just chill out a little and put you in a good headspace to continue to work and deliver the results you need.
Remember to be careful if you decide to grab a coffee or a bite to eat! Though it can be a good idea that boosts your productivity, there is also the possibility that you will spill something on you. That killer outfit suddenly has a stain on it, and you will be spending crucial time before the meeting panicking as you try to fix your outfit.
Play to Your Strengths
You have the perfect chance to play to your strengths when you are in charge of the meeting. If you are a good pitcher, you need to make sure that you create a presentation that will allow you to work your magic. Likewise, if you are not the best speaker, you might want to create a presentation that you can lean on a little more – clean, clear, and as informative as possible.
Though that big presentation can seem like a real make or break moment, you will have plenty of chances to break it down and ensure that it is as digestible as possible. In doing so, you should be able to create and shape a memorable presentation that will do its job. Learning how to navigate meetings is unfortunately a major part of adult working life. Even if you are not a major player in a meeting, make sure you take note of some of the things happening so that you can use them to your advantage come the time when you have to step into the limelight. Everyone should know how to nail the big meeting!
Veeramachineni Lalitha
I am Finance Content Writer. I write Personal Finance, banking, investment, and insurance related content for top clients including Kotak Mahindra Bank, Edelweiss, ICICI BANK and IDFC FIRST Bank. My experience details : Linkedin