Make Clever Comments in Meetings in 4 Easy Steps

1. Listen Carefully

You can’t simply make a comment out of the blue; you need to know what you are talking about. In order to do that, you need to listen very carefully.

Pay attention to what everyone else is saying and, if necessary, write down the most important parts. Try to summarize your comments and potential questions and to present them at the end. Give it some thought, the better comment you give, the better impression you will leave.

2. Don’t Interrupt

No matter how much you would like to make a comment at a certain point during the meeting, don’t ever interrupt someone while they are talking. Wait for the right moment to present your comments.

It is very impolite to interrupt people in the middle of the sentence. No matter how clever your comment might be, you are highly likely to hear something like “please do not interrupt me while I’m speaking”, rather than “thank you for your comment”. There will come the time during the meeting when you’ll all be asked if you have any questions or comments, and that is the right time for you to speak.

As already mentioned, write down everything you would like to comment about. You can’t really remember it all, especially if you wanted to give a comment about something at the beginning of the meeting. Take some time to study the things you wish to speak about. It’s better to let someone else speak first, that way you can observe the reactions to their comments. If you see that the crowd is not very keen on listening, reduce the number of things you wanted to discuss to the two most important.

3. Keep Your Comments Professional

There is no space for personal comments on business meetings. Keep your topics business related.

You may think that you will get some extra points from your female boss if commenting on her shoes, but you won’t really. Save those comments for your friends and use them as ice breakers when you’re first meeting someone new. The comments at your work place and business meetings need to be strictly professional.

Also, comment only on things regarding that particular meeting. If you wanted to comment about something on some of the previous meetings, either just let it go, or find the person you think you should talk to and deliver your thoughts on a subject to them in person.

4. Don’t Push It

Yes, I’ve said that it is good to activly participate in meetings in order to stand out of the crowd, but that doesn’t mean that you should speak at any cost. Comment only if you really have something to comment on.

Don’t give comments just for the sake of giving them. You might manage to get away with it a couple of times, but after a while people will notice what you are doing, and trust me, they will not appreciate it. Basically, if you are commenting without any reason other then to be heard, you are just wasting other people’s time.

It is not really that hard to make clever comments in meetings. Simply follow these four easy steps, and you will see how quickly you will become the person that stands out for her professionalism and devotion. Those are the qualities the corporate world values the most.