Mastering the art of speaking in business meetings: Techniques and tips

Know­ing how to speak in a pro­fes­sion­al meet­ing is not just an asset, but a neces­sity for any­one wish­ing to pos­it­ively influ­ence the course of a pro­ject or effect­ively share their ideas. Under­stand­ing how to express your­self clearly and con­fid­ently in this con­text can greatly impact both indi­vidu­al and col­lect­ive suc­cess. In this art­icle, the CID team invites you to explore vari­ous tech­niques for improv­ing your speak­ing skills, redu­cing the asso­ci­ated stress, and facil­it­at­ing group exchanges dur­ing these key moments.

Preparing your presentation: the key to successful meeting speaking

Before the meet­ing, take the time to pre­pare your­self by review­ing the agenda, think­ing about the points to be dis­cussed and gath­er­ing the neces­sary inform­a­tion. The bet­ter pre­pared you are, the more con­fid­ent you’ll feel and the more you’ll be able to make a sig­ni­fic­ant con­tri­bu­tion to under­stand­ing and accept­ance of the topic/project.

Pre­par­a­tion is essen­tial before speak­ing at a meeting.
Start by clearly defin­ing your object­ives: what do you want to com­mu­nic­ate? What res­ult do you expect from speaking?

Once you’ve estab­lished these ele­ments, struc­ture your speech into main points to ensure that it flows smoothly and logic­ally. Don’t for­get to rehearse in advance, so that you can gain con­fid­ence and mas­ter your sub­ject per­fectly. The use of index cards also helps to reas­sure you and avoid oversights.

Use positive language and be assertive when speaking

Use pos­it­ive, con­struct­ive lan­guage to express your ideas and opin­ions. Avoid neg­at­ive cri­ti­cism or judg­ments, which could cre­ate an unfa­vor­able cli­mate and hinder col­lab­or­a­tion. If you have to give neg­at­ive cri­ti­cism, try to give it the prop­er form. Con­struct­ive cri­ti­cism is appro­pri­ate in this situation.

Express your­self assert­ively, stat­ing your opin­ions respect­fully and con­fid­ently. Express your views with con­vic­tion, but also be open to the ideas and sug­ges­tions of others.

Use non-verbal communication techniques and avoid interruptions

Use your body lan­guage to rein­force your mes­sage. Main­tain eye con­tact with oth­er par­ti­cipants, adopt an open and enga­ging pos­ture, and use express­ive ges­tures to illus­trate your points.

Wait your turn to speak, and avoid inter­rupt­ing oth­er par­ti­cipants while they are speak­ing. Respect every­one’s speak­ing time, and listen care­fully before answer­ing or ask­ing questions.

Be prepared to answer questions and remain flexible

Anti­cip­ate pos­sible ques­tions or objec­tions and be pre­pared to answer them clearly and con­vin­cingly. Be ready to defend your ideas and provide con­crete examples or fig­ures to back up your arguments.

Be open to new ideas and dif­fer­ent points of view. Adopt a flex­ible and col­lab­or­at­ive atti­tude, and be ready to adjust your opin­ions accord­ing to the con­tri­bu­tions of oth­er participants.

Managing stress effectively when speaking at meetings

Stress is often one of the biggest obstacles when it comes to pub­lic speak­ing. Man­aging stress dur­ing meet­ing speak­ing can be a chal­lenge, but with the right strategies, you can do it effect­ively. There are sev­er­al tech­niques that can help you con­trol it.

Prepare sufficiently in advance of the meeting

Pre­par­a­tion is key to redu­cing stress. Famil­i­ar­ize your­self with the sub­ject of the meet­ing, organ­ize your ideas and pre­pare notes if neces­sary. The bet­ter pre­pared you are, the more con­fid­ent you’ll feel.

Work on your breathing by practicing deep breathing

Before and dur­ing the meet­ing, prac­tice deep breath­ing exer­cises to help you relax. Breathe slowly and deeply, inhal­ing through your nose and exhal­ing through your mouth. This can help calm nerves and reduce stress dur­ing the session.

Visualizing success during your procedure is very important

This can sig­ni­fic­antly boost your self-con­fid­ence. Ima­gine your­self deliv­er­ing your mes­sage clearly and con­vin­cingly. Pos­it­ive visu­al­iz­a­tion of your speech can help boost your self-con­fid­ence and reduce stress when speak­ing at meetings.

Use time management techniques when speaking at meetings

If you’re con­cerned about the time you have to speak, use time man­age­ment tech­niques to help you stay on track. Divide your speak­ing time into sec­tions and keep an eye on the clock to make sure you stay with­in your time limit.

Practice acceptance and stay focused on the message you have to deliver

Accept that feel­ing a cer­tain level of stress before speak­ing at a meet­ing is nor­mal and nat­ur­al. Instead of fight­ing your feel­ings of stress, accept them and focus on the actions you can take to man­age your stress effectively.

As you speak, focus on the mes­sage you want to con­vey rather than on your own feel­ings of stress. Keep in mind the object­ive of your speech and con­cen­trate on com­mu­nic­at­ing your ideas clearly and effectively.

Be kind to yourself and perhaps start with gradual exposure

Be kind to your­self and don’t judge your­self too harshly if you feel stress. Remem­ber that every­one feels stress at some time, and that the import­ant thing is to do your best in the giv­en circumstances.

If it makes you feel bet­ter, start by speak­ing to small groups before address­ing lar­ger ones.

Tactics for engaging the audience

Fos­ter­ing an inter­act­ive envir­on­ment at a meet­ing is bene­fi­cial for all par­ti­cipants. To give the floor effectively :

• Ask open-ended ques­tions that encour­age participation.
• Expli­citly invite cer­tain people to share their opin­ion or experience.
• Use round-table dis­cus­sions to ensure that every­one has a chance to express their thoughts.

These strategies encour­age rich, engaged dis­cus­sion, which will enrich the con­tent of the meet­ing and make it more mem­or­able for all participants.

The importance of concluding your speeches

Con­clud­ing your speeches effect­ively is cru­cial to rein­for­cing your key points and ensur­ing that the audi­ence takes away with them the essen­tial ele­ments of your speech. Briefly sum­mar­ize your main points and clearly indic­ate the next steps or actions to be con­sidered. A punchy end­ing amp­li­fies the impact of your com­mu­nic­a­tion and leaves a last­ing impression.

Using digital tools to get your message across

The judi­cious use of digit­al tools can con­sid­er­ably improve the way you present and inter­act in a meet­ing. Power­Point present­a­tions or Google Slides not only help to visu­al­ize com­plex con­cepts, but also to struc­ture your speech. Sim­il­arly, many applic­a­tions can be used to cre­ate real-time polls, adding an inter­act­ive and enga­ging ele­ment to your meetings.

Thanks to these tech­niques and tools, mas­ter­ing the art of speak­ing at a pro­fes­sion­al meet­ing becomes much more access­ible. Wheth­er you’re look­ing to reduce stress, improve your speak­ing impact or simply make your meet­ings more pro­duct­ive, these tips will guide you towards more effect­ive and con­fid­ent com­mu­nic­a­tion. Note also that it’s by prac­ti­cing pub­lic speak­ing on simple or import­ant sub­jects that you’ll hone your skills in this art.