by

Public speaking when leading a meeting

One of the guys I am mentoring,
asked me recently following.

What could I do to lead meetings with confidence?

The answer is simple: preparation.

To put a little bit of the background,
he is a person who is often hesitating about speaking in big groups,
who gets scared when speaking in public,
however with great technical knowledge and experience.

What you will see below is what I shared with him,
and hopefully you can use it for being a better meetings leader.

Preparation is the key,
and all starts with seeing the meeting as just the time of the connect.

I like to think about the meetings as a 3-part system.
(you know I am a big fan of this number)

📥 Receive in your inbox a FREE mini-course to learn
how to speak in public better than 90% of your colleagues

The meeting should always have three parts:

  1. Pre-reading
  2. Meeting
  3. Summary

What makes the difference between a good and an exceptional performer,
it is the control they have over the meeting when leading it.

A average/good performer, would just jump into the meeting and “go with the flow”,
while the exceptional performer, would have a full control over the meeting.

The way to have full control over your meeting would be by seeing the meeting as a  3-part system

First,
starting by sending a pre-reading including:

  • purpose of the meeting,
  • points of the agenda with clear owners
  • open questions discussion

Second,
be very clear at the beginning of the meeting what it is the purpose of the meeting,
and driving the discussion in line with agenda. 

And third,
identify the next steps with clear action, owners and deadlines.

This is the theory – for being a better meeting leader.

For seeing in practice how the pre-reading and summary emails should look like,
and how to drive the discussion sign up to my newsletter where I share tips every week to be a better public speaker.

📥 Receive in your inbox a FREE mini-course to learn
how to speak in public better than 90% of your colleagues