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12/03/2018

How to Run a Meeting Without Talking Too Much

First tip: follow notes and craft a strong agenda

Have you ever left a meeting feeling that you dominated the whole thing — and not in a good way? You talked a lot, and in the end, you felt that nobody else had enough time to speak. This is a bad dynamic for several reasons. People don’t want to attend meetings that are just an opportunity for one person to deliver a monologue. And with one person taking up the airspace in a meeting, team members no longer feels that they’re working together.

What can you do to help ensure that you are not the only one talking in meetings? The obvious answer is to talk less, but that’s often easier said than done. And if other people are not used to speaking much in meetings, the absence of your voice could create a void that nobody fills. Here are a few things you can try.

Make notes and stick to them. Few people adequately prepare what they are going to say. But preparation is just as important for a meeting as it is for a public speech. Whether you are leading the meeting, are kicking it off, or have a significant speaking part, prepare your remarks. Give yourself a time limit (say, three minutes), and try to condense what you have to say into that amount of time. You might even practice in your office to make sure you stay under your allotted time.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Harvard Business Review.

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