As you grow in your digital marketing career, you will find yourself attending and increased number of meetings. All types of meetings… Leadership meetings, staff meetings, 1:1s, team meetings, project meetings, and more. Over the years, I have picked up quite a few meeting strategy tips. Meetings truly are the medium of the manager, and a great opportunity to influence others, deliver results, and inspire. Today, I wanted to share one meeting tip in particular: Pay super close attention to your own facial expressions as you speak and especially as you listen to others.

Meetings are a high leverage activity. You have a lot of professionals in one room and it’s an opportunity to inspire and gain leverage. I’m a huge fan of active listening. When someone else is speaking, I do my best to smile, stay engaged, take notes, and ask questions. Whenever I’m speaking, I always look for those active listeners in the room – they are the ones to focus on the most. My career tip of the day: Focus on active listening.

By contrast, certain people will make “negative faces” during meetings. They can truly take energy away from the speaker. As a speaker, you start wondering, do they not like my presentation? Do they have a different opinion? Those making negative faces in meetings can really derail creativity and collaboration. A lot of the time, I think those making negative faces are completely unaware what they are doing! My other big tip: Check yourself to see if you make negative faces during meetings, maybe you are subconsciously. It’s all about making a conscious effort to listen actively and inspire those presenting in the meeting. This simple tip has a ton of leverage and can truly help in your digital marketing career.

Image of Happy and Sad Faces © iStockPhoto – PashaIgnatov