10 Tricks to Appear Smart During Meetings(medium.com)
medium.com
10 Tricks to Appear Smart During Meetings
https://medium.com/comedy-corner/10-tricks-to-appear-smart-during-meetings-27b489a39d1a
14 comments
“take a step back” is also the right thing to say in a lot of situations; it's very easy for people to get lost in the details of one proposed solution instead of deciding which solution is best or even what the exact goal is.
> Because clearly the presenter doesn't know enough to give you the most pertinent information on their own slides.
Actually this is often the case. Most people who have never worked in management consulting are terrible at building presentations.
Actually this is often the case. Most people who have never worked in management consulting are terrible at building presentations.
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I love this - for more than any other reason - because I can't tell if it's a joke or not.
The URL contains a subtle hint about whether or not it is a joke.
This is the most accurate funny thing I've read in a very long time.
Half of those tips occur in most hour long meetings I already attend. When a participant in the meeting uses one of those techniques all I think is: wow, in no way did you just contribute to this discussion.
10 Tricks to be "that" person in meetings
10 Tricks to be "that" person in meetings
I think my PM's have this printed out on a cheat sheet they bring to each meeting.
It embarrasses me when we have techs from other companies doing training or demos and management starts spouting this bullshit.
It embarrasses me when we have techs from other companies doing training or demos and management starts spouting this bullshit.
> When a participant in the meeting uses one of those techniques all I think is: wow, in no way did you just contribute to this discussion.
The problem with this statement is that you're assuming everybody's as smart at spotting bullshitters and manipulators as you. What if only 20% of people in the room noticed what they were doing and the other 80% thought they were a genius?
This is often the case and it's why strictly rational people are playing an irrationally weak hand.
The problem with this statement is that you're assuming everybody's as smart at spotting bullshitters and manipulators as you. What if only 20% of people in the room noticed what they were doing and the other 80% thought they were a genius?
This is often the case and it's why strictly rational people are playing an irrationally weak hand.
If you don't out them, it's still a win for them.
Thing is, some of these are genuinely useful and smart things, in very specific contexts :P
To paraphrase a recent experience of my own, a manager calling a meeting with the dev team "we need to re-arrange the javascript in our headers" "step back a bit, what problem are we trying to solve?" "pages need to load faster, rearranging headers makes pages load faster" "step back a bit, why do they need to load faster? Why is javascript the problem?" "Clients have complained about graphs not loading" checks the server logs, sees internal server errors causing pages to crash (those which don't crash on the server side are loading instantly), goes to fix the actual problem
To paraphrase a recent experience of my own, a manager calling a meeting with the dev team "we need to re-arrange the javascript in our headers" "step back a bit, what problem are we trying to solve?" "pages need to load faster, rearranging headers makes pages load faster" "step back a bit, why do they need to load faster? Why is javascript the problem?" "Clients have complained about graphs not loading" checks the server logs, sees internal server errors causing pages to crash (those which don't crash on the server side are loading instantly), goes to fix the actual problem
some of these are genuinely useful and smart things,
in very specific contexts
The smartest trick of all: not to work for companies where everyone feels a need to "appear smart" during meetings.
Sounds like a good drinking game or at least a bingo game for pre-noon meetings.
Reminds me of this clip Will Arnett's Guide to Playing an Arrogant Idiot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYs79z75MX8
You've successfully captured the management style of Jean Luc Picard!
They should make a poster of this. I'd buy several and hang them in each of our conference rooms.
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This is a joke right?
Let's take a step back here. So, you're trying to tell us this is some kind of joke? No, I don't think so at all.
So 25% of the time it is a joke? That is 1 in 4 times...
Maybe we could use the lawyers from my divorce to figure this out.
hmm.... lawyers..... from your divorce...... to figure this ooouuuuuuuuttttt....
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5/10 my research group "leader" -- conceited fool
sadly, all of these would/do actually work in the blue-chip firm where I work. I think it's time to resign...
#11. Skip meeting. Actually get work done.
>3. Encourage everyone to “take a step back”
This one is the best cause it is so damn effective at getting everyone to pay attention to you without you having to say anything of substance.
>8. Ask the presenter to go back a slide
Because clearly the presenter doesn't know enough to give you the most pertinent information on their own slides.