How to make an impression at a business meeting

The principle of making a good impression is well known. But how do you translate that into a business meeting? Thankfully social psychologists are able to help us here. You have less than 10 seconds to make your presence felt. For better or worse the rest of the meeting will be spent either re-affirming for better or worse the more or less instant impression you create.

It’s important to appreciate you can’t stop people making quick judgements about you. But you can influence what they think.  Most people appreciate body language is important yet when nerves bite, aren’t always aware of the non-verbal cues they are giving out. Here are some tips to help you strike the right note.

Rehearsal / Visualisation

Sports people do this all the time, yet it’s not widely practiced in business. Rehearsing how you want the meeting to go and visualising the all-important start and finish of the meeting can increase your confidence.  It will also help you get in the ‘zone’ which comes up next.

Get In the Zone

Attitude is a conscious choice. It’s a non-verbal cue people pick up on quickly although it may be hard for them to articulate precisely what it is.  Of course you want to be yourself, but attitude reflects on behaviour.  Being over confident, nervous or aggressive will be reflected in your body language and crucially your voice.

Posture

When people are nervous, the space they occupy tends to get smaller. Standing tall, shoulders back and wide apart, with your head held straight rather than looking up or down will convey confidence. And if you look confident people will make positive inferences about competence.

Smiling

A welcoming smile makes you approachable and will put the person or people you’re meeting at ease.  But don’t forget to smile during the meeting too. Nodding your head when key points are being made extends the impression of competence.

Eye Contact

Making eye contact is probably the most important thing you can do to help generate rapport from the get-go, with the exception of shaking hands. People who are not good at making eye contact are generally believed to be untrustworthy or deceitful.

Shake Hands

A hand shake is worth hours of interaction in terms of building up rapport. At a business meeting the host will generally initiating shaking hands but if they don’t, you can.  Under these circumstances you would typically be viewed as confident but ultimately you should read the situation first.

Using Personal Space

People don’t like their space being invaded. Generally when standing you want to be about 2 feet away.  You can lean in slightly to show interest. When seated, it’s generally better not to lean too far back but if you lean too far forward people may infer your nervous.  In meetings it’s better to keep your hands as still as possible otherwise they can be distracting.