Do your homework about the meeting

Just as providing an agenda, being ready with a report, and having the correct and necessary equipment for setting up are essential steps in preparing for a meeting, there are other actions that could be viewed as specifically appealing to introverts that can also be taken.

Joyce Shelleman, PhD, an introvert and author of The Introvert's Guide to Professional Success: How to Let Your Quiet Competence Be Your Career Advantage, coaches her introvert clients around the three Rs of meetings. Designed to help us be better prepared and use our introverted nature to mutual advantage, the Rs are:

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• Research prior to any meeting

• Rules awareness

• Rehearse what you want to do and say

There are two problems potentially posed by meetings: we may get exhausted with extra time being with people and it is highly likely our thinking time is compromised. These three Rs will help dull this sword that cuts our energy and contribution.

James, an accountant whom Shelleman...