Picture it. You’re in your weekly project review meeting and 10 minutes in, Jody from marketing has already taken the floor. She is rattling off ideas at full speed and the team lead is nodding like she just solved world peace. Your colleague Isaiah sees an opening and jumps in right after her.

And meanwhile, you are sitting there with three solid points in your notebook, ideas that could save the team hours, maybe even weeks of work, insights that are based on your direct experience with the client.

You open your mouth and you think maybe now’s, maybe now’s my opening. Maybe now is my time. But the conversation just keeps moving. And then all of a sudden someone says, great discussion, everyone, and the meeting is over. You get up from your desk and the familiar emotions hit that mix of frustration, self-doubt, missed opportunity.

This happens all of the time, thoughtful, capable people who have a lot of great contributions to make, stay quiet. Not because they have nothing to say, but because it can feel hard to say it in the moment.

And it’s not laziness. Often it’s the voice in your head, the one that’s saying things like, well, my idea isn’t fully baked yet. Or, someone has probably already said this. If I wait just a little bit longer, that perfect moment will come. Or, I don’t wanna interrupt. I don’t wanna be rude and talk over anyone.

Think about how much of your workday is spent in meetings. If you’re like most professionals, then it’s a lot. And yet these moments where everyone’s attention is somewhat in one place, they fly by. The agenda goes out the window, people jump in, the conversation is zigzagging all over the place, which means if you don’t know how to speak up, if you don’t know how to get your voice heard in that environment, you might not get another chance.

And meetings are one of the only places where you have visibility at scale, where your manager, your peers, senior leaders, are all in one room hearing how you think, and that’s not something you wanna sit out or miss out on.

It’s obvious that silence has a huge cost in these moments, right? People don’t see you as a contributor. They don’t get the benefit of your perspective, and over time they stop expecting you to weigh in at all. You become very easy to overlook, not because you lack value, but because you haven’t made it known. You haven’t made it visible. And that silence isn’t the only thing that carries a cost.

What you say and how you say it matters just as much. Are you packaging your ideas in a clear, compelling way? Are you asking insightful questions that show you are thinking strategically? Are you making the kind of contributions that actually get remembered?

Because we have to be honest here. Your ideas only make an impact if you communicate them when it counts, and you do that in a way that sticks. You could be the most insightful, thoughtful person in the room, but if that stays buried under rambling hesitation, complex framing that others aren’t following. It doesn’t move the needle, it doesn’t matter.

So that’s exactly why I wanna invite you to a free three day masterclass. I am hosting May 6th, 7th, and 8th. It’s called Speak Up Be Heard. And you wanna head to melodywilding.com/masterclass. You can grab your free spot right there. 

If meetings are where you struggle most to get your voice heard, then this masterclass is made for you. You’re not gonna wanna miss it because over the course of an hour, over three days, we’re going to dive into the real moments that matter in your communication, how to contribute with confidence, even when you’re nervous. How to speak up without constantly second guessing yourself. How to hold your ground even when the conversation gets challenging.

So on day one, you’ll learn how to show up with greater presence. Even when your heart is racing or you’re surrounded by strong personalities, we’ll cover how do you calm your nerves. How do you articulate your ideas clearly, how you participate, so your voice actually shapes the discussion.

Then on day two,

we’ll tackle what to say when you need to push back or say no. And how do you do that without sounding combative, or shutting other people down. In these moments, they can really make or break your credibility in meetings and beyond. We’re gonna show you how do you navigate them with both firmness and finesse.

And then on day three, we’ll focus on advocating for yourself. So speaking up for your accomplishments, taking credit for your work, pitching your ideas. We’re gonna give you practical ways to speak up for what you need without feeling like you’re bragging, you’re imposing on people, you’re making it all about you.

So this masterclass is designed specifically for mid-career professionals. You are someone who considers yourself competent, capable. You have a lot of expertise, but you still find yourself hesitating, overexplaining, and walking away from meetings thinking, ugh, I can’t believe I didn’t say that. I should have said that.

So if this is you, join us. It is free. It’s going to be highly actionable. It will change the way you show up in every meeting from here on out. So make sure you head to melody wilding.com/masterclass to grab your seat.

Now, if you are listening to this and you are thinking, yep, you are describing me, I have so much to say in meetings, but I either hold back, or I completely overthink it. You are not alone. In fact, this is one of, if not the most common challenge we hear from our clients, especially those who identify as Sensitive Strivers. If you are not familiar with that term, sensitive strivers are people who are both highly driven, they’re high achieving, and they think and feel everything more deeply. So you care. You think about things a lot, you notice a lot. You wanna get things right, and that unique combination of qualities, it can make you incredibly effective at your role and successful. But it can also make speaking up, especially in environments that are fast moving or high stakes, they can start to feel like a minefield. Because when you are wired to process everything more deeply, your brain is doing a lot behind the scenes.

There have actually been neuroimaging studies done that show people who are higher on sensitivity, who have a more active nervous system. They often have more activity in brain areas that are tied to things like attention, decision making, empathy.

Again, that can be a huge superpower if you know how to channel it correctly. But it also means you might need more time to formulate your thoughts and unfortunately, most meetings don’t exactly wait around. You don’t always get that opportunity.

You probably also have strong inner drive to get things perfect, which means in the middle of a meeting, instead of speaking up with the point you do have to make, you get stuck in your own head. You’re tweaking the wording thinking, is this smart enough? Should I lead with the data? Is this the right moment? How is this going to land? And then the opportunity passes you by.

And if you’re someone who picks up on some of the subtle social cues, that can be a blessing and a curse. You are noticing every eyebrow raise, every slight pause, who turned their camera off, who’s looking down in a way. You care about how your words land.

But that can quickly snowball into overanalyzing. Did I say that wrong? Did I just make things awkward?

Or you just opt out entirely because you don’t wanna seem like you’re stepping on toes. You don’t wanna create tension.

So add that all up. And it’s no wonder meetings feel hard, but here’s the shift I want you to make everything I just described, the deep thinking, the empathy, the responsibility, inner drive.

Those do not have to be liabilities. These can be the exact things that make you a valuable high impact contributor, but you just have to learn how to work with these traits instead of against them. Because when you understand your wiring, you stop beating yourself up for how you already are. You can’t change that, but you can start using it to your advantage.

And that’s exactly what we’re going to go into much deeper during the Speak Up, Be Heard masterclass. We’re gonna unpack how, how do you calibrate these traits so they stop holding you back, they start helping you shine, especially in those moments like meetings where that level of conviction, clarity, visibility matters.

So again, make sure you grab your spot, melody wilding.com/masterclass. But for today, I wanna give you a headstart.

So I’m going to walk you through some of my favorite go-to strategies ones we have seen work time and time again for our clients because, I want, I wanna help you today start getting your voice heard without overthinking every word.

So these are small but powerful shifts that can make speaking up feel less overwhelming, way more doable. So let’s dive in.

One of the most overlooked yet powerful ways to make your voice hard in meetings is what I call the “pass the baton” strategy. And the reason it works so well is because it sidesteps one of the biggest blockers to speaking up, which is trying to find that right moment to interject. And you have probably found yourself there in that story I shared earlier where the conversation is just zipping by, there’s one dominant voice after another, and then before you know it, the meeting is over.

So this is exactly where that pass the baton strategy comes in. It lets you avoid that scramble of everyone trying to to jump in midstream. Instead, you have a plan ahead of time. You’re not waiting for someone to pause long enough for you to just wedge yourself in. You will already have claimed your space before the meeting ever begins.

So how does this work? Well, before the meeting, you’re gonna scan the agenda. I want you to identify one, maybe two areas where you can add some value. Maybe it’s an update, you have to share an anecdote or an example, and then you’re gonna reach out to the meeting organizer in advance, ideally email, messenger. And you’re gonna say something like. I’ve been thinking about the Q3 rollout plan, and I would love to share a few ideas when we get to that part of the agenda.

Pretty simple, right? It’s a small move that does three big things. So first it creates commitment for you, creates accountability because when you’ve told someone you’re going to speak, it’s much harder to back out, and that social accountability helps override any last minute nerves or second guessing that might come up. You’ve set the expectation that you are going to contribute with yourself and with someone else.

Second, it creates structure. You are no longer beholden to waiting for an opening in the conversation. You’re not competing with the louder voices who may just be more willing to interject. The organizer who is now aware of your intention can hand you the mic. That’s why I call it the pass the baton strategy. And they may say, you know what? Let’s hear from Priya on this. Or, I know Jake has been thinking about this. Jake, do you wanna add what you had mentioned you have here, the moment the floor is yours at that time, and because it has been framed, someone else is handing the mic over to you. It adds a layer of credibility. It signals that your input is valued.

And then third, it creates momentum for you. So when you speak up once. Even if it’s just once people start to associate you with initiative thought leadership, they start to get used to actually hearing your voice. They see you as more of a contributor. That means you’re more likely to get included in future conversations. Your ideas are more likely to stick. You start building a reputation for someone who shows up with something that is worth listening to, something that is worth hearing.

So what’s more, if you are preparing for a specific agenda item, then you have time in advance to craft your message, to think about a few bullet points that you wanna share to anchor your insight with some data, or frame your contribution in terms of a question that then sparks even deeper discussion.

You’re not winging it, you’re walking in with a bit of a plan, and over time this gets easier. At first, you might need the structure of having the baton passed over to you, but the more you practice speaking up in that way, the more natural it will become to chime in even when you don’t give it that advanced notice.

Our second strategy is to speak up early, speaking up early in meetings, being one of the first second people to contribute. It’s surprisingly effective, especially if you are a sensitive striver when you speak up early. You set the tone for the rest of your participation throughout that meeting, you prove you are an active part of this from the start, and it makes it much easier for you to continue speaking up as the meeting moves on. Because the longer you wait, the more the anxiety, the more the, the tension and the expectations build up in your head and you talk yourself out of it altogether.

So when you speak up early, you avoid that mounting pressure, the overthinking spiral that can occur as you’re, you’re waiting and waiting and waiting for that just right moment to speak. And early on, let’s face it, people are more attentive. They are less likely to be distracted by their own thoughts. The emails that are coming in that they start checking in the middle of the meeting.

So that means that when you speak up early, your points are more likely to be heard and to be considered because people are actually still listening. And once you’ve already broken that ice, you have a sense of relief. Accomplishment and that just little bit of positive reinforcement can boost your confidence for the rest of the time. Right?

So before the meeting, what you can do is just think about what you might wanna share. How could you jump into the discussion early. And, caution. This does not need to be something groundbreaking. It just needs to be something to get you started. And so I want you to make it a personal goal to contribute in the first 10 to 15 minutes of the next meeting you’re in.

Treat it like a a small little challenge to yourself.

So yes, ideally you’ve set yourself up in advance to contribute using that pass the baton strategy. Hopefully, you are finding a way to speak early so you’ve broken the ice, you’ve broken through the fear for yourself. But we both know that meetings don’t always unfold so neatly and nicely. Everything doesn’t go according to our best laid plans. The conversation takes unexpected turns. People go off script. Or maybe the exact topic you’ve been wanting to weigh in on suddenly comes up, and if you don’t act fast, someone else takes the floor.

So that’s why it is important to know how to jump in even when things feel messy or they are moving very quickly.

If you are someone who considers yourself a sensitive striver, you are naturally considerate, you’re empathetic, you’re tuned into the group dynamics. Then interrupting in that way probably feels very uncomfortable. You don’t wanna cut someone off. You don’t want to seem rude. And even if it’s a comment that is worthy of disruption, so you wait and you wait and again, too late.

Now the best communicators, they don’t wait for the perfect opening. They know they have to create one, and they have to do that thoughtfully, tactfully without derailing the rest of the conversation.

So how can you do that? Well, you can listen for, and watch for natural pauses. These might be small, right? They may, may be micro opportunities. When someone finishes a thought, there’s a beat of silence, or there’s a bigger shift between topics. Those pauses are your moment. So train yourself to listen. Not just to what’s being said, but how the conversation is moving, so that that rhythm, that natural rhythm, gives you clues about when to jump in.

You can also use bridge phrases. So these are short, very gracious openers that signal you are joining the conversation. You wanna jump in without steamrolling. So you might say, “I wanna build on that in one second with something I’ve seen from the client side.” Or, “actually Joe, that sparked a thought I would love to share.” “Amy, can I jump in quickly with a quick addition before we move on?” So those bridges, they create a smoother entry point. They buy you a few seconds to collect your thoughts. They show that you are responding to and adding to the conversation, not just derailing it.

You can also acknowledge the previous speaker, you heard me use, someone’s name. That can also be a way to get someone’s attention, but especially if someone more senior is talking, you wanna show that you’ve heard them. So it can be as simple as, I really appreciate what you were saying about x or that point about the timeline. Got me thinking. So this helps soften your entry. It also builds trust over time because the people who you are, for all intents and purposes interrupting, they still feel seen and respected.

You can also frame your point as additive, that you’re not there to poke holes or just shift the spotlight to steal it over to you. You are adding value. So instead of saying, actually, I don’t agree with that, or that’s not how I see it, you could say, “here’s another layer that I think we should consider.” Or “that’s one side of it and there’s another perspective that might be useful to add here.” so this shifts the tone to be more constructive rather than combative.

Here’s the truth I wanna leave you with today. Sometimes in order to be heard, you have to stop trying so hard to get it right, and start focusing on what’s useful. You are not in that meeting to prove how smart you are. You are not there to deliver the most eloquent, airtight argument. You are there to move the work forward to help everyone make a better decision to surface what others have missed. When you frame your contribution and you think about it to yourself as an act of service, not as a performance, you loosen the grip of overthinking. You start speaking not to impress, but to make an impact, right? To actually move the needle.

And once you start thinking of it that way, as I am speaking up to serve the work, not prove myself, everything changes. The irony is once you let go of trying to impress people around you, that’s often when you earn their respect faster. Because you’re not forcing yourself to dress up your ideas in jargon or make them sound really intelligent. You’re not burying your insight under tons of disclaimers. You’re saying what needs to be said in a way that others can hear and act on.

And that’s what we’ll be teaching you more about in the upcoming Speak Up Be Heard masterclass. So remember, grab your free spot at melody wilding.com/masterclass.

It’s three days, one hour each day, and we are covering tools and tactics for everything from how do you project executive presence without faking extroversion? How do you communicate your ideas with clarity? Even when your mind is racing. How do you push back, say no without damaging your relationships? And speak up about your contributions, your good work without sounding like you’re bragging.

So remember, sign up for free at melody wilding.com/masterclass. I will see you there and I will catch you on the next episode.