Book ~ "100 Tricks to Appear Smart in Meetings: How to Get By Without Even Trying" (2016) Sarah Cooper

From Goodreads ~ From the creator of the viral sensation "10 Tricks to Appear Smart in Meetings" comes the must-have book you never knew you needed, "100 Tricks to Appear Smart in Meetings". In it, you will learn how to appear smart in less than half the time it takes to actually learn anything.

You know those subtle tricks your coworkers are all guilty of? The constant nodding, pretend concentration, useless rhetorical questions? These tricks make them seem like they know what they’re doing when in fact they have no clue. This behavior is so ingrained, so subtle, and so often mistaken for true intelligence that identifying it, calling it out, or compiling it into an exhaustive digest has never been attempted. Until now.

Complete with illustrated tips, examples, and scenarios, 100 Tricks gives you actionable ways to use words like “actionable,” in order to sound smart. Every type of meeting is covered, from general meetings where you stopped paying attention almost immediately, to one-on-one meetings you zoned out on, to impromptu meetings you were painfully subjected to at the last minute. It’s all here.

If you hadn’t noticed these behaviors before, you will see them now - from your colleagues, your managers, and soon yourself. Each trick is a mirror to the reality of what happens in meetings, told in the form of hilariously bad advice - advice that you might just want to take. But probably not. But maybe. 

I attend a lot of meetings ... in fact, I conduct a lot of meetings.  So I knew this book would be helpful to me because ... well, I want to appear smarter in meetings.

The book is divided into three parts:

1. Setting the stage - entering a conference room, 10 key strategies for appearing smart in general meetings, 21 meaningless diagrams to draw on whiteboards, one to convince your coworker that you care, and more
2. Core conversation - owning the conference room, how to make your meeting seem less like a meeting even though it's totally a meeting, how to nail a big pitch by not saying much of anything, and more
3. Next steps - leaving a conference room, how to build relationships with people you'll never see again, what to do with your hands during a networking event, and more

The book is funny and sarcastic.  Obviously some things can't be done without getting fired but some things I think could be possible ... if nothing else for the amusement of yourself in a boring meeting and to see what you can actually get away with.

Here are some examples ...

This my favourite ... I can't wait to try it!