Whether it’s a college planning meeting with your counselor,
a parent-teacher conference, or your college interview, every face-to-face
meeting is an opportunity. If you want
to get the most out of it, you have to do more than just show up and go through
the motions.
I had a meeting this week about an important opportunity for
Collegewise. And it reminded me just how
much you can do to influence a meeting beyond just saying the right
things. You can also:
- Prepare for it in advance
- Show up on time
- Be enthusiastic and engaged—show them that you’re happy to
be there
- Acknowledge when they ask a good question
- Ask good questions of your own
- Admit when you don't know the answer (Spinning a non-answer is actually more
embarrassing than saying, “That’s a great question, and I actually don’t know
the answer.”)
- Genuinely thank them for their time
Best case scenario (which is what happened at my meeting):
both parties do their part and come away with even more mutual respect for each
other.
Worst case scenario:
you come out of it looking pretty good.