Speaking Up in senior leadership meetings can feel harder the moment attention starts to drift. Out comes a mobile phone, someone looks at another screen, and suddenly you’re questioning whether you’ve lost the room - even when people may still be listening.

Holding attention isn’t about controlling everyone around the table. It’s about creating clarity, staying connected to your message, and giving people a reason to care. Strong leadership communication starts by making the relevance clear: why does this matter, what’s at stake, and what decision needs to be made?

In this podcast episode, Liz shares three practical ways to hold the room in high stakes meetings: firstly - give people a reason to listen, second - stop assuming you know what distracted behaviour means, and finally - learn how to bring attention back when the room starts to wander. These are simple shifts that strengthen executive communication, improve public speaking and help you speaking up in meetings without forcing you to become louder or more performative.

Speaking Up with confidence also means reading the whole room, not fixating on one person’s behaviour. Sometimes someone who looks distracted is actually processing information in a different way. And this is where a pause, a well-timed question, or a clear expectation can help you reset the room without losing your authority.

If you want to sharpen your business communication before your next senior management meeting or presentation, this builds naturally on the earlier episode, Leadership Communication: How to Present a Recommendation to the Board Without Drowning It in Detail. It’s practical guidance for women leaders and women in business leadership who want to communicate with calm authority and make their message easier to follow.

For more support with Speaking Up and preparing a clear, focused leadership presentation, use the Leadership Presentation Planner - click on the link below.

https://www.boldmovescoach.co.uk/planner

If you have a question or you'd like to share an idea for a podcast episode, I would love to hear from you! Click on the link below to send a text directly to Liz.

Send Liz a Message

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Leadership Communication in Action is a podcast for women who are capable, thoughtful, and quietly questioning how they’re showing up at work and in life.

I’m Liz Boswell. I work with professional women who don’t need more advice, but do need space to think clearly, especially when the pressure is on.

Each episode is a calm, mentoring-style conversation grounded in real client moments. We look at the stories people carry, the behaviours those stories create, and the small, practical shifts that change how things land day to day.

You’ll hear honest reflections, psychologically precise questions, and simple actions you can try immediately, without overhauling your life or becoming someone else.

If you’re stepping into more responsibility, more visibility, or simply feeling the weight of decisions that matter, this podcast is here to help you slow things down, think more clearly, and move forward in a way that feels grounded and real.

A quiet companion for people who want to make better moves, not louder ones.