What to say when someone talks over you in a meeting
The situation
You were halfway through a point when a louder colleague talked straight over you, and now the room has followed them. You want your point back without a scene. What do you say?
They open with: “—sorry, just to jump in, I think what we actually need to focus on is—”
Why it's hard: Reclaiming the floor risks looking petty or aggressive, so most people just let the louder colleague have it — and the room forgets whose point it was.
Two things you could say
“Let me finish the thought — one more sentence. [the sentence]. Okay, now I'm genuinely interested in your take on it.”
A calm "let me finish" with a hard limit is almost impossible to object to, and handing them the floor straight after finishing makes you look generous rather than territorial.
“I'll come back to you in one sec — I hadn't quite landed the point and I think it matters for what you're about to say.”
Tying your unfinished point to their contribution makes waiting worth their while, and the room respects the person who's easy to give the floor back to.
What to avoid
"Could you please not interrupt me?" said sharply. — it turns a small moment into a status fight in front of everyone; you might win the exchange and still come off as the difficult one, which is the thing they'll remember.
The principle
Reclaim it calmly and specifically: "Let me finish the thought — one more sentence." Then finish it in one sentence. The room respects the person who is easy to give the floor back to.
The skill underneath it
More work & meetings moments
- You've just pitched an idea in a team meeting and your manager has dismissed it in one sentence, in front of everyone. You think the compari…
- A senior colleague has just accused you, in front of the client, of inflating your timeline. You haven't — the estimate is real. You need to…
- A director has put you on the spot: justify your project, now, in the corridor. You know it inside out but you've never had to make the case…