I used to be horrible at public speaking. Fortunately, I got a job that required it and have become much better at it over time. In fact, while I still get nervous energy before a speaking engagement I'd say all my formal speaking goes off very well and that I can deliver solid presentations confidently.
However, what I still really struggle with is informal presentations/meetings. I'll regularly be in meetings in a room with a customer who is a CEO/CIO and they bring several employees and we'll discuss various topics. While I don't get too nervous in these meetings or in the lead up to these meetings, I often leave dissappointed with my performance in the meeting. Oftentimes, I will be much quieter than I anticipated and wish I would have said more or when I do talk, I feel like I'm rambling and not as clear, confident and concise as I would like to be. Just recently this happened where I was in a meeting discussing something I am very confident in but left feeling like I was rambling and unclear in my message at one point and then just too plain quiet the next when I should be leading the discussion. I feel like I'm spending an inordinant amount of time in the meeting thinking about what I should be saying vs. just having a conversation and drawing upon my depth of knowledge on the subject.
Any tips on how to overcome this? Any resources out there for this specifically? Thanks in advance.
-T