This is a guest post from Becky McMichael, a PR at Ruder Finn, lover of gin and tonic, firm believer you can have a career, a family and live outside of London. You can read more from Becky on her personal blog or on the Ruder Finn blog.

No matter how much work you do behind the scenes, as a junior PR consultant, a client will never know who you are or why they are paying for your time unless you take an active role in meetings. Getting started with this can be tough for many people, especially when there is a large team of more senior folks in the room.

Here are my tips:

1. Agree a role with your manager before you go in
2. Own a bit of the agenda to run through / update on
3. Keep something special to tell the client – a hit you got, an opportunity you secured or a new industry thing they might be interested in
4. Ask questions….think of something before you go in
5. Check their news daily – you won’t learn and feel confident offering an opinion if you don’t read
6. Look at the headlines before every meeting – any customer or competitor been written about that day?
7. Check the stock price, it’ll help you know what their focus is before the meeting
8. Introduce yourself and explain your role on the account
9. Listen in to as many calls as you can – good way of learning before you speak
10. Listen in to media briefings – helps you know the ropes before you host them yourself
11. Remember the client is paying for your time, always think about demonstrating value to them by making a contribution

Anything I missed?

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