100 Tricks to Appear Smart in Meetings: How to Get By Without Even Trying

Let me begin by saying that I have worked in corporate America for most of my career. I have witnessed first-hand the ongoing comedy of errors that is corporate culture in this country. Sarah Cooper’s “100 Tricks to Appear Smart in Meetings” laugh-out-load hilariously explores the central mechanism, meetings, by which most corporate actors pretend to reach decisions (in fact, most decisions are made by individuals who then use meetings to get everyone else to agree). While this fully illustrated book begins with regular meetings, it also delves into conference calls, team meetings, presentations, team dinners, networking events, etc. As well as, all the associated strategies such as whiteboard tactics, conference room playbook, and what to do with your face during meetings. If you want a good laugh at the expense of corporate culture or alternately, if you want to learn how to get raises and promotions in corporate America without actually having to do too much, this is the book for you! My favorite tactic for Conference Calls was #29 instant message other attendees during the call. This is an honored ritual in my company necessary to kvetch about whoever is running the call or talking on the call and occasionally what the latest sports scores are. Seriously, Cooper’s brilliantly humorous riff strips away the facade of “managerial competence” that corporate America seems to accrue to itself for no particularly discernible reason. While the book comically poses tactics and strategies to get ahead, she is really giving you a glimpse into modern corporate behavior that, for me, rang true on so many levels and also made me LOL. I received a pre-publication electronic copy of the book, but have already purchased five hard-copies to give to friends and family. I also follow Cooper on her website the Cooper Review – check it out.

Sarah Cooper is one of the funniest writers who makes fun of life in corporate America, mostly tech related, N. Californian blend. Her style of mixing short and striking humor bits with her hand drawn cartoons is great, even for someone who comes from a country where government bans twitter and/or facebook every time someone displays such great humor. Is her humor comparable to the famous Dilbert cartoons? I believe that is a big YES. (you are welcome Sarah, I will just make this sound like I did not get compensated by you or your publisher or both). As she says in the book somewhere: "Like most women I am not a man". That is, Sarah is a woman. I think she will one day be called by the American textbooks as the female Mark Twain! I have been following Sarah Cooper (the author) for about a year from her The Cooper Review web site, so I am not completely unaware of her funny cartoons. Actually I bet her on twitter that I would be the first one to review (genuinely, after buying and reading the book) this wonderful book and so as promised I am delivering that review. She is way too funnier than I expected in this book. Her humor is so timely that when you read her book, it will already be where the puck is going to be. I hope you will enjoy reading/looking at this lovely and funny book as much as I did.

What a delightful book. I initially ordered this for my grown daughter, after she regaled me with tales of her business meetings and the characters involved. When the book arrived, I decided to scan through it and was struck by the well thought out meeting "tricks". Some caused me to laugh out loud. Some immediately brought to mind some of my coworkers and some I'm holding onto to use in my own meetings. Sarah Cooper writes with fresh honesty and gentle wit. Why did she write this book? Ms. Cooper tells you: "..because someone paid me to. But I also wrote it because I had a deadline." Oh, I "forgot" to gift this to my daughter, so looks like I'll need to order another copy.

This book is an engaging and entertaining read that highlights the often superficial and easily influenced nature of corporate culture. It presents a series of concise tips that cleverly expose the absurdities and manipulations prevalent in business environments. I found many of these tips to be remarkably insightful; in fact, I've tested some of them during meetings just for my own amusement, and to my surprise, they worked effectively to elicit reactions from colleagues. However, it's worth noting that while some strategies might be harmless and humorous, others could get you fired. I thought it necessary to include this warning, because suing me over a Goodreads review would be petty.

What more need I say … perfect for the person who you know needs it.

To paraphrase Mike Myers's character Dieter, this book looks at me while I am naked and calls its friends. Is it really satire, or is it a thoughtful analysis of what's wrong with corporate America? Both! Have I done some of these things? I'm afraid so. Have any of these things advanced my career? Emphatically, no. Why do I tolerate it when others use these tricks in meetings I'm in? Because I just don't care anymore. I suggest you buy a copy for every member of your team, ask them to memorize it, and call out numbers whenever someone uses one of the tricks. Eventually people simply announce the trick number instead of going through the pain of actually executing a trick. Sort of like this famous parable: (see below as the review system doesn't allow links) Maybe, just maybe, if we follow Sarah's lead, we can make corporate America great again. ------- A man is sent to prison for the first time. At night, the lights in the cell block are turned off, and his cellmate goes over to the bars and yells, "Number twelve!" The whole cell block breaks out laughing. A few minutes later, somebody else in the cell block yells, "Number four!" Again, the whole cell bloock breaks out laughing. The new guy asks his cellmate what's going on. "Well," says the older prisoner, "we've all been in this here prison for so long, we all know the same jokes. So we just yell out the number instead of saying the whole joke." So the new guy walks up to the bars and yells, "Number six!" There was dead silence in the cell block. He asks the older prisoner, "What's wrong? Why didn't I get any laughs?" "Well," said the older man, "sometimes it's not the joke, but how you tell it."

Sarah has a tagline "Funny, because it's true." (Sorry, is that trademarked?) This book had me laughing out loud over and over because, YES, it's SO true. Many of us have unknowingly been following Sarah's advice for years and have built stellar careers on these principles. You'll read a little vignette, and then nod, grin and say "I know that guy... he works here..." Sarah describes small, subtle quirks of human behavior that I'll bet you've seen in YOUR workplace. You should get a couple copies of this little gem -- one for your coffee table at home, and one for your desk. I'm a manager (yes, I've had the mandatory lobotomy) and I'm thinking that a copy of this book will make a nice Christmas gift for each member of my team. Well done Sarah !!

I saw an article on BuzzFeed about this book and read through the extracts it had and honestly was in stitches laughing. Then i decided to buy the e-book and enjoy the rest of the 100 ways to look smart. Unfortunately like most 'previews' the good stuff had already been showed and the material left in the book was filler. The humor is very relate-able and anyone who works in the office or professional space will find some value in it, but honestly it just kind of became so-so as i got towards the end. Maybe the ludicrous nature of the workplace dawned on me and satire became a reminder of reality, maybe it just lost steam. This is something that could have been found as a full free web article and probably wasn't worth the $12 a paid for it as an e-book i honestly wont ever read again. I would say that it needed more content per item to be a sale item, its currently a bit light on the material.

I found this hilarious. It is an easy, dip in and out read. I understand the author has since established herself as a ‘virtual’ comedienne during lockdown. I am not surprised. Some of what she relates about meetings has occurred to me before now. But she has also managed to wrap it all up in a laugh out loud short read, something I would never be able to achieve. I look forward to hearing and seeing more of her.

Produit conforme! Livré dans les délais! Je recommande.

Satire at its best. Provides comic relief to anyone who has to sit in meetings, whether in-person or through media. The author is gaining recognition for her uncanny ability to see and hear hollow and disingenuous gestures and phrases in the entertainment, business and political world - even at the highest levels. A great read through for people watchers of all kinds.

É impressionante como neste livro tanta coisa que acontece no dia-a-dia foi retratada com exatidão. É triste mas é verdade, e rir é sempre melhor do que chorar

Every meeting is a joke... all serious things can done with mail and chat. All small things can be avoided. Meetings are place of show off.. read this book as you go to meetings... implement one by one.