For some reason, the boardroom is a place that seems to bring out the very worst in people, who inexplicably see it as a forum to assert intellectual dominance, and to achieve their daily word allocation in double quick time. For them, it’s more than a meeting – it’s a war, and they’re there to win it.

Now as someone with a fairly reticent approach to meetings (I’m really just there for the coffee and snacks), I’m constantly bemused by the power struggles that seem to regularly erupt around me, as meeting participants attempt to jostle for pole position in the eyes of whomever in the room is paying the bills.

Spewing forth countless opinions and frankly dubious acronyms (which nobody interrogates for fear of appearing foolish), these boardroom bullies rely on a cunning strategy of sheer force, coercing their opponents into either a glazed stupor or a confused state of competitive admiration.

For those like me, whose primary objective is to simply survive meetings without perishing from sheer boredom, this kind of scenario presents a wide variety of challenges. After all, nobody wants to be the mute idiot in the corner getting progressively more wired on caffeine and sugar (why must they put biscuits in the boardroom? Why I ask?).

The temptation of course is to speak up and perhaps undermine your opponent’s assertions from time to time, subtly unseating the balance of power. However, in all likelihood, this will only incite an even more fervent verbal retaliation, thus extending the hideous meeting even further, and making you look a little bit like a sore loser.

At the other end of the fight-or-flight spectrum is dead silence, which, while agreeably comfortable, doesn’t exactly afford you any professional cachet. After all, here your rival is sounding off on anything from politics to social media networking (hey, that’s MY area of expertise!), and you’re sitting with a mouthful of teeth, suggesting either extreme hostility or gob-smacking stupidity. Neither of which is something a client really wants.

At the end of the day though, it’s important to consider what it is your client actually does want. Do they enjoy being interrupted throughout their presentation by the banal bleatings of a would-be intellectual? Probably not. Do they have four hours to spend dissecting every last element of a conversation that should have taken 45 minutes at most? I’m guessing no.

Remember, your clients are human too, and if you’re not buying into the boardroom bluster, it’s likely they’re seeing through it too. Of course they’re trying to look impressed (after all, they’re probably paying this person an exorbitant fee and he’s clearly charging per word), but realistically they’re probably also more concerned about what’s for lunch.

Let’s be real: clients aren’t paying you for your opinions. They’re paying you to execute and validate theirs. You might like to think you’re in control, but the person pulling the purse strings is always in the driver’s seat. And by constantly questioning and second guessing every point they make, you’re actually subtly inferring that they’re a little bit stupid.

At the end of the day, it’s about getting the job done. And done well. Which is difficult to do when you’re so busy talking about it. So, if you’re of a less socially aggressive ilk, don’t be too concerned about limiting your conversational contributions. Everyone else in the room is quietly thanking you.

Here are a few key tips for surviving your next meeting with a boardroom bully:

• Smile and nod regularly, clearly conveying the fact that you surrender to their evidently superior intellect and expertise. It might require you to swallow your pride, but hey, at least you’ll escape in time for lunch.
• Speak only when spoken to. You don’t want to drag this thing out any longer than necessary. You might be tempted to correct the occasional error, but remember, that’s likely to add an extra hour to your confinement. So proceed at your own peril.
• Eat all the snacks. One thing you’re not going to need to compete for is the plentiful food that tends to adorn boardroom tables. While they’re running their mouth off, you may as well put yours to good use too.

While it may seem like a waste of hard-earned production budget to dedicate time to creating content that’s only visible for 24 hours, there are in fact plenty of good reasons to adapt to this more transient form of storytelling.

And with new and exciting features becoming available daily, there are now countless ways to up the ante without breaking the bank. From sound effects to click-through links, there are plenty of simple ways to upgrade your Stories and use them to achieve your business objectives.

Here are a few of our favourite hacks to get you started:

Colour overlays

Sometimes you just want to say something in a Story that needs more focus on the text than on an actual image. A solid colour background will allow your text to really pop, and also works well for breaking up your story or introducing what is to follow. To make your entire screen one solid colour, simply select any picture from your recent batch, select the pen icon, pick the colour and hold your finger down on the screen. Now you can add text as you usually would, or use the eraser tool to selectively reveal certain parts of your original image or video.

Drop shadow effect  

If you’re looking to add some flair to your Story text,  Drop Shadow is your friend. Start by tapping the “Aa” icon and write your message as per usual.  Tap the “Aa” icon again and write out the exact same copy using a different colour.  Then simply arrange the top layer of text so that it’s slightly off-centre from the bottom layer of text and boom, you’ve taken your Story to the next level!

Pinning

Want to add a sticker or text to a certain part of your Instagram Stories video and have it either move along with the object, or appear on the screen where relevant? You can. All you need to do is pin the text or sticker by long-pressing it to open up the “Pin” option. Here’s how:

Animated text and different fonts

Noticed how some stories have animated text appearing on screen? Well, this isn’t something churned out by some overpriced in agency. In fact, it’s only a click away. Simply download the Hype Type app , and you’ll be able to choose from a selection of beautiful fonts and make your captions really pop in your Stories.

Here’s an example by SharonTutorials: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0jC13NWw0k

Add some beats

An Instagram Stories video can be so much more impactful with some music added, so why not add some beats the next time you post?  You can either play music natively from your device – from whichever streaming service you prefer, or from your own library – or add music to an older image or video using the Hype Type app.

Note: You may have to purchase the Hype Type app to unlock more features but the basics are available on the free version.

Hacking the 24 hour rule

Although Instagram Stories are meant for sharing recent content, there are times when you want to build your Story using content that’s aged by more than a day. If you already have the Hype Type app, it automatically allows you to add older images to your Story. Alternatively, you can WhatsApp the pic to someone to renew the timestamp, take a screen shot of the pic to bypass the time restriction, or download the Later app, which is specifically intended for this purpose.  The free media library will allow you to upload, store, and manage all of your visual content.

“Swipe up”

If you’re a verified account or have more than 10k followers on Instagram, you’re eligible to link your Stories to a webpage, which is a great way to drive traffic and sales! You’ll automatically have a paper clip icon added to the top of your list of options – simply click this link button which will take you to a page where you can enter or paste the URL that you want to link to.  The link button (Swipe Up) isn’t very obvious so don’t forget to add a strong call to action by way of copy on the pic you’re loading on Stories. This will help to inform your followers that they can buy or learn more by doing so.