when I'm at work, usually in a meeting, I will remain utterly silent unless a question is directly asked towards me. I always count to 3 before I answer to make it seems like I'm in deep thought (I'm not of course, I'm just counting to 3) then when I do answer I make it as short as possible being very careful not to use the words 'umm', 'like'. If I don't know the answer to the question I always say I don't know and throw out a hypothetical answer like 'well, if Jake did unplug the server it would stop working' because that is the obvious answer that people don't want to hear in meetings. the rest of the time I'm silent. no interjections, no jokes. I only listen and take notes of what people are saying. I take notes because, otherwise I would fall asleep. no kidding, I've done it before. so become silent and then even more silent and just "listen" to what is going on around you. people hate silence it reminds them of their parents or something...
