How to assert yourself when you're dismissed How to assert yourself when you're dismissed Have you ever sat in a meeting and felt ignored or utterly unimportant? Perhaps you offered up an idea that someone else seized upon. Maybe you inserted yourself into the conversation but no one gave you their eye contact or their attention. Whether you’re the youngest in the room or the one from a department no one respects (or you’re just not getting your due for unknown reasons), you can lean on these four strategies to re-assert yourself.Get back in thereIf you’re getting jangled by rude or demeaning dynamics, resist the urge to disengage from the conversation and be silenced. Frame a relevant idea in your mind and then build off someone else’s idea starting with, “Yes, and … ” Barbara Pachter a business etiquette expert and author, even advocates for strategically interrupting when you’re being talked over. Said Pachter, “In some situations, if you don’t interrupt, you won’t get to speak. The easiest way to interrupt is when the other person takes a breath.