Nobody remembers who spoke first in the meeting. They remember who said the thing that changed the plan.

Speaking early is mostly about relieving your own nerves. It buys you presence for about a minute and then evaporates, because volume of participation is not what people carry out of a room. What gets remembered is the contribution that moved something, and that usually needs the discussion to have developed far enough to be moved.

Let the first few comments happen without you. Listen for the point where the group is stuck, then say the one thing that helps. If you leave having said nothing except something useful, you will have done better than the person who spoke six times.