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A report to a senior executive group is not a conversation, although it should sound conversational.  It is a communication designed to facilitate a prediction or a decision.

In order to sound conversational you need to be relaxed.  Ironically, relaxation comes from the tension of hard rehearsal.

Get to your recommendations as soon as possible. Don’t make them wait to find out why you are there.

Describe the benefits of your recommendations, preferably in quantitative terms—such as gross margin, time to ROI, or % of market share. Best case, base case, and worse case scenarios also add clarity and credibility.

Describe the costs, positioning them as reasonable compared to other similar projects that you can identify.

Include the downside if they decide not to follow your recommendation.  A favorable statistical confidence interval on your estimates of upside and downside will help.

As usual, occasionally get out of the abstract and into the concrete.  Illustrate the benefits of your recommendation with stories about other companies.  Likewise, dramatize the cost of not accepting your recommendations.

Senior executives tend to be big picture people.  Keep your remarks as short as possible.  They probably have to listen to a number of presentations at one sitting.  If you tell them everything they’ll remember nothing.

Don’t read bullet point slides. It’s the #1 thing people hate.  After all, why go to the trouble of a meeting if all the speaker does is read.  The senior people need to see you bring your idea to life, and demonstrate the character traits necessary to make it happen.

In terms of delivery, this is not the time to display your wild passion.  Just be extremely clear about what you want to do, why it’s a good idea, and how you plan to get it done.

Take away:  help them make a decision or a prediction.  In the fewest words possible.

You’ve been invited to moderate a panel.  The question is: How can you do it really well so that the meeting is rated highly, you look good, and your chances of being invited back are good?

First, you should look at the job of moderator as a great chance to create a host of positive impressions.  It’s great marketing for you and your company.  Let’s look into the details.

What’s the topic?  Can you change the topic, or re-phrase the title of the topic to make it more appealing?

Who will be on your panel?  Can you invite your own panelists?  Can you prep them so they don’t all say the same thing, so they dovetail nicely with each other?

What is the room like? When can you get into the room to test the microphones and get a feel for the place?  Who is in charge of the logistics?  Can you make sure they are on hand in case one of the panelists can’t be heard, or God forbid, you can’t be heard? Can you have it audio-taped, or video-taped?  Can you distribute copies of the tape?

Can you put a slide up with your name on it?  Can it stay up there the whole time?

How many important people can you invite or at least inform of your role in the meeting?  Can you get complimentary tickets for those you invite?  Free parking?

Once you’ve answered all the above, you should craft some strong opening remarks.  I recommend this outline:

1. Why this topic?
2. Why this topic at this time?
3. Why this topic at this time for this audience?
4. Why this topic at this time for this audience by these panelists?

Only then, after four ringing assertions, should you introduce yourself.  And once you’ve done that briefly and humbly, devote all your enthusiasm to the dignity and stature of your panelists.

Either they are already sitting on the stage, having come to their seats as you approached the lectern, or they wait for you to introduce them before moving a muscle to step forward.

Don’t allow them to move while you’re talking.  Nobody will pay any attention to your brilliance, but instead will goggle at the bodies moving into the limelight.   Panelists need rehearsal and firm stage directions.

Speaking of firm stage directions, your panelists should be instructed to prepare short opening remarks.  Do not let them take this assignment lightly.  The last thing you want is a boring, long winded, meandering, unprepared talk from the panel–it can drain the energy out of the discussion.  If such drainage occurs, it falls upon you to put a stop to it, and that’s hard to do without hurting feelings.

If you’re a stickler, you may even ask the panelists to send you their opening remarks a week ahead of time, and help them do better.  Certainly, gathering all their notes will help you steer them away from redundancy.

Familiarity with their remarks will help you prepare questions, and you can ask them if they have questions they would like to be asked.   You don’t have to oblige, but if the asking will make the meeting shine and illuminate the expertise of the panelist, why not?

Listen to your panelists talk, and interrupt them to ask questions.  Get them to clarify, or expand on particularly interesting or controversial issues.  Get them to stop talking if their response to a question is lengthy.  Moderating panelists is like herding cats.  You’ve got to be quick and alert.  And you have a responsibility to the audience to keep the meeting on track and on time.

You would do well to recall that panelist number one said something that contradicts what panelist number three is saying.   Interrupt number three, and point out the contradiction.  Or interrupt and ask number one to comment in light of what three is saying.

The whole point of having a panel is to take the burden of energizing the room away from a sole presenter and shift it onto the shoulders of a lively group.  Your job as the moderator is to keep them doggies rolling.  A little friendly verbal jousting will serve your purposes well.

At the end, remind the audience of the beginning.  “Why this topic, at this time,” etc., etc.  Try to summarize, or better yet, synthesize the key themes in the discussion.  Tell the audience where they can find more information.   Invite them to speak to panelists at the break.  If you’re willing and able, offer to provide notes on the discussion.  Thank your panelists and the sponsoring organization.

And then get the heck out of Dodge.

Sims Wyeth is a speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

With the average sales call in the pharmaceutical industry now shrunk to less than 30 seconds, medical liaisons have an important opportunity to engage the interest of key physicians at advisory board meetings.

However, there are several common problems.

First, facilitating ad boards is not presenting. In fact, it’s almost the opposite of presenting. Presenters give information, while facilitators pull information out of the audience.

That said, facilitating borrows from the skills of presenting and public speaking because it requires the leader to project confidence and authority, focus the meeting, energize the participants, and connect with the people in the seats.

Here are some tips for facilitating ad boards gathered from some of the most successful liaisons in the industry.

1. Have a battle plan. Most battles are won and lost before the fighting starts. Same with ad boards.
2. Plan the room, the sound system, the air-conditioning, the lighting, the seating, the food, the A/V equipment, etc.
3. Plan your goals, your questions, your wingman (in case you get into trouble), your scribe, your parking lot, your opening, your ground rules, and just who will be the final decision maker in the room should things get hairy. In other words, “Who is the quarterback?”
4. Plan to rehearse the night before with your colleagues.
5. Tell your colleagues to stay engaged. When physicians see industry professionals BlackBerrying, or doing other tasks in the back of the room, it sets a very bad example. Don’t let them do it, and don’t you do it when your colleague is in front of the room.
6. Choose your questions wisely and put each on its own PowerPoint slide. They should flow in a logical order.
7. Have enough energy and assertiveness to be the locomotive that pulls the train of thought in the room.
8. Enjoy yourself. You are much more engaging when you are having fun.
9. Listen to what people say. Repeat it back to them to make sure you’ve understood. Ask follow-up questions.
10. Listen to what people say. Don’t pretend to listen while you’re thinking about what you’re going to say next (this is a big one!)
11. Follow your battle plan and be prepared to switch on the fly. No battle plan survives the first encounter with the enemy.
12. Be a lion-tamer. Don’t let big cheeses stink up the place by holding forth (I’m mixing metaphors.) Say, “Doctor Lyons, thanks for your input. I want to hear from some of the others.” And then call on a mouse.
13. A mouse is a participant who doesn’t feel comfortable speaking up in a large group. Mice have good things to say. Call on them by name and encourage them to give their opinion.
14. Stifle the snakes. A snake is a doctor who is negative, who poisons the room. You should not engage in argument with such a person. Call on another doctor who has another point of view to neutralize him. Perhaps your wing man will step in and move the conversation in a different direction. Or you can simply bring up a question about other information that contradicts the negative perspective. E.g, “What does the group think of the new xyz study as it pertains to Dr. Rattler’s remarks?”
15. Demand respectful and attentive behavior. Blackberrying, newspaper reading, side conversations, and other forms of rudeness should not be tolerated.
16. It’s best to get everyone’s agreement at the beginning. Lay down the ground rules and get them to say, “Okay!”
17. Call them on it. First, ask a Blackberrying snake a question. Say, “Dr. Copperhead, what’s your response to Dr. Python’s approach?” That might do the trick.
18. If it doesn’t, try the direct approach. “Dr. Copperhead, may I please have your full attention? We need your input.”
19. If that fails, call a break and speak to Dr. Copperhead privately. Ask him if there’s some other topic that would engage him more fully. If it suits your larger purpose, then weave it in later, but still insist that he give his attention to the meeting.

The list could go on. The real trick is getting comfortable using these techniques when you’re under pressure. A good way to develop your skill is by watching others, borrowing what you like, and adding the borrowed techniques to your own style.

And of course, a good experiential training program will help you up the learning curve as well.

A good facilitator is a gift to the universe–a rare blend of expertise, assertiveness, and genuine interest in others. We are all on that journey, and I urge you to fare forward through all obstacles within you and without you.

Sims Wyeth is a speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.