A report to a senior executive group<\/strong> is not a conversation, although it should sound conversational.\u00a0 It is a communication designed to facilitate a prediction or a decision<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n In order to sound conversational you need to be relaxed.\u00a0 Ironically, relaxation comes from the tension of hard rehearsal.<\/p>\n Get to your recommendations as soon as possible. Don\u2019t make them wait to find out why you are there.<\/p>\n Describe the benefits of your recommendations, preferably in quantitative terms\u2014such as gross margin, time to ROI, or % of market share. Best case, base case, and worse case scenarios also add clarity and credibility.<\/p>\n Describe the costs, positioning them as reasonable compared to other similar projects that you can identify.<\/p>\n Include the downside if they decide not to follow your recommendation.\u00a0 A favorable statistical confidence interval on your estimates of upside and downside will help.<\/p>\n As usual, occasionally get out of the abstract and into the concrete.\u00a0 Illustrate the benefits of your recommendation with stories about other companies.\u00a0 Likewise, dramatize the cost of not accepting your recommendations.<\/p>\n Senior executives tend to be big picture people.\u00a0 Keep your remarks as short as possible.\u00a0 They probably have to listen to a number of presentations at one sitting.\u00a0 If you tell them everything they\u2019ll remember nothing.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t read bullet point slides<\/a><\/strong>. It\u2019s the #1 thing people hate.\u00a0 After all, why go to the trouble of a meeting if all the speaker does is read.\u00a0 The senior people need to see you bring your idea to life, and demonstrate the character traits<\/strong> necessary to make it happen.<\/p>\n In terms of delivery, this is not the time to display your wild passion.\u00a0 Just be extremely clear about what you want to do, why it\u2019s a good idea, and how you plan to get it done.<\/p>\n Take away:\u00a0 help them make a decision or a prediction.\u00a0 In the fewest words possible.<\/p>\n A report to a senior executive group is not a conversation, although it should sound conversational.\u00a0 It is a communication designed to facilitate a prediction or a decision. In order to sound conversational you need to be relaxed.\u00a0 Ironically, relaxation comes from the tension of hard rehearsal. Get to your recommendations as soon as possible.… Read More »Presentation Skills: Presenting to Senior Executives<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_ti_tpc_template_sync":false,"_ti_tpc_template_id":""},"categories":[336],"tags":[18,167,905,904],"yoast_head":"\n
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