Canadian Business Magazine ran an article that I found while cleaning my laptop bag called Presenting to the board: how to handle the heat. I couldn’t quickly find it on their site to link to, so here are the tips from Carol Stephenson.

  • Understand the board – Focus on three things: the general context of the organization right now, the primary focus of the meeting, backgrounds and preferences of the members of the board.
  • Bring the right people – You don’t need to bring the whole team to back up your position; if you are the one doing the presentation, you are the one accountable for the issue/topic.
  • Keep the numbers simple – Don’t try to impress with fancy quantitative analysis. That is not what the board wants. What they want is your analysis of the numbers and your recommendation.
  • Articulate key assumptions – Walk through any key assumptions, then document the rest in an appendix or somewhere. They are relevant to the whole, but not the presentation.
  • Present your answer first – Tell the answer, then back it up.
  • Read your audience constantly – Don’t just barge through your presentation
  • Be transparent about risks and challenges – Don’t sugarcoat.
  • Address questions immediately – When a director asks, answer promptly.
  • Frame the outcome – End by asking for something. The board level issues are closed by: approving, denying or asking for further study. Frame for this sort of response.
  • Role play your presentation – Not just the classic ‘practice, practice, practice’, but field tough questions as well. If it works for trial lawyers, why not you? Admittedly, a lot of us don’t have the need or opportunity to present to a board, or if we do it is not a ‘traditional’ board; more of a ‘founders and financiers’ informal one, but these are important things to keep in mind anyways regardless of the presentation.