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Better Executive Presentations

Better Executive Presentations: Avoid These Big Mistakes

by | Dec 5, 2014 | By Karin Hurt, Career & Learning, Communication |

Executive Presentations: Don’t Forget to Ask For What You Need

You’re preparing for your next executive presentation, and you know it’s going to be a doozy. Perhaps the leader you’re presenting to has a track record of impatient questions or snarky remarks when it comes to executive presentations. Or maybe the last time you showed up, you weren’t quite prepared and couldn’t answer the obvious questions.

Or maybe, as you picture the people around the table, you envision the swirl of competing priorities you’re up against. So, how do you get their attention, ask for what you need, and avoid any big missteps?

9 Mistakes To Avoid in Your Executive Presentations

Start by avoiding these big mistakes.

1. Undermining Your Credibility

The execs will only buy your message if they believe you know what you’re doing. When it comes to great executive presentations, you want to show up confident and strong.

One of the smartest women I know stayed up late every night the week before her presentation doing deep research and getting the presentation just right. No one in the room knew a tenth as much as she did on the subject. But when one executive made a snarky remark she lost it and burst into tears–a tragic credibility buster.

Exhaustion and too much caffeine prevented her from responding calmly and redirecting the conversation.

Other credibility-busters include weak words such as: “I guess” “This is above my pay grade,” and “You all are a lot smarter than me.”

Remember, you are the expert. Share what you know with confidence.

2. Lack of Confidence in Your Own Argument

Do your homework so you can answer the tough questions well. Be confident enough to challenge faulty thinking in a professional and respectful manner. State your argument with clarity and confidence.

3. Lack of Humility

At the same time, these senior leaders are in their positions for a reason.

They’ve got a perspective you may not have.

Listen carefully to really understand their concerns. Write down their suggestions. Be sure THEY feel heard. Know that as much as you know, you don’t know it all.

4. Unclear Objectives

When I’m working with leaders on honing their executive presentations, I’m often surprised how few can articulate their primary objective. Be sure you can complete this statement in one sentence. Before going in, be sure you know what you want them to think, feel or do as a result of your presentation.

5. Underestimating the Audience

Executives can often be hard to read, but there’s a lot going on in their quick-thinking brains.

Do everything you can to learn about the executive’s goals, competing priorities, decision-making styles, and political dynamics. This isn’t easy, but it’s a worthwhile investment.

Talk to those who’ve done executive presentations to this crew in the past. Talking to key members of their team is another great option.

6. Failure to Connect with a Stakeholder

If the topic is complex and/or controversial, it’s going to be tough to get traction in a room of opinionated execs.

Seek out a few key players to ask for their opinion in advance. Incorporate and acknowledge their thinking. It will show you’ve done your homework and also have a few friendlies in the room supporting your argument.

7. Boring Delivery

It’s likely yours is the fifth or sixth PowerPoint deck they’ve seen that day.

Spice up your data with a strategic story, metaphors, or illuminating statistics with powerful comparisons. Classic research by Hermann Ebbinghaus shows that most people forget 40% of what was said within the first 30 minutes.

Be sure your message is memorable. A great, easy read to inspire better presentations is Get to the Point: How to Say What You Mean and Get What You Want.

8. Overstuffed Slides

You know a lot, or you wouldn’t be in the room. Resist the urge to throw it all up on your slides. The best executive presentations use clean visuals (not cute clip art) that represent your message with a few key points per slide.

Always include a punch box at the bottom with five to seven words that articulate your main idea for that page. If you can’t come up with a punchy summarizing statement, consider if you really need that slide.

See Also: Nine Ways to Improve Your Powerpoint Presentations

9. Failure to Ask for What You Need

This sounds so obvious, but it’s one of the biggest mistakes I see in executive presentations.

Be very clear on your proposed next steps and what you need specifically from whom.

Funding? Support from above? Communication with their organizations? Resources?

Sure, some details may need to be worked out later, but be sure you can answer the question, “What do you need from us?”

Your turn. What would you add? What are the biggest mistakes to avoid in executive presentations?

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Want more human-centered leaders in the workplace? Share this today!

Want more human-centered leaders in the workplace? Share this today?

16 Comments
  1. Scott Major Giese

    Love this! Unsaid in this article is the basic lesson we learned in our English and Language Arts classes: know your audience.

    Reply
    • Karin Hurt

      Scott great to have you join the conversation. Knowing your audience is so key.

      Reply
  2. LaRae Quy

    Love this list!

    In my own experience, holding the tension between humility and confidence is a tough one—primarily because it’s so subjective.

    It also very subtle. Confidence can so easily turn into cocky with a tone of voice or a tilt of the head.

    Great article, as always!

    Reply
    • Karin Hurt

      LaRae, Thanks so much. I agree it is so subtle, but also worth the effort to explore. One of my MBAs had a breakthrough with her boss this week, where she had the confidence to really embrace her humilty with her boss and really hear what he had to say. She wrote me… I used confident humility and it worked! Let it be so.

      Reply
  3. Paul Robbins

    I like to have something for the decision maker to do at the conclusion, such as signing a directive. This “closes the deal” for me, and the action symbolically makes the decision or policy “official.”

    Reply
    • Karin Hurt

      Paul, That’s an interesting approach. I’m curious if anyone else has tried that. I have not.

      Reply
  4. Dallas

    So much gold in this list. One of the most valuable I’ve seen so far Karin.
    Add a few graphics and anecdotes and this is a valuable publication, feebie, join and get, etc etc.
    I’ve bookmarked it.

    Loved the Santa vid too. Its really well done.

    Reply
    • Karin Hurt

      Dallas, Thanks so much. Ha! I actually have the graphics, because this is an except from a workshop I gave to a group of leaders this week. Great idea. I have another ebook in the works, it’s in the formatting stages and should be ready before xmas.

      Reply
  5. michael j capdevilla

    Hi im in network marketing having a hard time getting going ive been keeping up with ur emails i.do like this article ive liked other ones u have had up in the emails if u have any tips that be helpful id appreciate it thank u

    Reply
    • Karin Hurt

      Michael, Excellent. Are there particular areas that you are most interested in learning more about?

      Reply
  6. Eric Butts

    Asking for what you need is so crucial. Many times as a consultant it’s tough to admit you haven’t been able to persuade others in the organization and need a little extra push. If you don’t do it though it will be you on the chopping block instead of them when it really isn’t your fault!

    Reply
    • Karin Hurt

      Eric, I so agree. Asking for what you need is vital.

      Reply
  7. David Pethick

    Good post Karin.

    One skill I work on regularly is being succinct. If you can make your point in one sentence, do so. Executives greatly appreciate a simple message, well stated.

    Regards.

    David Pethick
    Co-Founder, http://leading.io

    Reply
    • Karin Hurt

      David, Yes! Being succinct is a wonderful skill.

      Reply
  8. Cynthia Bazin

    GREAT article Karin! I am sharing with my community. You are a rockstar leader!

    Reply
    • Karin Hurt

      Thanks so much!

      Reply

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Karin Hurt

Karin Hurt helps human-centered leaders find clarity in uncertainty, drive innovation, and achieve breakthrough results.  She’s the founder and CEO of Let’s Grow Leaders, an international leadership development and training firm known for practical tools and leadership development programs that stick. She’s the award-winning author of four books including Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates and Powerful Phrases for Dealing with Workplace Conflict, and hosts the popular Asking For a Friend Vlog on LinkedIn. A former Verizon Wireless executive, Karin was named to Inc. Magazine’s list of great leadership speakers. Karin and her husband and business partner, David Dye, are committed to their philanthropic initiative, Winning Wells – building clean water wells for the people of Cambodia.

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