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Everybody is in a rush. A rush to do this or that. To get up in the morning, to make breakfast, to dress, to go to school, to work, to go to the gym. In fact everybody is in a hurry to do many things which means everyone has an enormous amount of activities all day long. We manage to convince ourselves that everything we do is all important – and yet somehow as the day ends we are exhausted and are left with a vague feeling that we did not accomplish everything we set out to do.

The reason for this is quite simple. We live in a society that measures success on the basis of accomplishment – and accomplishment is measured on the basis of how much we do or how much we get. In turn we have conditioned ourselves to always think of the next move. To accomplish and get more you have to do more, so there is always something else. Another move, another set of actions.

This is where the problems start. We focus our thoughts and energy onto the next thing and not on what we are actually supposed to be doing.

When we focus on the next step, the next activity or our next action, we forget to concentrate and to live 100% that one thing we are doing in that specific moment in time. Pope John Paul II once said that we should learn from the past, plan for the future, but live the present – or words to that effect.

These are words of wisdom that should guide our every moment.

There are a few implications here, such as:

By learning from the past:

• you should learn to avoid mistakes and more importantly repeat those things that brought success or triumphant moments.
• neither dwell nor relive the past. The past is gone – finito, kaput. We must learn to let it go.
• treasure the good and the bad. Treasure it, not gloat over it or sink with it.

Plan for the future:

• set your sights high and aim for the sky.
• apply yesterdays lessons to plan for tomorrow.
• your plan will map out the road you must follow.

Live the present:

• every journey starts with one step. Today you will take the steps you must on the road you mapped out for the future.
• each moment, in other words your continuous present, must be lived will full concentration, with full dedication and passion. If you are with someone else, your child for example, your full focused energy and attention should be 100% dedicated to that person in that moment in time.
• a focused present, strengthened with the lessons of the past and the target for the future will result in less mistakes or negative results. It will always generate an action motivated from a freer perspective.

When you start applying this way of life you will find in the beginning that you are set in your ways so change will not be easy. If, however, you persist for a short while, you will find that it gets easier each time.

Then you will be surprised to find that everything gets better; not in a magical sense, after all there are no magical formulas, but in a real sense.

1. Your day to day activities that are driven by your dedicated and focused attention to what you are doing as you are doing it, will show greater results. These results will go beyond, and this is the important part, beyond achieving things, to achieving wonderful things in terms of your relationship with others. One of the amazing things about people is that when they feel they are important in your eyes – and this will happen as you live the present when your are with them – they will try to give the best of themselves in return.
2. Your past will begin to be made up of all these “presents” you are living day to day.
3. Your future turns into your present and then your past, and all under that path with a heart you are taking, today.

I recently conducted a survey on how technical experts – like finance executives – can better present themselves to senior management. Here are some of the insights from the survey, the common problems faced by presenters and some solutions on making sure your next presentation to senior executives is received in a positive light.

Common problems faced by technical presenters

Technical presenters have a strong tendency to focus on the ‘how’ of the content rather than the outcome. Technical presenters tend to either over explain the technical aspects of their presentation, even though they are facing a savvy audience who have a good grasp of the technicalities. Or they get too bogged down in the numbers and miss the overarching purpose of the presentation, meeting or conference call which is often to help the senior executive to make a decision.

I would like to share four tips that you can apply to improve your presentation skills when communicating up to a senior executive audience.

Tip 1: Understand your audience’s motivations so you know why are in this meeting

In The One Minute Presenter, a key step is Treasure your Audience. The main purpose of understanding your audience in detail is to go deeper into their motivations and hot buttons. This understanding helps the technical presenter prepare for meetings. Ask key questions like, “Why is the senior executive joining this meeting?” Is it to gain a brief overview on a topic, an update, a summary or to receive your input on a critical time-sensitive business issue which needs a decision?

Tip 2: Technical literacy quick check

When thinking about your content and how deep to go into the technicalities, think about the literacy of the senior executive on this issue. Are they familiar in depth with the issue? If they are, don’t start from the beginning when introducing the topic. Is the senior manager highly literate but not as familiar with the local differences on which you are an expert? Then skip explaining broad concepts and get into the specifics. Don’t worry if you skip too far ahead, the senior executive will ask you a question.

Tip 3: Think through your presentation’s timing

When you are preparing your content or your slide presentation, ask yourself how much time you have to deliver. If you have twenty minutes and twenty slides of packed data charts, are you allowing yourself enough time for the audience to digest them? Is there a better way to extract your message from each slide and highlight it in a clear slide? Consider using handouts when you need to pass on a record of the data to your audience. Build in some time for questions into your presentation time in case you are asked a series of questions or time is cut from your delivery time. If you have twenty minutes to present, then arrange fifteen minutes of content.

Tip 4: Produce your message for every presentation

Even if you are delivering a frequent update for a weekly management meeting, think about what your message in a nutshell is for every meeting. Press yourself to find a link between your message and the motivations and interests of the senior executives. The more relevant you can make your message to their driving issues, the more likely you are get their attention and receive positive comments. You have to speak to the issues that are important to senior management. They often look at the same topics in a different light. They are more likely to take a broader look or apply a wider scope to the topic. Remember that they are likely to have shifting priorities based on the current state of the business. Are you able to link your topics to the major issues like total revenue, profit margins, share price, market share, and others. Can you fit your topic into those issues?

Conclusion

While you are a technical expert and are valued for the insights you bring, when facing senior management you may need to adjust your content and dig out a message that is in line with the senior executives current reality.

Most of the strategic business startup consultants that I’ve talked to always recommend that new companies find corporate partners, but to do this they have to get large corporations with big brand names to buy their products or services and to sign up and get on board. That’s easier said than done, and that’s where the importance of corporate business presentations come in to play. It’s hard to give a flawless corporate presentation, and might I suggest that you don’t want to be perfect anyway? Let’s talk.

The secret to giving great presentations to corporate boards is not really a secret at all, it’s as simple as knowing the questions they are going to ask before they ask them. Knowing how to solve their problems and having solutions ready before they explain to you their problems and what they need from you. Does this mean you need a mind reader or someone with a crystal ball on your presentation team? Absolutely not, it’s just a matter of putting yourself into their shoes. It’s a matter of getting together with your team and considering all the questions they might ask, whether typical, or not.

This means you have to do your homework and know everyone on the board, their past business history, and everything about them, this way you can see things from their perspective. You should look on social networks to figure out what their hobbies are, where they went to school, and the various other industries they have been involved in, as their perceptions, observations, and experiences will lead them to ask you dissimilar questions than others who had a different career path.

About the worst thing you can do is to dodge a question because this causes frustration and anger, and the individual will feel disrespected, and therefore vote against whatever it is that you are doing, due to lack of trust. Further, you should never try to BS your answer if you don’t know what you are doing. It’s okay to think out loud during these presentations because they will see how you reason and adapt to various challenges in case you are presented with a question you don’t know the answer to. Nevertheless you should leave your answer as open ended in this case, and promise to get back with them with a proper solution, or work with them directly after the meeting.

Sometimes simply your willingness to do this will show that you want to be on their team, and therefore they are going to welcome you on to it. And really isn’t that what a corporate partner is all about? Indeed I want you to think about this on a philosophical level and get away from the salesmanship tactics and techniques long enough to see that you are to be a solution provider, you don’t necessarily have to be the smartest person in the room, but you have to show them that you are on their team to make it work no matter what, and that you will never give up in your pursuit of excellence to make that happen.

If you can do that, our corporate board would love to have you as a team partner, and give you our endorsement and bragging rights to have signed us up as corporate partners. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.