This post by Gregory Shove and Taylor Malmsheimer highlights the 10 ways to get your CEO to listen during a presentation to them. Their blog is located at https://lnkd.in/d27h2mm5 and is well worth subscribing to.

It’s a great read but if you’re strapped for time, here’s the tl;dr:

CEOs are impatient, strapped for time, and focused on finding leverage for the business.

So if you want to present well to a CEO, follow these 10 tips:

𝟏) 𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠

Get to the point quickly and in plain words.

𝟐) 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐚 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧

It’s not a TED talk. Use them to get feedback, not as a rapt audience.

𝟑) 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝟐 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬 – 𝐧𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐧𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 – 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭

If you skip right to the point without context, they’ll be lost. So you need to anchor them.

𝟒) 𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝟐 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬, 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦/𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫

Why are you here today? What decision is being made? What are you asking for?

𝟓) 𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐄𝐎 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞, 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞

And make sure they agree that the problem is worth solving.

𝟔) 𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐞-𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝

Ask if the CEO read it beforehand, and don’t be offended if they didn’t.

𝟕) 𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐨𝐚𝐭

CEOs respect people who give the truth and can cut sharply to how something is doing.

𝟖) 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬

How does what you present matter to the business (is it driving up renewal, referrals, user growth, etc.)?

𝟗) 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐄𝐎 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐭 (𝐬𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦)

Insert questions along the way to spur good conversation, such as “Is this a problem worth working on?” or “Are these the right metrics for us to prioritize?”

𝟏𝟎) 𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐛𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐮𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬

If they do, two pieces of advice: say “we’ll cover that in a moment” if you are going to cover it in a few slides and don’t overreact or get defensive.

Think of presenting well to the CEO as an opportunity to show that you understand the metrics that matter and to position yourself as a thought partner to the CEO.

For the full post: https://lnkd.in/dDRHp5Re

Also posted on LinkedIn