Top managers are very demanding audience. They are impatient because they have busy schedules and even the fact that you have a lot of information you consider important for them will not change it. Choosing the strategy of a long presentation with a big finding at the end is, therefore, not the best idea. You can be almost sure that you will be interrupted before you get to the point you want to reach. How to avoid this and perform the presentation so that the highest leaders of your company would pay attention?
Start by summarizing
Even if you have 30 minutes for your presentation, prepare it as if you only had five minutes. Start with what your audience really cares about - results, recommendations and calls for action. Only then start to deal with details.
Introduce the structure of your presentation
Tell the audience that the first few minutes of your presentation will be devoted to a summary and then you offer space for discussion. Impatient top managers will then be more willing to let you state your main points without interruption.
Prepare summarizing slides
Prepare the slides for your presentation so that you could start by summarizing the key points (see above). The remaining slides should serve as a supplement. Prepare up to ten detailed slides that will be used later in the discussion for each summarizing slide.
Speak to the point
When the top managers invite you to speak about a certain topic, firmly hold on this topic. Other things can be discussed later or another time.
Rehearse your presentation
Before speaking in front of the top managers, go through the speech and slides with a colleague of yours who will be a honest coach for you. Focus on your message to be clear and understandable.
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