Get really clear on your objective.
Before a single slide, decide what a good outcome of this meeting is. Rob calls it the step everyone misses and the most important one. Your goal must be specific, achievable and meaningful: a real step forward toward your ultimate goal, not the whole journey at once.
Asked the board for a slot to "give an update on Project Atlas". No decision on the table, so nobody could say yes.
This is the part that everyone misses out.
"Approve a CHF 400k, 3-month Atlas pilot in 2 markets at the March meeting." Specific, achievable today, a real step forward.
Project Atlas is a made-up example. It runs through all four steps.
- Reasonable goal. Ask: what is a reasonable goal for this presentation or this board meeting?
- Specific. After the meeting, anyone could tell whether you got it.
- Achievable. This board can actually decide it, in this meeting.
- Meaningful. A meaningful step toward your ultimate goal.
- Circle of influence. From Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: focus on what you can influence, not on everything you are concerned about.
Circle sorter
Fictional example: you lead "Project Atlas". Sort each item. Is it inside your circle of influence for this meeting, or only something you are concerned about?
Objective forge
Saved in your browserWeak
"Give the board an update on Project Atlas."
- No decision. Nobody can tell if it worked.
- Updates belong in the pre-read.
Strong
"Get the board to approve a CHF 400k, 3-month Atlas pilot in 2 markets at the March meeting."
- Specific: amount, scope, date.
- Achievable: this board can say yes today.
- Meaningful: the first step to a full rollout.
Checkpoint 1
Pass all three to unlock step 2.
Which objective passes Rob's test?
Sort all six Atlas items correctly in the circle sorter.
Use Check my sort above. This checkpoint ticks itself.
Write your own objective in the forge and tick Specific, Achievable and Meaningful.
Be honest with the ticks. This checkpoint ticks itself.
Get to know your audience.
Two questions. How does each person think about the problem you are solving? And how would they describe it to a friend in the pub over a drink? That is simple, emotional language, never corporate jargon. Then pause: do you have enough information to give the presentation you want to give?
Talked to nobody before the meeting. The CFO heard the cost for the first time on slide 9 and stopped the room.
There should never be any surprises.
A coffee with each member first. The CFO's worry, "another pilot that never ends", became the opening line: three months, then stop or scale.
- Their view of the problem. How each member thinks about the problem you are going to solve.
- The pub test. How they would say it to a friend: simple, emotional words, no jargon.
- Enough information? If you cannot answer these questions, schedule meetings and talk to people first.
- No surprises. Know where each person is in their thought process before you walk in.
Map your board
Feeds step 3Where is each member in their thinking? Set all five. Swap in your real board in your head; the seats work the same.
The pub translator
Tap a card. Left side is how decks talk. Back side is how a board member says it at the pub.
Checkpoint 2
Pass all three to unlock step 3.
Which line passes the pub test?
You cannot say how the finance lead sees the problem. What now?
Place all five board members on the map.
Use Map your board above. This checkpoint ticks itself.
Shape your story.
Only now do you decide the shape your presentation will follow. The shape depends on your audience and where they are. Rob gives two.
Told the project's history slide by slide. The ask arrived on slide 38, long after the board had stopped listening.
The shape that you choose is going to depend on the audience.
Half the board had not seen the market shift, so SCQA: the situation on one slide, the complication, the question, then the ask.
Bottom line up front
From the US military. Use it when the board already agrees on the problem and just wants an answer. Open with your recommendation.
Situation, Complication, Question, Answer
From McKinsey (Barbara Minto's Pyramid Principle). Use it when people need context and have not agreed on the problem. Give the background first.
The background lands best as a story. Fix one in the Story Library →
Shape recommender
What each shape looks like as slides
Now write your own storyline. The slides above fill in as you type. Grey text is the Atlas example.
Checkpoint 3
Pass all three to unlock step 4.
The board agrees churn is the problem. They told you: just bring the fix. Which shape?
Two new board members have not seen the market shift. Half the table does not agree there is a problem. Which shape?
Fill every field of your storyline in the chosen shape.
Your text feeds the slide builder at the end. This checkpoint ticks itself.
Test and refine.
Testing means talking to people and getting feedback. Make a 2 to 3 minute version of your presentation. Then book a 15-minute meeting with a colleague, go through it, and see what confuses them.
The first run-through was the meeting itself: 25 minutes for a 10-minute slot.
If you can't explain your idea in two, three minutes, you don't understand it yet.
Said it out loud in 2 minutes 40. Then 15 minutes with a colleague from finance; she got lost at the budget, so it moved after the ask.
The 2 to 3 minute run
Stand up. Press start. Say your story out loud, objective to ask. Stop when you are done. Or paste your script below; it is timed at 140 words a minute.
The 15-minute test run
Confusion log
During the test run, note every moment your colleague frowned, asked "wait, what?" or got lost. Tick it when the story is fixed.
Checkpoint 4
Pass all three to unlock your slides.
You cannot explain your idea in 2 to 3 minutes. What does that tell you?
Land your story inside 2 to 3 minutes: with the timer, or with a pasted script.
This checkpoint ticks itself.
When do you open PowerPoint?
Your slides are locked
That is the lesson: slides come last. Pass all 12 checkpoints to unlock the builder.
And then, and only then, make your slides.
"Noted."
- ObjectiveAn update. No decision asked for.
- AudienceNobody spoken to before the meeting.
- ShapeHistory first, the ask on slide 38.
- TestFirst run in the room: 25 minutes for 10.
40 slides, opened first.
"Approved for March."
- ObjectiveApprove a CHF 400k, 3-month pilot in 2 markets.
- AudienceA coffee with each member. The CFO's worry answered first.
- ShapeSCQA: situation, complication, question, then the ask.
- Test2 minutes 40 out loud, 15 minutes with a colleague.
One message per slide, built last.
Built from your answers
Every slide comes from what you wrote in steps 1 and 3. Empty fields show the Atlas example in grey.
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