13 Simple Tips To Improve Exec Presentations

In my coaching and consultancy roles, I am often asked to help less experienced team members present or provide experienced operators to deliver more effective presentations. 

Here are my top recommendations:

1. Breath, they’ve all been there. Mistakes happen - it’s how you react and push forward 

2. Know your content, know the flow of the slides, and get used to the tech and clicks. Fewer slides = less that can go wrong.
   Never just read the slides.
   If you’re in doubt, download the deck as images and reassemble out of numbered order into order (this also applies to conference speaking - I did this with my recent keynote - community as the next business moat)

3. Understand the audience and who is the decision maker - numbers and context CEO/CFO, numbers and operating flow for COO, request of team and time required from CMO, request from the CPO and always think about the customer (internal and external) timelines and costs (budget asks). Remember simple tables save you time and space 

4. Remove transitions and too many clicks and use the company template.
   AI-created slides are easy to spot and often too formulaic and not in the style and culture of your business 

5. You’re presenting to management, not at a TED conference - images are important but rarely translate as well as you think. Same with emojis - semantics and clarity matter

6. Kill the (department and industry) jargon & if you have to use it explain it so simply a 5-year-old gets it 

7. Exec summary always - summarise asks, requests and next steps 

8. Remember content over design: design and layouts are important but the findings, asks and recommendations have to come across and land

9. When presenting you are primarily speaking to the room (virtual or IRL) first but now in hybrid and on-demand replays you have to remember you will have people reading, flicking through and watching after your walk-through 

10. Lead your presentation, set the guardrails and expectations upfront (time management is critical)

11. Have clear recommendations - if in doubt one problem two solutions. Preferred recommendation first and then back up with less time and emphasis 

12. Send pre-read (some execs expect this, whether they have time to read or not) and always link to data sources, excel/sheets, videos 

13. Always take note of the notes, decisions and follow-up actions 

Lastly, ask yourselves if you are a subject matter expert or a department head/lead does this translate so a non-expert understands it - will it pass the mum test? 

Good luck!