10 tips (and more) for presenting to the C-Suite!
Presenting to the C-Suite is perhaps one of the most perilous exercises in the professional life of an in-house lawyer, mainly because it is a rare occurrence, we lack experience, and if we were being completely honest, it's rather intimidating!
You find yourself in front of demanding executives who, I’m going to assume, do not share your love of legal minutiae or even a small piece of your legal expertise! At least, they clearly haven't made it their priority.
We can imagine them becoming impatient, and not in the way that Mariah Carey’s audience do before a concert at Carnegie Hall, far from it… Yet, important decisions can sometimes depend on presenting simplified answers to some truly complex legal questions.
It's a necessary evil.
How can you best present legal issues to your C-Suite, share your expertise, give an opinion and convey your ideas? How can you deliver your best ever C-Suite presentation and get them to give you the answers to the questions you need answering?
The response is to follow my 10 essential points (and so much more!) below.
Disclaimer: Sorry Folks! This article is particularly long, but stick with it and follow my advice and you are bound to succeed! Enjoy!
1. Follow a clear structure
It is essential to consider how your presentation will flow. We sometimes forget this, wrongly assuming that this doesn’t matter to your audience, but how many times have you sat through presentations where the presenter has read aloud the EVERY SINGLE WORD on the slides, without so much as a bullet point or a picture to distract us?
Don’t be this person - be prepared!
My 4 essential ingredients to delivering a great presentation:
- Start with an impactful title. The idea is to captivate and engage your audience from the beginning
- Use more images and minimal text. Reduce the text to the bare minimum and if you have it, prioritize bullet points (but not too many!)
- Use images within the text too. Use plenty of stories and examples, these will be easier to understand, making your message more memorable
- Repeat the essential points of the presentation. Remember that 10 minutes after a presentation, we remember 50% of it, 25% the next day, 10% a week later… Signpost the important parts to the audience
Remember...
- The slides are not the centre of your presentation, but merely a tool to support your message. Don't read them out word for word!
- Prioritize bullet points and avoid writing long sentences. Nobody reads fast enough to keep up anyway (and remember that you are much more interesting than the words on the slide - keep the focus on you!)
- Speak directly to your audience, this is the start of a dialogue.
2. Begin with the end in mind
Before you even start writing your presentation, define your objective. What do you want/need to achieve with this presentation? What message do you want to convey to your audience? What challenge does this presentation address? Agree this with your line manager (or the CEO if you're presenting to the Board). Asking these questions is crucial lest you risk going seriously off-topic and/or completely losing the attention, and worse, the trust of your audience.
3. Communicate with clarity and precision
Put your audience first. When presenting legal issues to the C-Suite, your presentation should be as simple and concise as possible (If you even try to present 40 technical slides in 15 minutes, you are heading for career suicide!)
- Get straight to the point, let them know why you are there. State the purpose of the presentation, what you need from them and the steps will lead you there. For example, "Today, I’m going to ask you to approve an authorization for a maximum amount of $150,000 to settle the dispute with Company XYZ. I’ll quickly present the background and analysis, then answer your questions."
- Save time by sharing the most technical or dense documents beforehand. This way, if you've sent the documents in advance, you can simply state: "I know you've received the documents in advance, so I'll highlight a few key points, then move directly to the discussion part of slide X, where I’ll ask for authorization to settle the dispute”. In other words, assume they've read the documents unless they tell you otherwise. Those present can also refer back to them (and delve deeper) later. Be careful not to exclude but highlight the crucial points for your demonstration!
4. Respect the confidential nature of the material (and your opinions!)
- Limit distribution of the material to members of the management team and/or the Board of Directors who need to see it. Do not share your presentation with external people, except for your external lawyer.
- Mind your language! Avoid using inappropriate humor, inside jokes, inappropriate images that could be shocking or discriminatory. Don't denigrate anyone. Stay positive! Put yourself in the shoes of someone outside of your organization who might see your document. Would they be shocked at what they saw? What if it ended up in front of an employment tribunal?
5. Remain humble
- Stay in your lane. Sometimes, when "everything is going smoothly," you could get carried away by your own enthusiasm. Be careful not to act as if you're the smartest person in the room (that's a turnoff). As a legal expert, your role when presenting to the C-Suite is to provide information (facts) and offer legal analysis on a specific point… No more!
- What if the C-Suite turns down your proposals? It's not the end of the world if they decide to go in a different direction from the one you proposed. There's no need to challenge or get aggressive (that would be counterproductive). There are probably plenty of reasons impacting their decision that have nothing to do with you. The C-Suite Members may have information that you may not necessarily be aware of. They may have other priorities or simply a different risk tolerance than yours. It's okay to point out the facts or analysis they may have missed, but above all, don't dig your heels in! Accept the decision and move on.
- Avoid legal jargon as much as possible! For the uninitiated and most business leaders, law can feel like complete gobbledegook. It can make people feel confused and uncomfortable, which is not ideal for getting your message across.
- Be patient and take the time to explain some basic concepts that will be key to a better understanding of your presentation.
- If you get a “yes”, STOP! If you keep presenting and talking - they might change their minds!
6. Your role is to ensure objectivity
In other words, don't overdo it. Present the facts objectively. Resist the temptation to exaggerate the facts in your favor (or your reasoning) and minimize those that would work against you!
- It’s normal to have a preferred option. If so, share it (that’s what you’re there for!), just don’t change the facts, your role here is to give the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth (so help me God)! No management team can make an informed decision without knowing the truth about the facts or knowing them in full.
- Be thorough. Offer other options, even if you find them less appealing. Present their strengths/weaknesses from your perspective and the reasons for choosing the option you defend. The decision makers need to have all the information at their disposal to make the best possible choices.
7. Prepare for Interruptions (you will get them!)
You're going to be interrupted and you're going to be absolutely great! First of all, congratulate yourself for getting questions, it means they are paying attention, they are listening to you and are interested in what you're saying.Plan and include time for questions. If you only have 15 minutes, plan for 10 minutes of presentation, 5 minutes for questions and share this at the start of your presentation.
When you address a particularly technical point, make sure to pause and ask if anyone has questions. They will thank you for it!
You're being asked questions? That's great. You’ll need to think quickly to respond to the more challenging ones!
- Don't know the answer? Just say: "I don't know, but I'll find out and get back to you." That's all you can do, just try not to do it 10 times in a row!
- Anticipate tricky questions
- What questions would YOU ask about each of the points presented?
- Test your presentation on a colleague (being mindful of confidentiality), what questions do they ask? If you can, find out the type of questions each member of the C-Suite asks. Should you expect any questions in particular?
- Better yet, avoid endless questions by anticipating what these might be and head them off at the chase by addressing these issues as part of your presentation
Less is more. Don't get lost in details that could lead you away from the overall objective of why you are there. Keep your objective front of mind and focus on your desired outcome.
8. To conclude, propose an action plan
You're not just there for a “Show and Tell”, you are asking them to endorse your proposal and make a decision!
The end of your presentation must include a call to action. How to implement what you've presented? What are the first steps? What do you need from them? Is it permissible to take certain actions in a dispute or to make significant legal changes within the company? A budget for implementing technology or key conditions in a strategic transaction? Whatever the case, make sure to ALWAYS state clearly and concisely what you need (or the next steps) from them.
9. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse (because practice makes perfect)
Unless you're a natural speaker, I recommend rehearsing your presentation many times: to master the content, the structure and your nerves if necessary!
- Know your subject inside out. Make sure you fully understand the legal issues and the facts. Anticipate your audience’s questions. Hesitating too often during the presentation, looking for your notes, or being unable to answer questions repeatedly (when you're presented as the expert!) could be fatal to your career.
- Rehearse! Rehearse! Rehearse! If you're a nervous speaker, you'll be much more comfortable if you've practised the presentation a dozen times.
- Even better, ask your colleagues and collaborators to help you prepare. If you're not used to presenting to company executives, the help of your peers will be even more valuable. They can give you feedback on your slides and your presentation style and ask the tricky questions you hadn't thought of. The basics that can be the difference between a great presentation and a disaster!
- Last but not least, invest time in development that will enhance your public speaking skills, it will serve you throughout your professional life. Ask HR or your line manager to fund this training.
10. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail!
The thing that will get in the way of you delivering a great presentation isn’t always the presentation itself, or the tricky questions from your audience, no! It will always be the smallest thing that will get in your way.
Here's your new “anti-drama” checklist:
- Check all your equipment and presentation in advance. Make sure you have the correct cable to connect your computer to the screen (in the room you are presenting!)
- Practice connecting the audio system if you need it (there is bound to be someone who is dialling in from a galaxy far far away)
- Arrive early to connect the equipment and check that everything works, you'll be much more at ease
- Have paper copies of your presentation at hand and/or on a USB stick in case the computer breaks down
- If you are going to distribute a document, check how many copies you need (and have some extra copies as a back up)
- Send the presentation by email just in case
- The discussion prior to yours is bound to overrun, be prepared to wait in the hallway (yes, all those feelings of waiting outside the School Headmaster’s Office will come flooding back!)
- Watch out for typos in your presentation. You are supposed to be a lawyer who is detail-oriented, on a big screen, they will be painful to everyone. Don't rely solely on the spell checker, double and triple proof read it and have a colleague do the same
- Anticipate your presentation being “cut short” (It's very common!), don’t try and squeeze in the same information into a shortened time frame, consider the essential parts of your argument and present those
Last but not least, I give you my 3 tips for improving your posture:
- Face your audience (it is a discussion after all!). You don’t need to turn your back on them to read out your presentation, they can do that for themselves!
- Make eye contact! Look at all the members of your audience in the eyes, they are the “windows to the soul” and you glean non-verbal cues from what they DON’T say.
- Breathe! This will help you better control your speech rate and manage your stress!
Presenting legal issues to the C-Suite can be a challenging experience. The better prepared you are, the smoother the presentation will go. It's a balance of facts, succinctness, and dialogue!
Knowing how to present is a necessary skill to acquire whether you want to progress within your in-house legal team or you aspire to gain a more senior position in another company. Don't be afraid, grasp the nettle and seize the opportunities to present to your superiors. The keys to success are simple: prepare as much as you can, focus on your objective and get to the point (quickly!).
Best of luck!