How to present to executives

Presenting to executives is hard. Either you get a ton of feedback, most of which feels irrelevant to what you were actually trying to say, or you get a "great job" and no feedback at all. Our natural inclination in these situations is that the executive doesn't understand what you're talking about. If they don't, that's your failing, not theirs.

From the post:

Everyone has worked with a terrible executive at some point in their career, but most executives aren’t awful. Almost all executives are outstanding at something; it’s just that often that something isn’t the topic you’re communicating about with them. When you combine that lack of familiarity with your domain with limited time for the topic at hand, communication is a challenge.

When working with executives, it's important to think about:

• How the executive likes to consume information. Are they a visual thinker? Do they need raw data to back up the facts?
• Do you have a frame of reference that you can connect to that helps them pattern match?
• Are you asking for something from them, or giving them an update?

If you don't know the answers to the above, it's ok. Work with the people that do know the executive and get feedback from them about what will land well, and what still needs work.

Once you're in the room with the executive, be ready for a discussion. If you're challenged and have an answer that's backed up with data, share it. If you're challenged on an opinion, say thank you and that you'll take it in to consideration and follow up on <date>.

I recommend reading the whole post from Will, as it covers specific presentation formats (SCQA) and common pitfalls to avoid.