Basics of giving Exec. Briefings

Imagine you need executive approval. You have prepped a powerpoint pitch / storyboard / memo. You have slaved over it. Rewritten it. Validated it.  You are offered an appointment/audience on the calendar in two weeks but the time is really now. Suddenly, you spot the executive on their way to the washroom. (or in an elevator or at the coffee machine... In all honesty, I always found them in the three precious minutes they stole from a meeting to stride purposefully to the washroom.) There's no time to show a piece of paper or ask for a glance at a computer screen. Now. You can brief them Now.

Are you ready to:

• Keep ask narrow & specific
• Summarize in 2 minutes or less
• State it aloud - Don't rely on a ppt or paper

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#1 Lead with Relevance:

• The main thing they need to know
• Why is this important to executive
• Who else cares

Follow with Supposition

• The action we could take
• Alternatives if required

Support with evidence

• How do we know what we know
• What is source and how reliable is it

Add connections

• How this is connected to other things
• Where it may have happened before
• Cause /effect

#2 Recap

• Here's what you need to know; how we all feel about it; what we propose you need to do

The less urgent the audience's need to go the washroom… the more of the list can be covered.

But prepare to only have time to do top/bottom of list. The more time is crunched, the more one cuts out of the middle.