Presentation Training Tips:
How to Present to a Board of Directors

Gail was the Association Executive when I was president of the National Speakers Association. We planned the board meetings ahead of time at a health spa in Palm Springs. We would exercise in the morning, plan in the afternoon. She told me a story about her first board of directors presentation.

At Gail's first board meeting, she was just going to stand up and give a presentation. At three days' notice, Nido Qubein said, "Put your information on a flip chart so we can see it better."

By using good graphics, the board got a bigger view of what was going on. After her very first board of directors presentation, she got a standing ovation. Understand that presenting to the National Speakers Association Board is tougher than most, because we are all full time speakers!

Afterwards, she went to her room and cried, she was so exhausted, and it was so stressful. The point is: if Nido had not suggested the flip chart, she would have just stood up and her board of directors presentation would not have gone as well.

Presenting to a board of directors is very important. You work hard all year, but they only see you a couple of times a year as a package of everything you do, a picture of the association and what is really going on. It doesn't matter how efficient you are; if you do not present your ideas well, you will be perceived as less efficient.

When delivering a board of directors presentation, you should bring all the things that you are concerned about, what you and your staff have been criticized for, and handle any problems that you think are going to erupt. The importance of making an ally of the president, if possible, cannot be overestimated.

We instituted an idea that if you had a new program idea, it had to be presented to the staff one month before the board meeting so they could assess the implications, the cost and staff time beforehand. You have to plan and anticipate questions that will come up at the board of directors presentation.

Mr. Lewis Schneider advises to get in front of your boards and address them as much as possible. It is a problem if they are not used to your presentation style, especially if you have bad news, about not making budget, for example. Present as much good news as possible. Secondly, get to know them, and adapt your style as much as possible to theirs; if it is casual group and they wear khaki, don't go in to deliver a board of directors presentation with a blue suit on.

I encourage everybody to go to the board meeting room ahead of time for your board of directors presentation. Whether you are a speaker, a board person or an association executive, go to the room and get comfortable.

Patricia Fripp: http://www.fripp.com/article.boarddirect.html

Related: Board of Directors Presentation

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