A Tip For Giving Presentations To Management

I hope that you have enjoyed the article "How Purchasing Wins Favor In The C-Suite."

While the article itself covered the most important topics regarding communicating with senior management, I wanted to add one other tidbit here on this blog.

I learned this concept after I, as a Purchasing Representative at the time, had given a presentation to the CFO at a place I worked many years ago. After that presentation, my director sat me down and gave me feedback.

He - as a former military guy - said "You have to employ Situational Awareness so that you can modify your presentation on the fly. Did you notice how Tom (the CFO) was saying 'yep' and 'uh-huh' the second you concluded your sentences? They were your verbal clues that you were going too slow, giving too many details, or stating things he already knew. When that happens, you must pick up the pace and adjust your presentation accordingly. Now, if he was saying 'Wait a minute. Can you go over that again?' or squinting his eyes or flipping back to previous pages in his handouts, those would have been clues that you were going too fast. Always be aware of what your audience is doing. That's what Situational Awareness is all about - helping you adjust your presentation so that it works best for your audience."

Sage words. Words that I still try to remember every time I'm giving a presentation today. And I hope that, by passing on my ex-director's advice, I can help you communicate more effectively with your senior management, too.

For more on Situational Awareness (outside of a purchasing presentation context), check out http://www.army.mil/armyBTKC/focus/sa/index.htm and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situational_awareness

To Your Career,
Charles Dominick, SPSM
President & Chief Procurement Officer
Next Level Purchasing, Inc.
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