Marissa writes: I give quarterly reports to the board of the organization I work for. I only have ten minutes to recap everything, and I feel like I’m talking faster and faster to get it all in. What can I do to feel like I’m giving an effective update?
Marissa, we get this question a lot! You’re in good company.
We have a content bias. Like Marissa, we feel like we have to get it all in, even though our time is limited. Couple things to remember: even if you could fit it all in, your audience couldn’t remember it all. Your job is to curate your message so that the board (in this case) gets the main message you want to convey, and you are supporting that message in several ways: examples, stories, data.
One of the problems we tend to run into is that we’re so in the weeds with our work that it’s hard to see the broader sweep. Get that perspective—part of the job of periodic updates is to highlight the momentum and arc of our work, not the minutiae. This presentation is an opportunity to give the news anchor version of what’s going on, not the long-form embedded journalist answer.
