Give a Winning Board Presentation
February 27, 2023
How do you present to a board of directors? How do you present something to a board? What’s different about presenting to the board? What does a board presentation look like? How do you master your board presentations?
Meet the Author: Benjamin Ball
Ben is the founder of Benjamin Ball Associates and leads the presentation coaching and pitch deck creation teams. Formerly a corporate financier in the City of London, for 20+ years he’s helped businesses win with better pitches and presentations, particularly investor pitches. He is a regular speaker and a guest lecturer at Columbia Business School and UCL London. Follow Ben on LinkedIn or visit the contact page.
What Is the Challenge In a Board Presentation?
Presenting to the board can appear to be challenge. But at the same time it’s a great opportunity to stand out and impress: you can showcase yourself with your board presentation. In this article you have ten specific tips to improve your board of directors presentations.
One of the biggest challenges when you present to the board is knowing at what level to present. How much do you need to give background? How much detail is needed? Do you need to address every objection? For these reason, people often struggle to make their presentations to the board work.
What Does the Board Want From Your Presentation?
The most important thing to understand is that board members want answers, not problems. They are not there to mark your homework; their job is to make decisions based on your expert advice.
Presenting to the board, like board report writing, is a core business skill. And it’s a skill you can learn. Over the last 15 years we’ve coached hundreds of people to be brilliant presenters at board meetings.
Do please call us and we’ll tell you about our presentation coaching – it’s fast and good value.
To help you master the skills of a high-stakes presentation, our coaches have shared their top ten lessons for creating and delivering killer c-level presentations. Their advice is based on over 15 years of successfully coaching senior managers globally.
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Top Ten Tips for How to Present to the Board
Let’s review each of these tips in more detail:
1. Your board wants answers, not problems
Imagine being a board director. You have big responsibilities. Your brief is wide and you regularly need to make decisions based on limited knowledge. When someone presents at a board meeting you assume that you are listening to an expert. You want them to give you advice. What you don’t want is someone who sits on the fence and says ‘on the one hand – on the other hand…’ without reaching a conclusion.
As a presenter you need to do the hard work for the directors so that your presentation to the board of directors lays out clearly what the issues are, why they are important and what should be done. If you are very good you will also look at alternative approaches and argue why those will not work. You may also assess risks.
By taking this approach you show that you understand the issues and that the board can rely on your good judgement.
2. Keep your presentation to the board short
Most board directors are very busy and have a huge amount on their plate. When giving a board presentation your job is to make it easy for the board to make decisions. You’ll find that you will be most successful if you say less, and say it better. What do I mean by that? Don’t waste time stating the obvious. You do not need to tell them that climate change is important or that the war in Ukraine has increased energy prices.
You will look more impressive when you present if you build on the board’s existing knowledge rather them telling them stuff they already know.
Read more about our award-winning executive presentation coaching and how it will help you impress in front of the board.
3. Your presentation should get to the point quickly
What do you say in the opening words of your high-stakes presentations? How do you grab attention and show that what you are saying will be valuable to the board? If you want to impress you want to quickly lay out why you are there and what you are looking for from the board members.
The quicker you get to the meat of the topic the better. Do not start with extensive background and never leave the punchline to your closing words.
If you lay out your ‘ask’ at the very start of your presentation then each board member will listen more attentively to what you are saying and better understand how everything you say points to your conclusion.
Only bad board presentations leave the ‘ask’ to the end.
Another way to make your board feel comfortable is to start by talking about things in which they believe. For example, if you start your presentation by stating that the world is flat, you will alienate most people. Instead, you want to get your board members nodding along with you towards the start of your presentation – so long as you are not stating the obvious.
4. Tell the directors their decision is important
As we said above, your board members are busy people. To get the result you want, you should put their decision in context. For instance, what would be the result of delaying a decision? What is the impact on the bottom line of the right decision? How big a risk is making the wrong decision?
These are the sort of questions you want to address relatively early in your presentation. If you tell your board the danger of failure is important, high risk and expensive, you’ll grab their attention.
For example, one client recently was presenting to the board to get final budget approval for a major office move. She was worried that the board would simply end up discussing who would get the corner offices and what colour the chairs would be. So, to show them how important their decision was, she started: “This £50m decision is one of the biggest decisions this board has made. And it impacts the lives of our 2,000 colleagues.” After that, nobody would dare get lost in trivial detail.
Find out how intensive executive presentation coaching will help you become a powerful confident presenter.
Why Pick Benjamin Ball Associates for Your Presentation Coaching
At Benjamin Ball Associates, we’ve been coaching business people to improve their business communication skills for over 15 years. Our coaching is fast and effective. We work with individuals and with companies, one-to-one and in groups. Call us today to learn more.
“I honestly thought it was the most valuable 3 hours I’ve spent with anyone in a long time.”
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5. Your presentation is often won before the board meeting
Surprises at board meetings are high risk. In reality, the biggest board decisions are generally agreed well before the board meeting. You should use your board presentation for final sign-off and approval only.
For example, how many board members or key people can you speak to before your board meeting? The more people you consult and listen to before the meeting, the better you will succeed. If everyone on the board feels they have been involved and agrees with what you are presenting, you will be more likely to carry the board with you.
If people have raised objections in your discussions before the board meeting, then address those objections in your presentation. People want to be heard and appreciated.
6. You are the expert when presenting to the board
While many of the board may be strong, daunting figures, they are unlikely to be experts in your specialist area. You are presenting because you have expertise. If you don’t know more than them, then you are not the right person to be presenting, or you are looking at the wrong thing. You should be educating the board members – they should learn from you. /
7. Minimise use of slide decks in senior-level presentations
You can waste a huge amount of time preparing PowerPoint. But PowerPoint slides usually reduce your impact in board presentations. Remember, board members are short of time, have low boredom thresholds and want to get t the point quickly. So, instead of writing a board meeting pitch deck, put your efforts into a high-quality board note and a short, punchy summary talk.
Some things you should work on for your next board meeting presentation:
– Use language that makes your board comfortable. For example, what’s most important to them? Is it sales, profits, margins, safety, cash flow? Talk about what matters to them.
– What metaphors do they use in the board? Do they talk about driving the business? Do they talk about nurturing and growing the company? Or do they talk about battling the competition and fighting market conditions? When you use the board’s own favourite metaphors, you will be speaking their language.
8. Use stories and examples when pitching to the board
One of my favourite sayings for pitches and presentations is: “Facts get forgotten, but stories get repeated”. A good story is usually more compelling than the most convincing numbers. Yet too many board presentations fail to apply the power of a compelling story.
A good story in your presentation to the board can be a multi-tool. It can do many jobs at once. A powerful story can help bring to life a complex idea. A story can make it easy for a board member to understand what drives your recommendation and a strong story will give the board member something they will remember and repeat.
Find out how intensive executive presentation coaching will help you become a powerful confident presenter.
9. Make your boardroom presentation easy for directors, and fun
One common mistake when presenting to the board is to make your presentation too long and too complicated. Just because you are smart and your board members are smart does not mean that your board presentation needs to show how much work you have done. Complexity is off-putting. The human brain loves simplicity. A boardroom presentation should be made simple for your audience.
Having worked on hundreds of successful board presentations, we are often surprised how simple the best presentations are. But turning complex presentations into simple presentations is hard. Anybody can fill a presentation with detail. It takes real skill to convince your board with just a handful of smart ideas and cast-iron logic.
10. Prepare your presentation rigorously
Test your presentation on other people. Show it to your boss. Ask people to pick holes in your arguments. Be tough on yourself. Keep working at it and fixing it until you are completely happy. And practise it out loud. Not to memorise it, but to check if it is good enough. You should be fixing and changing your presentation up until the last minute.
For you to be successful in your high-stakes presentations, you want to be well-prepared. So many people bring in a coach to help them prepare. That way you can stress-test your ideas, rehearse and improve your presentation, then go into the board feeling confident that you are ready.
How do you do this? Call us. We spend our lives polishing board presentations.
How to be Brilliant at Boardroom Presentations
Get some expert help. If you want to really impress when you next pitch to the board of directors, then get in touch. We’ve been helping executives present to the board for over 15 years. Hundreds of businesses have benefitted from our fast and efficient coaching expertise.
Call Louise Angus, our client services director on +44 20 7018 0922 or click below, for a no-obligation chat about how we can add value to your board-level presentations with expert coaching.
Speak to Louise today to master your board presentations
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We can help you present brilliantly. Thousands of people have benefitted from our tailored in-house coaching and advice – and we can help you too.
“I honestly thought it was the most valuable 3 hours I’ve spent with anyone in a long time.”
Mick May, CEO, Blue Sky
For 15+ years we’ve been the trusted choice for leading businesses and executives throughout the UK, Europe and the Middle East. We’ll help you improve corporate presentations through presentation coaching, public speaking training and expert advice on pitching to investors.
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FAQ: How to Give a Winning Board Presentation
Q: How do you prepare for a board presentation?
Start by knowing your audience. Board members expect clear, concise information, so you need to talk about key insights, not unnecessary details. Don’t talk history. Prepare a structured presentation with a strong opening, a clear middle, and a confident conclusion. Practising out loud will help you refine your delivery.
Should you distribute your paper beforehand?
Yes. First, you need to learn how to write a board report. When you have sent round a board paper beforehand (and it is well written) people will come with a better understanding of what you want to say. It also means you can say less when you present. Keep your board paper short and make sure you have a great executive summary in your board paper.
How do you keep board members engaged?
Most importantly, keep your board presentation short. The shorter the better. Get to the point quickly and keep your presentation targeted on your objective. Cut anything not essential. Do not read from slides. Ideally, don’t use any slides/. Make eye contact, speak with confidence, and invite discussion. If you sound engaged, they’ll stay engaged.
What are the biggest mistakes you can make in a board presentation?
Death by PowerPoint. Talking for too long. Going off on tangents. Not getting to the point. Board members want high-level insights, not endless details. Stick to the most relevant points and be ready to elaborate if they ask.
How do you handle tough questions from the board?
Stay calm and professional. If you don’t know the answer, don’t panic—acknowledge the question and offer to follow up with the right information. If a question challenges your position, respond with confidence and back up your points with facts.
How do you manage time effectively?
Board meetings are time-sensitive, so stick to your allotted time or use less time than allocated. Practise your presentation to ensure you stay on track. If discussions run long, be ready to adjust your content and focus on the most critical points. Have a super short version of your presentation ready in case they run out of time.
What should you do if a board member interrupts you?
Expect interruptions—it’s part of a boardroom dynamic. Listen carefully, respond briefly, and then guide the discussion back to your key points. If the conversation drifts too far, politely refocus the room.
How do you make a strong closing statement?
Summarise your key takeaways and clearly state any actions or decisions needed from the board. End with confidence, thank them for their time, and invite any final thoughts or questions. A strong close leaves a lasting impression.
If you’d like to improve your skills at presenting to the board, get in touch. Our coaching has helped hundreds of people shine in board of directors presentations.
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