A few months ago we were working with a group who had the daunting task of presenting to the 15 person executive leadership team in hopes of gaining approval for an expensive new project.

The team knew it was critical to address the executives’ questions and concerns, so that meant they needed to really know this audience. Who would want an overview? Who would want the details? Should the pace of the presentation be fast or slow?  Which members would pepper them with questions? Who should they answer in stream vs. off line?

Who Has The Answers?

The problem was that there was no one on the presenting team who could shed light on these points.

But, they realized that each member of the presenting team had had some exposure to at least one of the executive team members, so we suggested they use The People Profiler to gain some insights into the group as a whole.

So, one by one they profiled all the members of the executive team. Eight quick questions about how a person speaks, listens, questions, interacts, and moves.

When they came to someone that no one could answer the questions about, … they contacted that person’s executive assistant to assist.

Effective Detectives

Within an hour they had profiles for every one of the executive leadership team and could now put their strategy together of how the presentation would flow, how they would handle any questions and concerns, what information should be in the handout, and the pace and level of detail for the meeting.

They worked for the next week structuring the presentation to meet the needs of each of the executive team members and when the time came for the presentation they were totally prepared.

Beats the heck out of winging it.