Simplify, Engage, Inspire
Presenting Complex Learning with Confidence and Impact
Superpowers for Product Managers - I recently sat down with Adam Wakeling on The Product Development podcast to dive into using superpower skills in daily product management work.
The presentation is scheduled for 3 weeks out. Your mission is to educate your stakeholders on a new technology that has the potential to disrupt your roadmap. You must bridge the knowledge gap by presenting technical details while highlighting the strategic impacts.
By learning the new technology and collaborating with technical leaders, you feel a new direction is needed in your roadmap. How do you communicate complex information to your stakeholders and get their buy-in to the change of direction?
This is one of the most important presentations that you've done. You need to present critical technical learning while driving the decision to change direction.
This article is a step-by-step guide to prepare and deliver this high-stakes presentation.
Step 1: Define Your Objective
Based on your learning, decide your key message. This is the main takeaway from your learning. Tune your message to the needs of your audience. Focus on using your knowledge to solve a problem for your audience.
Next, think about what success looks like at the end of the presentation. Is the outcome approval, a decision, or a call to action?
What is your audience expecting from the presentation? Note the gap between your objective and the audience's expectations. This is where you focus your story - helping your audience to bridge the gap of their expectations toward your learning.
Consider how you can get early feedback on what the audience expects. This will give you clues on connecting your learning to your audience.
Have a clear objective in mind to focus your preparation.
Step 2: Structuring Your Presentation
Set a clear structure for your presentation. Write your key points on a small note card to keep your story concise. Recheck that your story is logical from the perspective of your audience.
Break down complex topics into clear sections from your focused learning. Your notes and questions from learning can guide you to 3-4 main points for each smaller part.
Weave in the broad trends that are relevant to your audience using your ongoing serendipity learning.
Get some early feedback on this structure. Since you have a simple structure that fits on a small notecard, you can do this in 5 minutes with coworkers.
Iron out a logical structure by thinking about how you will help the audience.
Step 3: Support with Evidence
Next, layer in data to add credibility to your message. Examples of data: graphs, pie charts, percentages in a quote, or numbers of cases in the past month.
Real-world examples can illustrate further. A screenshot from a demo or a quote from a customer for example.
Layer in visuals to help the audience understand your points. Add icons and images to support your points.
Give meaning to your evidence with visual data.
Step 4: Engaging Your Audience
Look at the presentation through your audience's eyes. Prepare for their questions and have strategies to respond. Most of your responses will be in your talk track. You might need a backup slide to simplify your response to a question.
Think about how to involve your audience. For general approval, then you need to pause after each slide to let the audience absorb your points. For an interactive presentation, then consider discussion prompts or polls to get the audience involved.
Practice the presentation through dry runs with affected teams. Update if there is significant feedback. As you get closer to the presentation, stop making changes and focus on your talk track.
Immerse yourself in the presentation for the day before presenting. Delay other complex topics until later to stay focused.
Practice for confident delivery.
Step 5: Closing with Impact
Summarize your main points. This is how you make sure your message lands with the audience. A good start is to highlight how to apply the learning that you shared in the presentation. This connects the points in the presentation to your message.
Clearly state the next steps using motivational language. Visuals such as icons provide an accent on the next steps.
Practice the closing separately so you can end strongly. Many people focus on the main points and forget to work on their closing. Often you have 1-2 minutes to wrap up your presentation before you lose your audience. Being ready to hit your high points can get you the feedback you need to take the next steps.
Rehearse your summary ahead and close strong.
Using These Steps in an Example
Suppose your stakeholders want to know about the impacts of AI on your SaaS product. Most of your competitors have announced they provide AI-driven failure predictions on their dashboards for early customer action before a failure impacts service.
You have learned about predictive analytics and your competitors. You have met with many of your customers and you follow market developments that relate to your customers. You have a lot of knowledge to share on this topic!
Here are the steps for this example
If you want to see the full example, the template is here (available to paid subscribers).
Conclusion - Simplify, Engage, Inspire
Many product managers face the challenge of distilling their extensive learning into key points that resonate in high-stakes presentations. Preparation, coupled with diverse feedback, is essential for conveying complex topics effectively.
By following these steps, you can help your audience grasp the significance of your insights and their impact on the product. As you deliver your message, you’ll spark curiosity and foster meaningful discussions.
Conclude with a compelling call to action, and leave your audience not just informed but ready to act. Turn your knowledge into momentum that drives real change.
Many thanks to TLDR Product for listing Product Management IRL articles! This newsletter has a diverse list of product management articles twice a week.
Last week’s backstory for paid subscribers was a story about handling a self-sufficient product team. When your product team doesn't want a product leader.
Connect to Amy on LinkedIn, Threads, Instagram and X/Twitter