Presenting to Boards: Practical Skills for Corporate Presentations
by Julie Garland McLellan

ISBN: 978-1451594065, Publisher: Great Governance, USA, March 2010
Reviewed by: Ralph Ward1 April 2011

Books written for board members are growing common (I've written four, with a fifth on the way). But books for the folks who have to interact with boards -- company staff, counsel, the corporate secretary, advisors -- remain few and far between. That's why I'm so pleased to see the new book by Julie Garland McLellan, Presenting to Boards.

McLellan is an Australia-based governance consultant, and gives first-person insights on how to sell your info to that toughest of audiences, the board of directors. At just $24.95US, you can't beat the price, and I advise anyone who works with boards to buy a copy of Julie's book ASAP.

But here's a taste, looking at a particularly tricky board situation -- how do you present to the board when it's "acting up"? Since the board is at the peak of the company, and its outside members tend to have pretty impressive egos, getting everyone to focus, work as a team, and stick to the rules can be like herding cats.

McLellan pinpoints the top "unproductive behaviours" that can make boardroom presentations a misery:

  • Confidentiality. Is there a member of the board who tends to prove leaky to outside sources? If you're presenting highly-sensitive info, it may be wise to ask the chair to give a quick comment to the full board on their fiduciary duty to maintain the privacy of board info. If you're a non-employee presenting info to this board from the outside, you have every right to stress the importance of confidentiality of what you're sharing.
  • One conversation. "Side-bar" whispering or even discussions among directors during the presentation, if done at all, should be very brief and quiet. If a chat continues, McLellan advises the presenter "look to the chairman to see if he or she will say something." Should this fail, just stop talking until the chatters get the point (don't try to out-shout them). Boardrooms may be intense at times, but should never be rude.
  • Personal animosity. This director and that director just don't play well together, and your presentation gives them a chance to squabble. Perhaps you're trying to make your case to differing factions on the board, who agree on nothing. Maybe a director makes clear he just doesn't like you. "This is definitely the chairman's job to sort out," writes McLellan.
  • Harping on. You may have a tightly planned presentation, but a member of the board can easily derail it with repetitive, off-topic, or ill-timed questions. Or, perhaps, one point in your spiel leads the board off into a ten minute digression on why the company's delivery trucks are painted blue rather than white. In any case, appeal to the chair to put discussion and questions off until the end. Since the board chair is the director most acutely aware of covering a full agenda with limited time, expect results.

1 Ralph Ward is the publisher of The Boardroom Insider