There was a lot to unpack from the 45-minute information session. After all, three different governmental units evaluated the issue for over three years. We had not had a debriefing on the issue in a year. And the issue was an emerging one, ripe with complexity and uncertainty. Effective communication can be difficult in these types of information sessions.
As a board member, I was also a little disappointed with the presentation by the staff. The presenter was a senior official who was normally very good at presenting complex, complicated information in a manner easily digestible to a broad audience. The 45-minute information session was an uninspiring B-. These are a few lessons learned.
Information Sessions Are Invitations to Wander
Technical professionals usually get three to five minutes to address decision makers. Milestone (an action or event marking a significant change or stage) information sessions are common with problems with high levels of complexity and uncertainty because resolution usually takes years. Milestone-type information sessions provide some freedom to roam for 20 to 30 minutes. However, wandering the entire time does not equate to a more effective presentation.
The Fundamentals of Structure Are Always Important
Milestone-type information sessions need a structure. The choice of a topical-based structure for the main body of the presentation is a good one. However, in this case, there was not enough attention paid to the Opening. The entire presentation suffered from early confusion on how everything tied together. More time does mean that the fundamentals of structure are less important.
I recently watched US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell provide a summary of two days of Federal Reserve Board meetings. I later analyzed it and published the findings. Powell presented two days of meetings, including all of the uncertainty and complexity of the US economy in 10 minutes and in less than 1500 concise words. Technical professionals can do that too, if we use a formal approach like FINESSE and have the proper Structure.
Provide Relevance to the Target Audience
Milestone-type information can wrongly take a research & development form where the message is ‘well, that’s the status of our activities and information to date.’ Wrong! You are presenting to decision makers because your work fits into their realm of resource allocation. Tell them how your work fits into the context of their future actions and what steps they can take in the interim to help you advise them in the future.
In most cases, a guiding graphic can be provided to show the overall progress of where the team has been and where it is going. The guiding graphic is more decorative than informational (think of it more as an atlas than as Google maps on your phone), but it does relieve the tendency that many presenters have to share too many process details that the decision makers have little interest.
Provide Your Information in Advance
In this case example, the information was properly provided in writing before the session. However, the advance information did not provide the key points and overarching linkages. This equated to one missed opportunity in the up-front material and another missed opportunity in the verbal presentation.
Applying It
The fundamentals of Communicating with FINESSE apply to information sessions. Good Structure, the fifth bone of FINESSE, is important in longer sessions. So is Empathy – after all, all decision makers have more than one thing on their plate. And the average attention span of civilized humans is down from 12 seconds to 8 seconds.
You have no more than 15 minutes to make your points in an information session, despite whether you are allowed 30, 45, or even 60 minutes. Strive for effective communication regardless of the session format.
Founded by JD Solomon, Communicating with FINESSE is the community of technical professionals dedicated to more effective communication of decisions with high levels of complexity and uncertainty. Learn more about our publications, webinars, and workshops. Join the community for free.
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