Preparation truly is the key to the success of meetings and presentations. Just yesterday, we had a customer presentation. The Business Development Manager (BDM) had previously inquired about the customer’s agenda, and we should have been in an excellent position to prepare well in advance – even weeks ahead. However, we left some of the preparation to the last minute, which created additional, unnecessary stress.
In the end, the BDM drafted the presentation, and a few of us worked on refining it until we were satisfied with the questions we wanted to address and the message we were trying to get across. It was a close call in terms of timing, and there was work completed outside regular business hours.
I took the lead in the presentation, mainly because I was the most practiced in delivering it. Having been a part of all the refinement meetings, a role no one else had filled, it made sense to swap roles and let the BDM focus on taking notes, asking questions, and outlining action items.
The result? It worked brilliantly, leaving everyone content, both our team and the client. The meeting produced clear actions, and the messages were well received on both ends.
We were prepared, and it went well, but it was just in time, and I must confess, I feel a bit grayer as a result.