Business Presentations: Scientists as Speakers

I just spent a few days with several scientists from the pharmaceutical industry.  Their company wanted them to be more persuasive when presenting their research to business decision makers.

To prepare for the assignment, I conducted a series of interviews to determine what they thought they needed, and what the decision makers thought they needed.  The two groups had very different points of view, and they were both right.

The scientists said their top concerns were voice, getting to the point, and capturing attention.  The bosses on the decision-making panel said that the scientific presenters tended to think that their data was the presentation.  The bosses wanted the data interpreted.  They wanted to know what the researchers thought about the data, and what the company should do given the results.

I think they were both right.  They were just coming at it from different perspectives.  The scientists were nervous, spoke very softly, and had an attitude about speaking persuasively–that it was smarmy and unprofessional.

The bosses were tired of being dragged through endless PowerPoint slides of data when all they really wanted to know was, “Should we continue to invest in this research project or not?  And why?”

I’m happy to report that progress was made on all fronts.