How to Communicate with Non-Technical Stakeholders — Transcript

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1. 0:00I think we've reached a good critical mass. I'll  get this started. It's awesome to see the global
2. 0:05community here. If you're on the east coast of the  US like myself and Emanuele this is a nice little
3. 0:11lunch and learn. If you're in California - the  West Coast - this is a nice thing you could sip
4. 0:15with your coffee. And if you're in the UK, Europe,  and Asia, this is a nice way to wind down your
5. 0:19day. So welcome everyone. This is an effective  stakeholder communication workshop and you'll be
6. 0:24learning two things in the next 30 minutes. One:  how to successfully pitch or tell your story to
7. 0:30senior stakeholders and executives. And two:  how to answer questions effectively, clearly,
8. 0:35and concisely. I believe communication is best  learned through interaction and for that reason
9. 0:40I have the pleasure of introducing Emanuele who's  joining me to cover these communication concepts.
10. 0:45Emanuele, would you like to introduce yourself?  Yeah thanks Chris for for having me today this is
11. 0:48going to be fun it's going to be a great session  um it's it's really it's really something that is
12. 0:54close and dear to my heart. I've started my career  as a data engineer focused on on trading systems
13. 1:01uh in capital markets and moved on roughly um  through Professional Services so I moved on to
14. 1:08Consulting started working with other firms and  really focusing on what is the data engineering
15. 1:14in the capital markets. It's brought me to a  few different stages of the journey from more
16. 1:22junior to more senior that really helped me focus  loads on the communication. I've had to speak with
17. 1:29senior executives like the C-level type, white  Air, that's very interesting to... and more junior
18. 1:36executive middle management... to then give it  all up and go back to being a hands-on engineer
19. 1:44myself, so go back to writing code and model  tables and pipelines all that so I've had I've had
20. 1:51lots of fun learning to tailor my communication  from super maybe more junior audience to more
21. 2:00senior person to executives that care about  KPIs and business objectives to executives who
22. 2:05care about more technology so be great to be here  today with you and and discuss those um and have
23. 2:12some fun while we're doing it. Awesome, thank  you so much for joining me Emanuele and we're
24. 2:16going to be doing a lot of fun role playing  exercises together. I'm Chris, communication
25. 2:21coach for tech and data professionals and I  run The Hidden Speaker Community where I help
26. 2:26tech and data professionals become effective,  confident communicators. What I saw in the tech
27. 2:31industry was that was the skill that held a lot  of people back in their career. My mission is to
28. 2:35help close that gap. The purpose of these webinars  is to equip every one of you in this audience with
29. 2:41actionable tips you can use to start your journey  to confident communication. So let's get started
30. 2:46with part one, which is how to successfully...  successfully pitch or tell your story to senior
31. 2:51stakeholders or executives. So I want you to all  imagine I'm an executive standing in an elevator.
32. 2:57I have a big fancy corporate building 300 floors.  I'm going up to floor 300 and we stop first at
33. 3:03floor one and Emanuele comes in and he uses this  opportunity to pitch to me some great idea that
34. 3:08he has. Alright, so as Emanuele gives this pitch I  want you to pay attention to two things: one, what
35. 3:15is he talking about what is the topic? And two,  what action does he want me to take? Pretend to
36. 3:19be in my shoes as the executive and see if this is  a good, clear, concise communication. So Emanuele,
37. 3:25stage is yours. All right so let's assume I'm  walking in the elevator here and find you in.
38. 3:31Hey Chris how was uh how was your weekend? It was  great how about you? Yeah it was very nice thanks
39. 3:36it was uh you know we celebrated do little things  here and there spent some time outdoors with kids
40. 3:41and it was fun to yeah it was fun to be there and  nice um I was I was chatting with with your team
41. 3:48last week Tuesday I think yeah it was Tuesday  I met I met with one of your salesperson and
42. 3:55um they were saying just some trouble with this  spreadsheet there these numbers don't match up and
43. 4:03it's not real clear what what what they're doing  but um is that that did you know about this? I
44. 4:12did not know about this. What... what should we do  about this? Um yeah so I guess my team could uh my
45. 4:21team could meet with your team we could talk about  the problems and see where you know if there's
46. 4:26anything that we... I am so sorry Emanuele. We  reached floor 300 I have to get to my office.
47. 4:31I'll catch you another time alright? Alright.  Okay okay Chris I...I'll ping you on Slack.
48. 4:36Take care. Cheers. Alright to everybody watching  that interaction please do put in the comments
49. 4:42what you think: was that good communication? Was  it bad communication? What are the reasons for
50. 4:47your choice? And there is a bit of delay from  Streamyard where... which is what I'm using to
51. 4:52stream this and Linkedin so if I don't see your  comment immediately that's the reason why. But
52. 4:57please do put in the comments what did you think  about that interaction? And while while we're
53. 5:17waiting for those comments to come in: what were  you doing purposefully when you were communicating
54. 5:23with me? I was well I was trying to showcase one  of... one... one of the main things that I think
55. 5:32hold Engineers back when you're talking to senior  stakeholders which is like you're overwhelmed
56. 5:39you're talking with some business guy maybe  in a suit in your fancy elevator you're going
57. 5:43to the executive suite on the 300th floor and I'm  just there rambling. I want to tell you something
58. 5:49but I have no idea how to articulate that and I'm  just literally overwhelmed that I'm even getting a
59. 5:54chance to talk to you um but I really want to get  my point across and just get I just get around in
60. 6:01circles and I don't get anywhere and it's even  weird that I'll be riding the elevator with you
61. 6:07all the way up to the 300th floor right.  I stayed in the elevator just to tell you
62. 6:12exactly something but still got overwhelmed and  didn't deliver when I had a chance. Perfect and
63. 6:19a lot of comments reflect what you said: wasted  opportunity, unclear message. Daniel says slow
64. 6:25to define the problem unclear next steps. Oh...  And that... that's a great encapsulation of it
65. 6:30because as an executive what I need is for you to  get to the point really fast. I want everyone to
66. 6:37imagine that whenever you speak to someone in  that kind of position of authority who's very
67. 6:40short on time you're always having to watch your  watch and make sure that you get to the point as
68. 6:45quickly as possible or you'll lose the opportunity  to influence them and persuade them of something.
69. 6:50So something important you brought up Emanuele was  you felt really nervous imagining that I was this
70. 6:55executive. Have you found any techniques to help  you when you go into these kinds of situations? Um
71. 7:02not so much of a technique but just get to do it  like do it as much like they are... they are just
72. 7:07people like yourself and if you're working now  it might sound odd to say right in a corporate
73. 7:12setup clearly the priorities are different but at  the end of the day we're all there working. We're
74. 7:16all trying to solve an issue and look they'll be  more than welcoming if you're solving something
75. 7:21if you're solving a pain point you know coming to  the meeting to talk to them with that idea that
76. 7:25you have something of value to add I find that  most of the times they are receptive and if that
77. 7:32is not a good time they'll just tell you hey look  let's talk about this later on... Mhm... but I...
78. 7:39I didn't I found that really doing that more and  more helped me and make sure that I have a clear
79. 7:44message for them if I have nothing to say just  say hi, talk about the weather don't waste the
80. 7:50opportunity rambling um you can always send it  like if you you see somebody in the morning and
81. 7:55you didn't get a chance to convey the message  you can ping them back later on and say sorry
82. 8:01got short on time today I would like to talk  about this and shoot your shot at that point but
83. 8:07rather if you're somebody who as in the example  maybe doesn't get it's better suited to write the
84. 8:18message as opposed to speak the message that's  totally fine um just take the time to do so as
85. 8:23opposed to try it on...I love that and it speaks  to the importance of communication in different
86. 8:28kinds of scenarios. If we're talking to a friend,  personal setting: talking off the top of our head,
87. 8:33going in different places is more okay because  the purpose of those conversations is relationship
88. 8:37building. But in business efficiency is the name  of the game. You have to get to the point. You
89. 8:42have to add value and in as short as time as  possible. So it's always important to think
90. 8:46about the context that you're in when you're  communicating. What I'd love to do now is talk
91. 8:50about the good example. So I know you were  doing several things to purposefully be bad
92. 8:54at communication. Now let's repeat the scenario.  We're in the elevator I'm going to floor 300. You
93. 8:59walk in. Give me a good example of that pitch.  Okay let's try this right so I'm walking in
94. 9:05the elevator doors again so... Hey Chris hi how  are you? How was your weekend? I'm doing well,
95. 9:09how about you? Yeah it was very nice thanks uh  look real quick before we get to the floor I spoke
96. 9:14with some of your team last week they were talking  about some problems with the spreadsheet where the
97. 9:18numbers didn't match up uh my team has experienced  doing those things um so I was thinking we'll run
98. 9:24a little uh we write a little proposal we'll send  it to you we'll speak with your team it shouldn't
99. 9:28take too much your time maybe we meet again this  week for 10 minutes we'll give you a run on of
100. 9:33what we could do to help you fix those problems if  indeed there are problems um and we can reconvene
101. 9:40does that sound like a plan? Sounds good to me,  oh I have my floor here I'm gonna get off. I'll
102. 9:44talk to... enjoy breakfast. Thank you, you too.  Alright, so that was a lot more short and concise.
103. 9:50And what else were you doing to make that better  communication? I was just trying to cut the chit
104. 9:55chat. Unfortunately as much as I love it uh and  as much as you know it's it's nice to connect with
105. 10:00people through that um that was not the time and  place I really want to convey the message that hey
106. 10:06I know you have a problem my team can add value  can help you solve the pain point can we can we
107. 10:12actually talk about it if if that is a problem and  that is that a problem for you your team thinks
108. 10:18it is is it really and in that case my team can  help you can we look into how mhm so that was the
109. 10:25message that I was trying to convey I was really  holding my horses because I didn't want to ramble
110. 10:29too much talk about technology it did feel like  this elevator ride was shorter than the previous
111. 10:34one. Yes it was. It was...we upgraded the elevator  since that... Okay fair enough. Perfect and what
112. 10:42you spoke to is the importance of again getting to  the point as quickly as possible. Whenever anyone
113. 10:47goes into these kinds of situations where you  need to talk to your boss, manager, executive,
114. 10:51always have the message in your head. Try and  phrase your point in one short sentence. Then
115. 10:58have in your mind the vehicle, the structure  you're going to use to convey that point.
116. 11:02Just those two things: point and then what's  the structure I'm going to use to get there,
117. 11:06support. So what you did in that was you said  things about the action we need to take, the
118. 11:11next steps, the problem that we're experiencing,  how to resolve it. So those three milestones are
119. 11:16what you had in your mind I imagine when you  get... when you delivered the point and it's
120. 11:20important to always have those and just smoothly  go through them in as short time as possible.
121. 11:26Perfect so that concludes part one. Does anyone  have any questions about pitching, storytelling,
122. 11:33structure concise communication at this point?  It's the time for questions before we get to part
123. 11:38two. And one of the questions coming in Chris:  you as an executive, how did you feel in the two
124. 11:49in the two examples while I was talking to you?  Yeah in the first example where you were rambling
125. 11:56and talking about irrelevant topics I was annoyed.  I... I was trying to be as polite as possible but
126. 12:01at any moment I... if I was actually frustrated  that day, had a bad morning, I would have cut in
127. 12:06and say hey don't waste my time. I gotta I gotta  move on with my day. But in part two you in...
128. 12:12in your second version you got to the point more  quickly and I... and immediately from one of the
129. 12:16first sentences I said okay this does have value  let me continue to listen. So it's important to
130. 12:21hook people from the very beginning to make sure  you get to that point quickly. Any questions? Feel
131. 12:29free to put in the comments any questions. And  while we're waiting for those questions to come
132. 12:45in was there anything that you were worried about  when delivering that second version to me? So when
133. 12:57you were giving the concise version was there  anything that you've encountered in previous
134. 13:01experiences that makes those situations difficult?  Yeah for sure. So the first thing that my come to
135. 13:08mind is why were you talking to my team why was  my team rambling to you about problems like who
136. 13:13who are you that if I were the executive that  would have been the first thought why is my team
137. 13:19discussing internal problems to you like can you  can you help do you know us do I know you where
138. 13:24is the relationship coming from does my team talk  with somebody like how they wasting my mind would
139. 13:29be racing around so many other things that I would  barely listen to the message so if they have to
140. 13:37say just enough to get them hooked but not enough  to get them scared that something else is you is
141. 13:43going on maybe their team are doing something  they shouldn't be doing is there a problem with
142. 13:48the numbers are they reporting numbers wrong  somebody else are they giving the wrong numbers
143. 13:52to the board because there's a spreadsheet with  a typo somewhere um those are the type of things
144. 13:59that you don't want their mind to race on as  soon as you go and going for the pitch right as
145. 14:06so to try and mitigate those do you really think  this is a problem can we talk about it and see
146. 14:12if indeed it is a problem for you maybe not right  maybe some silly things that people would like to
147. 14:17get optimized but it's not a material impact right  so just want to put their minds at ease from from
148. 14:22the get-go about it. Yeah that's what I was trying  to do. Yeah I was talking to someone else about
149. 14:29how they pitch successfully to their executives  and they said the number one thing is make the
150. 14:34pain as visceral as possible for them. Make them  understand how bad it would be if we continued on
151. 14:40this trajectory. And then you'll, they... you'll  get their interest they'll say okay we should pay
152. 14:44attention to this maybe listen to the solution.  So you spoke to that very well in that example.
153. 14:49Now the question that came in from Syed was how  to present better in front of stakeholders? Do
154. 14:54you have any initial thoughts on that? Yeah so  first of all I would say try to understand and
155. 15:01qualify your stakeholders are they business  stakeholders are they technical stakeholders
156. 15:06are they something else so that will give you the  outline of how your message should be tailored so
157. 15:11you are you going to talk technology to them  if they're business maybe not. Are you going
158. 15:16to talk something else so that that is really the  first thing and then once you've identify the type
159. 15:21of language that uh you are going to use with  them then how you going to present the message
160. 15:27and again as I said for example if talking to  executive if you say if you say too much about a
161. 15:31problem of a wide scope that they don't know about  and you're blindsiding them in the elevator their
162. 15:37mind is going to be racing... racing to a thousand  places they're not going to be listening to you so
163. 15:43you have to be careful and choose the words that  you use so that you control the narrative of that
164. 15:49conversation as opposed to let our mind go wild  which is perfectly normal you would do the same
165. 15:54imagine some friend will come to you and tell you  something that you didn't know that impact you
166. 15:59then you'll be thinking about all the possible  consequences right so I would say really think
167. 16:05about whether they are technical stakeholders,  they're business stakeholders and tailor your
168. 16:09language now once you know how which language  to use then see what the message is and how you
169. 16:15want to deliver that's why is that important  to them in such way that uh you control their
170. 16:21attention and it's not just going somewhere else  at the time those would be my two initial points:
171. 16:26how would you build up from there. Yeah I would do  the same and I think we're actually going to have
172. 16:32a perfect example of this in part two where it's  so important to not only research your audience if
173. 16:38possible, as you alluded to, but also understand  what is the difference between their wants versus
174. 16:43their needs. So they might explicitly say to you  I want this... I want the dashboard. What do they
175. 16:49actually need? And that comes from experience  working with them and also understanding their
176. 16:53pain points. So let's... I think that's a perfect  segue to part two where we we'll be talking about
177. 16:57how to answer questions effectively, clearly, and  concisely. So everyone imagine and I see there's
178. 17:02another question we'll get back to that in the  last Q&A session at the end. I want you to imagine
179. 17:08that the conversation between me and Emanuele went  well because he applied all the great techniques
180. 17:13we talked about in part one clear concise  communication, getting to the point very quickly,
181. 17:17acknowledging my pain points. And let's say I set  up a follow-up meeting. We have a Q&A where I ask
182. 17:22him questions. He answers them about this proposal  that he has. So what we're going to do in part
183. 17:26two is I'm going to ask Emanuele questions and  he'll answer that and we'll evaluate is it good
184. 17:31communication or bad communication? So Emanuele,  welcome to this meeting. My first question to you
185. 17:37for your proposal is: what is the cost of this  proposal? Good question um you mean cost in terms
186. 17:46of like in terms of dollars in terms of time what  what cost? Let's say financial costs. Okay so um
187. 17:59financial cost one sec let me let me let me check  so Financial cost probably going to be so say we
188. 18:08were to go ahead um $1,000 maybe server cost here  would have to buy a new license on that and then
189. 18:20yeah probably dead time. Are you calculating  this in real time with me now? I no I was just
190. 18:29uh I was just checking my notes here I'll um yeah  maybe I'll get back to you. Get back to me with a
191. 18:36better estimate. Okay yeah. So that example was...  was perfect for showing it's okay to say you don't
192. 18:45know and just don't waste the other person's time.  Always as we talked about in part one try and add
193. 18:50value as much as possible. Instead of trying  to talk off the top of your head, if you're not
194. 18:54prepared it's okay. Say so. Say when you'll follow  up with them at a certain date and time. Let's...
195. 19:01let's do the good example of that question. So the  question is: what is the cost with this proposal?
196. 19:07Yeah so um briefly speaking with the team we think  this is a 10 hour effort and we can get you to a
197. 19:13stage where you can evaluate the solution based  on the time that you spend on evaluating that we
198. 19:18will iterate back and forth for a few hours so  you can probably factor in one to two weeks of
199. 19:25man hours between mostly of 80% our team, 20% your  team and then depending on where that goes we'll
200. 19:32talk about licensing costs for any solutions there  you've been looking into. It's really hard to get
201. 19:38us now because we don't we we need to understand  your pain points better before we can come in with
202. 19:42the tool so initial cost will be all people cost  uh and again you can factor in 20% your time for
203. 19:50like two weeks and 80% my team for the same amount  of time. Cool what I liked about that response is
204. 19:57even though my question was about finances, let's  say you didn't know that off the top of your head.
205. 20:02But you did talk about something from your area  of expertise which is you know how much time it
206. 20:06might take. You talked about the hours involved so  that's what I always recommend in these kinds of
207. 20:10situations. We can't know everything so talk about  something from our experience: perhaps a previous
208. 20:16project we did, some successful initiative that  we accomplished, what did we learn from that,
209. 20:21what can we bring to the table here that's  relevant. And then say okay well I don't know
210. 20:25precisely the answer to the question you asked  which is respect to finances but I will get back
211. 20:29to you on that. So you're adding value and then  saying I will get back to you with the gaps that I
212. 20:34need to fill. Mhm. Anything else that you did for  that? And you can press me on right there right
213. 20:39you can say okay but just give me an estimate okay  but help me understand this is going to be loads,
214. 20:45little... keep asking me that question and putting  me on the spot to try and answer yeah which is an
215. 20:52interesting dynamic right because I'll just be  keep I'll keep going in circles and trying to
216. 20:56evade and don't commit to a number yeah which will  just frustrate you more and it's not going to be
217. 21:03helpful to to the relationship so it it's good  to come in prepared for that type of question.
218. 21:09Absolutely the key thing for these especially  executive presentations or meetings is to be
219. 21:15prepared so don't just know the material on your  slides for example but know let's say three times
220. 21:20more than that. Anticipate all the questions  they'll ask you. Try and poke holes in all of
221. 21:24your arguments or get a friend or someone on your  team to help poke holes in your presentation and
222. 21:30then come prepared for answers to every single  question. If you have that basin of knowledge
223. 21:34to work from, you can't be stumped for 99% of  questions let's say. Alright let's go to question
224. 21:41two. So after answering that question I ask you:  Alright, so what are the risks with this proposal?
225. 21:49Yeah so the risks um could be that for example  this solution doesn't meet your need and uh we
226. 21:57end up with a different paradigm than what you're  currently using and the sales team stop using it
227. 22:05but then they'll go back to the other solution  or maybe you don't want it or we do something
228. 22:13else um there could there could be a few there  could be a few but uh you know we... there Do
229. 22:21get to me later on when you have a better answer  for me. Alright so that... that goes to show as
230. 22:27we talked about in part... part one, rambling  all over the place is frustrating for me. I'm
231. 22:32sitting there trying to figure out what are you  saying, what is the answer to my question. And
232. 22:36you're just wasting my time. So the best thing  to do if you don't know the answer, in addition
233. 22:42to the two-step formula that I talked about before  (talk about what you do know from your experience,
234. 22:46and then how the situation is different): pause  before you speak. And have the time to think
235. 22:51about what is your point, and then what vehicle,  what structure and framework are you going to use
236. 22:55to support it. So that's a key, key step there.  Anything else you were doing in that example? I
237. 23:02was trying unsuccessfully to cater the delivery  so that it wouldn't sound like the only bad way
238. 23:10of communicating is using too many ums and uhs  but also the content of what you're actually
239. 23:16saying does matter so there were some bits and  pieces there that made sense right so there's
240. 23:20risk of failed solution there was risk of people  not liking it or risk of spending money something
241. 23:26doesn't but the message didn't really come across  to you... mhm... somebody else who's worked with
242. 23:34me on the presentation maybe really understood  it but to you hearing the first time like yeah
243. 23:38that's obvious sure yes people may not like it  that's yeah we knew that before starting what
244. 23:45were you talking about. Excellent so the takeaway  there is you have to have good content to begin
245. 23:50with. So have your point ready. You also have  to deliver it well. You need both. iInstead of
246. 23:56filling it with a lot of ums and uhs that make the  message less clear, it's important to be confident
247. 24:02in what you say. And if you know your material,  there's no reason you shouldn't be confident in
248. 24:05all the words that you say, speaking to it.  Let's do one final question that we have time
249. 24:09for. And let's for the sake of time just do the  good response for it. So my question to you is:
250. 24:15what are the benefits of this proposal? I'll flip  the question to you actually let's say okay so
251. 24:23your team discussed about these pain points so if  you were to solve these in this order what would
252. 24:30that look like for your team? Let's say there is  a little problem with the numbers and what would
253. 24:35this improve? Well we want a one-stop place where  everybody can gather together and find the answers
254. 24:43they need instead of what we're doing right now  which is looking all over the place, in different
255. 24:46kinds of spreadsheets. Can your solution do  that? We can build it in such a way that it does
256. 24:52but there's going to be some limits right being  there's surely commercial proposals that will do
257. 24:57better so my objective here is really getting you  to this point where you can understand what that
258. 25:02would look like and then you have the tooling at  your disposal to say okay let's go ahead buy the
259. 25:06license for a commercial tool that could do this  for us or let's stick to a homegrown solution
260. 25:10because right now it suits our needs and we don't  need the extra cost, so really getting you to be
261. 25:16able to make the decision would be the win for  us. I like it. What I really like that you did
262. 25:23there was if my question, you didn't understand  it completely or it wasn't clear, you asked me a
263. 25:28question. You have to put yourself and... in a  position of authority. Remember you still have
264. 25:34power in this situation. You're not... I'm not  asking you these questions to make you look like
265. 25:38a fool or anything like that. You can set yourself  up to answer well by asking clarifying questions
266. 25:43and you did that very well there. Awesome, so any  final questions before we bring things to a close,
267. 25:50what we covered throughout the workshop today  was getting to the point, being clear and concise
268. 25:55in your messaging, understanding your audience,  taking the time to understand their pain points,
269. 25:59their wants versus what they need, the questions  behind their questions - so if they ask you let's
270. 26:03say what are the benefits of this proposal,  what are they really trying to gain from you
271. 26:07and that's how can this help me, how can this help  my company - put your questions in the chat and
272. 26:13we'll answer them. And while those questions  are coming in, I'll answer the question that
273. 26:17was posed earlier which is: how do you handle  change of topics mid-presentation? Emanuele,
274. 26:24do you have any thoughts on that one? Yes uh very  hot thoughts and more polite thoughts at the same
275. 26:32time. Okay I guess you know it it really depends  on the setup I may handle it differently if it is
276. 26:40like a closed door presentation few people then I  might just address the question and then go back
277. 26:47to go back to the main topic and try to understand  hey why are you asking this question right now why
278. 26:53what are you trying to understand of the of this  presentation that you haven't gotten yet that
279. 26:59you're not understanding that you need me to spend  more time on right the question could simply be
280. 27:06that you know I was unclear on the delivery of  some parts and they can't follow along because
281. 27:12now they're thinking about it so just by you  reiterating that point would help them catch up
282. 27:18with you and then you can move close you can move  together the rest of the presentation. Fantastic
283. 27:22if it is more of a town hall type scenario where  you're presenting across 200, 300 people people,
284. 27:30and they ask a question they make you change the  topic um it's very important for you to catch you
285. 27:36doing that and get back on track in that case you  address it you might say hey let's this is coming
286. 27:44right next up in in some other slide or you can  say okay we could do this at the end let me run
287. 27:48you through the rest of the presentation first and  if you still have the question we'll talk together
288. 27:54during the Q&A session um usually that's that is  where where I see the topic changing somebody asks
289. 28:02a question that derails you yeah other other than  that you control the narrative and it's up to you
290. 28:07to keep it on those rails. Absolutely to add on  to that, just as we were talking before about the
291. 28:15power you have as a presenter and communicator to  ask clarifying questions so that you're set up to
292. 28:20respond better, when you're presenting yourself  you must remain in control of the presentation.
293. 28:25Of course the purpose of the presentation is  to connect with your audience to best serve
294. 28:28their needs so answer questions as they come  up but remember that if a question derails you
295. 28:33from the purpose of the presentation, you have to  bring things back on track you have to remain the
296. 28:36leader of the presentation. Where I see a lot  of presenters... the pitfall that comes up is
297. 28:42they rely on the slides overly to dictate the  narrative. They don't... they themselves feel
298. 28:48less confident about directing it so if we change  directions they... they're.... they're also less
299. 28:52hesitant to say to people hey we need to get  back on track but remember you, that is your
300. 28:57responsibility as a presenter. Alright so last  question is: how do you set boundaries so that
301. 29:03this data project doesn't become a black hole for  the other team to abuse? Is that question clear
302. 29:10to you Emanuele? I think so. Um okay and I would  say like generally any data project eventually
303. 29:21will become like a black hole of actually the  way I like to describe it is the where you are
304. 29:27the data pharmacists and you're just filling  prescriptions the stakeholders come to you with
305. 29:32a prescription they want the data you just fill  it for them and go away um and it's up to that
306. 29:38goes up that's up to the tech leadership first  of all to ensure that that is not the type of
307. 29:44culture that the team follows but it also goes to  the non- tech leadership in the team and everybody
308. 29:49in the team to not behave as the pharmacists  just ask question the reason why I asked you
309. 29:55the question earlier when you tell me what was the  value and I asked you and I flip the question to
310. 30:00you is because as a data leader or any Tech leader  in the organization I want to know what type of
311. 30:06initiatives I'm working on right so if somebody  asks me hey what is the value of your team I
312. 30:13want to know if I helped you fix the numbers that  get reported to the board or fix the numbers that
313. 30:19the salespeople rely on as opposed to some other  manual report that yes it would be nice to have
314. 30:24but nobody cares at the end of the day so it's  it's really up to that just have the leadership of
315. 30:31the team and everybody in the team have a culture  where you're not just giving data and you are
316. 30:38helping the business and not the stakeholders but  the business itself. Yes I think that's a perfect
317. 30:44analogy to data pharmacists, essentially is what  we are, and that's how we move from being cost
318. 30:49centers which is the typical stereotype for us to  profit centers. And I'll take that last question
319. 30:56and then wrap things up. So Fabricio's question  is: how do you handle stakeholders that are not
320. 30:59fully engaged in the conversation so if they ask a  question no one replies or they just feel like you
321. 31:04just feel like they're not actively listening?  What I would recommend in those situations is
322. 31:08make it clear how that impacts you. And my...  a framework I recommend for giving feedback is:
323. 31:15Situation - Behavior - Impact. So you talk about  the situation, you can talk about the last meeting
324. 31:20that you had with those stakeholders, you could  talk about the behavior. You can say: "in that
325. 31:24meeting I would have liked to see some responses  related to the proposal and it would really help
326. 31:32me to receive those." And then the impact you  talk about what is the impact of you not receiving
327. 31:36those responses. You can say, "because I did not  receive those responses it is not clear to me what
328. 31:41direction we should take with the project that  would be beneficial for you." So keeping it like
329. 31:45that when you deliver... deliver the feedback.  Keeping it to the facts, what happened in that
330. 31:49situation, not assigning any personal or  character flaws in that but just talking
331. 31:54about the situation and how it could be improved,  how it impacted you, what you need moving forward.
332. 31:59That's how you confront stakeholders who may  not be giving you the responses that you need.