Slide decks don't belong in the Boardroom

The Board’s time is scarce and precious. It should be spent having engaging and important conversations about the business.

I’ve participated in more than 250 Board and Committee meetings over the last decade, and also listened carefully to the private discussions after the Execs leave the room.

Directors don’t want to sit passively having slides on a screen read to them for several minutes, or (absent a crisis) be expected to instantly absorb and act upon detailed new data flashed on a screen.

I often see Execs with an ingrained default of “I’m presenting to the Board – better prepare a slide deck”. This needs to be overridden with a more thoughtful approach on what the Board needs, what the Execs need back from the Board, and how best to facilitate that.

A good meeting outcome is generally more likely if a well-crafted, concise report provides a briefing before the meeting. Not simply submitting your presentation deck into the Board pack in advance - bullet points don’t convey context, and remember the Board, especially Non-Execs, don’t have the operational detail of the Execs.

Directors want to read actual sentences and paragraphs on what’s happening, what the Execs think about it, the options and the planned response. That sets up the valuable informed discussion. Experienced company secretaries and directors know the value of narrative, informative and insightful reports, but can sometimes struggle to persuade their Execs of this.

There are a few cases where I’ve seen slides work well in the Boardroom for particular purposes.

But please don’t use Board meeting time and slides to try and get the Directors up to speed from a standing start, when this can be done beforehand.

Instead, get them talking about your session afterwards for all the right reasons – a good pre-read briefing, and being well prepared, knowledgeable, open and engaged at the discussion.

That's the recipe for a good outcome.