#discussions

Hi, Allison!

Executive team suddenly has a keen interest strikes me to my core, so I'm finding myself going deep on a reply here 😂.

I don't know exactly how helpful this is to you, but as someone that gave presentations like this to execs, has been also been on the receiving end as an exec, and has put a lot of work into many presentations, here's some thoughts...

My best advice for any presentation is a framework of feel, think, do.

Given you are presenting, what do you want them to feel (Inspired - Customers love us!), think (_eg _Wow Allison knows her stuff!), do (Invest more in your area, start diving in with you on strategy, etc etc).

Feel. This usually hits best in the first slide, and execs lose interest fast. Start with a banger. Given customer stories are stories, marketing is all about stories, and creating feel is ultimately a story, I'd consider shining a light on a niche customer story they may not be familiar with. Something beyond in the written case study that they wouldn't know. For example, I had someone in product marketing that was presenting on their work bringing us into an eComm vertical, once start a presentation off with a slide that just said, in 100+ font: LIFE-CHANGING. It was a quote from a customer, and she used that slide to then dive into the story behind that testimonial. Nothing else on the slide. And unlike 10,000 other slides I've seen in my life, I still remember that one. Life-changing... I just cant' forget it.
And I was captivated for whatever came next on the slides.

Think. I'm making an assumption, based on the inquiry, the execs aren't up to speed on customer stories to date, so catching them up on what you've accomplished, the process, etc after the story will give them insight into how you're creating stories like the above. Ultimately it's less about sharing everything, and more about the process that cultivates the stories like the one you shared. And if you can bring in any impact/revenue metrics here, that's big (maybe win rates, maybe strategic narrative of developing a new vertical...)

Do. I'd consider being ambitious about where you need exec alignment and help to go even further -- have an ask of them. Stories like these are exciting, but we can be uncovering so many more! Do you need their insight on key verticals or segments to target, for example? Or do you know the stories are amazing, but maybe the ROI part still needs to be connected? All that's OK if you got the feel/think parts down. The presentations I best remember are the ones where I left thinking Wow, this person knows her role, I simply need to support them more then I am today, and it's clear how I can do that.

And within this, execs have a bunch of other meetings that day, most likely. They will really take away 1 central message from the talk and remember what stands out. Create an experience that is what you want that to be.

Just my thoughts - every team, situation, and exec team is different, so sharing from my limited experience only.

It's a great opportunity and amazing the exec team is leaning in... get's me excited! Good luck!

if they are "suddenly interested" i feel like that could be for two reasons:
• they think there is a problem
• they think there is an opportunity
I would include an executive summary (one slide of key takeaways that youre going to cover), impact of case studies on the business, as well as an ask. if they are suddenly interested this might be a good opportunity to highlight challenges/pains that could be solved with more budget, headcount, etc.