Programme overview
Technical depth: Practitioner · Practical mode: Role-play
Introduction
Proposals often reach the board or executive committee with sound analysis and the wrong structure. Directors receive detail before the recommendation, cannot see the decision being asked of them, and defer the item or send it back for rework. This Core Concept course trains managers to frame a decision for a governing body, build a presentation around a single governing message, and handle challenge from directors under time pressure. Participants rehearse with structured feedback throughout and leave with a Board Decision Pack for a real proposal from their own organisation.
Course Objectives
- Analyse a board's or committee's decision rights, agenda pressures and information needs before preparing a submission
- Structure a proposal around a single governing message using the Minto Pyramid Principle and the SCQA sequence
- Design slides and data exhibits that let directors test the evidence quickly, applying Assertion-Evidence and data-ink principles
- Deliver a time-boxed boardroom presentation and adapt it when the chair changes the time or the order of business
- Handle hostile, technical and off-agenda questions from directors without losing the recommendation
- Produce a Board Decision Pack ready to submit through the governance secretariat
Target Audience
- Managers who present investment, budget or policy proposals to boards and executive committees
- Heads of function reporting performance and risk to governing bodies and their committees
- Programme and project managers seeking stage-gate approvals from steering committees
- Strategy, finance and risk managers who prepare material presented by senior leaders
- Managers newly required to attend board or committee meetings in their own name
Course Outline
Day 1: How Boards and Executive Committees Decide
- Governing Body Roles and Decision Rights under ISO 37000
- Board Agenda Cycle and Consent Agenda Mechanics
- Director Information Needs Analysis Using a Stakeholder Persona Canvas
- Decision Type Classification: Approve, Note, Endorse and Direct
- Current-State Audit of a Recent Board Submission Against a Clarity Checklist
Day 2: Message Structure Frameworks
- Minto Pyramid Principle: Governing Thought and Key Line
- SCQA Framework: Situation, Complication, Question, Answer
- Toulmin Model for Claim, Evidence and Warrant
- Aristotle's Ethos, Pathos and Logos in Board Persuasion
- Duarte Sparkline for Contrasting Current and Future States
Day 3: Building and Delivering the Board Presentation
- Assertion-Evidence Slide Design and Action Titles
- Data Exhibit Selection Using Tufte's Data-Ink Principles
- Executive Summary Slide and One-Page Decision Memo Drafting
- Timed Delivery Plan: 3-, 10- and 20-Minute Versions
- Vocal and Nonverbal Delivery Review Using a Recorded Rehearsal Rubric
Day 4: Challenge, Pushback and Difficult Board Moments
- Pre-Mortem Analysis to Anticipate Director Objections
- Q&A Preparation Grid: Anticipated Questions, Evidence and Response Owner
- Presenting Risk and Uncertainty with ISO 31000 Terminology and Scenario Ranges
- Pyramid Compression Drill for Cut or Reordered Agenda Slots
- Hybrid Boardroom Protocols for Remote Directors and Board Portals
Day 5: Mock Board Role-Play and the Board Decision Pack
- Capital Investment Proposal Role-Play Before a Mock Board
- Policy Change Submission Role-Play with a Challenging Committee Chair
- Board Decision Pack Assembly: Memo, Deck and Q&A Grid
- Recorded Final Presentation with Panel Scoring Rubric
- Peer Feedback Round and Personal Delivery Improvement Plan
Skills You Will Gain
- Decision Framing
- Pyramid Structuring
- Evidence-Based Argumentation
- Data Visualisation for Executives
- Boardroom Delivery
- Director Question Handling
- Risk Communication
Why Attend This Course
- Take back a Board Decision Pack for a live proposal, rehearsed in front of a mock board and scored by peers
- Reduce the chance that a proposal is deferred because directors could not find the decision being asked of them
- Stay composed when a chair halves the time slot or a director challenges the numbers
- Compare boardroom practice with managers from other sectors and governance structures
Conclusion
A board presentation succeeds when directors can see the decision, test the evidence and approve it within the time the agenda allows. This course moves from how governing bodies decide, through the structuring frameworks and slide design methods that serve them, to the objections, risks and time pressures that derail submissions. The final day places each participant before a mock board, and the Board Decision Pack completed there gives them a tested structure for the next proposal they take into the boardroom.