Board Meetings
I gave my first board meeting presentation this past week. I won’t lie and say, “no big deal.” It was, and I was nervous. I attempted to find some articles in the regular product mgmt spots online, but no such luck. Hopefully my posting here will be able to help those that will go through this process as well.
I had 30 minutes to present, and needed to cover 8 of the 11 products in the portfolio, including demos for 2 of them and high-level roadmap for each of the 8. It’s easier than it sounds.
I did manage to get lucky, because our board is very well informed. I do spend time speaking to most of the members on a regular basis, especially as we close in on a launch. They all take a great interest in our products, and support our team with great feedback, and actually going out to get feedback from others. It rocks, and really makes my job easier.
So, what did I put together? I toyed with a couple of different formats, but landed on something similar to this:
| Product Group | Product | Current Status | Roadmap |
| Group1 | Product A | v2.0 (Shipped: June 1, 2007) |
In Dev:
Backlog:
|
This was a simple word doc going through all ~8 products I have on the docket, and I had handouts for each board member that was present. When I got to a product I had to demo, I’d flip to an open browser window and go through a really short / focused demo. I’m super lucky because our chairman would jump up and talk through some of the more expanding / larger business issues or customers he has been talking to recently.
I faced a couple of questions, but not too many. This was a factor of not having a ton of time, but also having well-informed board members I was speaking to. It was a true briefing / update.
I’ll be the first to admit, I didn’t have all the info in a format like this previously. It usually stays all up in my head. It was good to get it down on paper, if for no other reason other than I had to. But, I think the format was good as well - going with a long PPT deck / stack of slides talking about each product, and the definition surrounding it, would have been a major waste of time.
I covered each one, and got some great feedback that it was exactly what was needed. Some other advice:
- Know your stuff. The better you know what you’re talking about, the easier it is.
- Let everyone say their piece. Even if it’s something you’d already thought through and discounted, accept the feedback (”thanks for the feedback, we’ll take it into account”), write it down, and move on. Don’t argue / refute and make anyone feel stupid.
- If you are in a start-up and have a penchant for french cuff shirts (umm, this is me), don’t wear one. Please. You aren’t Sam Palmisano headed to the annual shareholders meeting.
- If you don’t know, say you don’t know and will follow-up.
- Don’t slouch in your chair. Sit up straight and talk with confidence. You don’t want to look like you just finished playing 18 holes at the golf club on a Sunday afternoon and are having beers with the guys / gals.
Hope this can help someone for their next / first board presentation. It will probably always be nerve wracking, but I think so long as you really do know what you are doing and aren’t faking it, you’ll be 100% fine.
September 24th, 2007 at 9:18 am
Here are some other links you might find interesting:
http://www.askthevc.com/board_meetings/#_
http://www.feld.com/blog/archives/2005/01/ideal_board_mee.html#_
September 24th, 2007 at 9:21 am
Nice links, Jason! I had totally missed both of those links…
September 24th, 2007 at 11:49 am
Wow that is some very useful information and experience to be privy to. Thanks for taking the time to make it available for our perusal.
September 24th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
Thanks, Neal! Glad you found it useful…