Kevin "KD" Dorsey

CRO at finally - Founder of Sales Leadership Accelerator - The #1 Sales Leadership Community & Coaching Program to Transform your Team and Build $100M+ Revenue Orgs - Black Hat Aficionado - #TFOMSL

Formal Education will make you a living… Self Education will make you a fortune. – Jim Rohn

Sales Leadership Accelerator - The #1 SaaS Sales Leadership program - 
www.salesleadershipaccelerator.com


Patreon Group - Monthly Live Trainings, Podcasts, AMA's and more!
https://www.patreon.com/insidesalesexcellence

Awards and Recognition

- DemandBase Top 25 Sales Leaders
- Salesforce - Top Sales Influencer to Follow
- InsideSales top 10 Sales Leader
- Pavillon 🗣 Lecturer of the Year
- Salesforce Top 16 Sales Influencers to Follow
- Ambition Top 100 Sales Coaches
- SalesLoft Rev Star
- TOPO Sales Development Exec of the Year
- LinkedIn Top Sales Voices
- LinkedIn Sales Star
- The Modern Sale Top 100 Global Sales Leaders
- Crunchbase Top Sales Leaders You Should Know

I believe in focusing on the "person" in "salesperson" 

As I've grown as a leader I have a better understanding of what truly drives behavior, motivation, and long term success. If we can make better people, the sales will follow. 

I love scaling sales teams. I have built multiple teams from 0-150+ reps, revenues from 0-100M+ ARR (multiple times). 2 Unicorns (ServiceTitan and Tebra) I believe in processes and systems, paired with skill development, as the code to success. 

I also love to share what I have learned, and what I am learning with others. I consult all sorts of different companies and people as they look to improve their results. I mentor and consult early, mid, and late-stage SaaS companies all across the world. Sharing my playbooks and processes for scaling sales teams successfully.

I have spoken at the top conferences across the country, mentor/coach start up's across the country, and love sharing as I go. 

If there is a book on sales, psychology or influence I have probably read it. I am a voracious learner and am constantly pushing myself and my team to reach new heights of achievement. Because of my own internal desire to learn and grow, that also gets translated out to my team with non-stop growth, coaching and training.

Founder & CEO

The Sales Leadership Accelerator is #1 SaaS Sales Leadership Program

https://www.salesleadershipaccelerator.com/slamembershipoverview

Ya’ll these are the exact trainings, systems, processes I’ve used to build 4 teams over 100 people, 2 unicorns (working on my third) and have trained 1000s of others on as well. 

That's part of what makes this different, is I'm still doing it. 

I'm still in the game. I'm still executing on these things, fine tuning, improving, and growing. 

These aren't the tactics that worked 8 years ago, this is the stuff working NOW.

That’s what the Sales Leadership Accelerator is all about. 

A program to level up the LEADERS!

Leaders need systems, processes,and skill development too. 

That's what this is all about.

Over 15 hours of leadership training (sorry ya’ll, no micro course here, if you want one of those, go somewhere else! it takes more than 90 min to learn this stuff. ) That has been incredibly highly reviewed by 100s of sales leaders and companies. 

Covering things like… 

The BIPSY Leadership Methodology
The WGLL and 4Ds
How to run 1x1s
How to truly develop skills
Coaching and Motivation
Tough Conversations and Accountability
Issue Diagnosis and Metrics
And much more!

Plus over 12 Templates you can take and make your own tomorrow. 

1x1s
Coaching Plans
Issue Diagnosis Checklists
Calls Scorecards
Goal Calculators
And more

Plus monthly group calls, AMAs, and outside experts.

Join today!

Everyone gets ICP wrong.

What people think ICP stands for is 'Ideal Customer Profile.'

But here's the problem:

Most companies define it like this:

→ 200+ employees
→ Technology industry
→ Series B or later
→ VP of Sales is the buyer

That's not an ICP.

That's demographics and firmographics.

I want you to think about ICP differently.

ICP = Ideal Customer PROBLEMS.

Your real ICP isn't a company size or an industry.

It's the customers who have the specific problems you solve.

I was recently speaking at a conference with 150 CEOs in the room. I asked them: "What problems do you solve?"

Four or five of them answered.

Every. Single. One. talked about benefits. Not problems.

"We help companies scale faster."
"We improve operational efficiency."
"We drive revenue growth."

Those aren't problems. Those are outcomes.

Problems sound like:

"Our reps are wasting 3 hours a day on manual data entry."
"We're losing deals because our follow-up takes 5 days."
"Our managers have no visibility into pipeline until it's too late."

THAT'S the level of specificity you need.

Here's the truth:

There are plenty of 200-person tech companies that don't have the problems you solve.

And there are 50-person companies outside your "ICP" that are DESPERATE for what you do.

Firmographics are just prerequisites. They increase the likelihood of the problem existing.

But the problem is the actual qualifier.

When you take a problem-based approach:

→ Your prospecting gets sharper
→ Your messaging gets clearer
→ Your discovery gets deeper
→ Your win rates go up

Stop defining ICP by company size.

Start defining it by customer problems.

This will change how you target, who you target, how you message and most importantly how quickly you can close.

Honored and humbled to be speaking at PeakSpan Capital Scale Up summit in Boulder, CO. 

To be in a room of over 150 CEOs and executives, being taught by one of the best CEO coaches in the game John Hamm is always just something that is exciting. 

Then to get to present, drop some knowledge, some insight, some acronyms (you know WGLL had to make an apperence) and receive rave reviews just makes it all that much better. 

Fun Fact - At almost every conference I go to I make a joke when checking in about did they get my fog machine and my custom bedazzled name tag. 

Why?

For fun. Because why not. 

EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE... The team goes and makes it happen. 

Haha shout out to the Peakspan team for going along with my ridiculousness and brining some fun to this thing called business and GTM. 

I feel so fancy now..

It's one thing to want more.

It's another thing to be worth more.

Everyone wants the shortcut.

The new title. The new comp. The new bonus. The new car. The new watch.

They want to become a new version of themselves without developing a new skill. Without actually being better at anything.

That's not how it works.

Worth follows skill.
Worth follows ideas.
Worth follows collaboration.
Worth follows execution.

Even career-wise — people think longevity is the key.

"I've been here 3 years, I deserve a raise."

No. The only point of longevity is that you're also getting BETTER year over year over year.

If you're the same as you were two years ago skill-wise, you don't deserve more money. You just deserve more time on the clock.

Harsh? Maybe.

But it's the truth.

And this doesn't just apply to reps. Leaders, this is for you too.

You want more? Become worth more.

Here's how:

→ Read more this year. Consume knowledge relentlessly.
→ Buy the course. Invest in yourself before asking others to invest in you.
→ Find the mentor. Get in rooms with people better than you.
→ Practice more. Reps aren't just for reps — leaders need reps too.
→ Seek feedback from those ahead of you. Ego kills growth.
→ Try new things. Measure them. Improve them. Repeat.

That's how you earn more.

Not by wanting it. By being worth it.

Money follows worth and value. 

Become WORTHY of more money and you'll be shocked how it shows up. 

Level up, ya'll.

Hot take or best practice?

Send candidates a training module before their final interview.

Here's the idea:

Before the role play or scenario call, you send them a recording of an actual training. They watch it. Then in the interview, you see how well they apply it.

I've done it in the past and am thinking of brining it back again as we start to scale up. 

Here's why:

→ You see how well they prep
→ You see how fast they learn
→ You see if they can apply new information under pressure
→ And you're actually giving them VALUE — they walk away having learned something whether they get the job or not

But I know some people will push back.

"You're asking candidates to do work before they even have the job."

I get it. But here's where I think this is a bit different. 

This isn't "build me a 90-day plan for free."
This isn't "create a strategy doc we'll use whether we hire you or not."

This is training. Development. Something they keep forever.

You're investing in THEM before they've invested in you.

They're going to do the role play/scenario call anyway... so why not give them the best shot at it?

And honestly? If a rep or manager doesn't want to watch a 20-minute training to land a job...

What does that tell you about how they'll show up once they have it?

But I want to hear from ya'll.

I'm genuinely curious. 

Is this a smart interview tactic or asking too much?

What would you do if your salary and rent were covered for a full year?

That's not a hypothetical.

Stanley (Your Content Coach) is giving away $100K to help one person go all-in on their dream.

Here's why this matters:

Only 4% of creators earn enough to support themselves full-time.

4%.

The rest are grinding nights and weekends. Squeezing in content before the kids wake up. Recording in parking lots between meetings. Burning out trying to build something while working for someone else's vision.

Most people don't quit because they don't have talent. They quit because they run out of gas trying to do it all.

Last year, Stan ran this same campaign. Over 3,200 people signed up. 2,500 shared their dreams on camera. The videos generated 12.9 million organic views.

It became more than a giveaway. It became a movement.

And they're doing it again.

Imagine having a full year where you didn't have to worry about paying rent. Where you could actually focus on building the thing you've been dreaming about.

Think about what you could actually do:

→ Write every single day
→ Record content without rushing before work
→ Start that podcast you've been talking about for 2 years
→ Interview the people you've always wanted to learn from
→ Travel and speak at events
→ Build an audience without burning out

This isn't side hustle energy. This is full hustle. All-in. No excuses.

Here's how it works:

1. Sign up for Stanley (free)
2. Post a video (2 mins or less) on a public isntagram or tiktok sharing your story, your dream, and how you plan to bring it to life using #standaretodream26 and tag @stanleyforcreators
3. Complete the Typeform after signing up

That's it.

The Stan team will review every single entry and pick a winner in February.

I've seen what happens when someone goes all-in. 

The growth compounds faster than you can imagine when you're not splitting your energy 47 different ways.

This is someone's shot to skip years of the grind.

Is it you?

Join Dare to Dream & enter to win $100K → 

https://lnkd.in/g_pQjXkX

What's your dream?

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. For Official Rules, visit DaretoDream.Stan.Store

Brand partnership • CRO at finally - Founder of Sales Leadership Accelerator - The #1 Sales Leadership Community & Coaching Program to Transform your Team and Build $100M+ Revenue Orgs - Black Hat Aficionado - #TFOMSL

Helping technical experts & product specialists improve their win rate on pitches. 829 clients helped to-date with training that had an immediate, positive impact on their results. Will you be next?

Your presentations are being seen. Are they getting results?

Most executive presentations inform. They don't drive decisions. 
Leadership listens politely, asks a few questions, and says, "Let's revisit this next quarter."

I fix that.

After 24 years in corporate banking — JPMorgan Chase, PwC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Commerzbank — I've sat on both sides of the boardroom table. I know exactly why some presentations get immediate buy-in while others get indefinitely deferred.

It's rarely the idea. It's the structure, the delivery, and knowing what executives actually need to say, "Yes."

I help executives in two ways:

→ Corporate Training
I work with leadership teams at banks, consultancies, and corporates to transform how they present. From board decks to investor pitches to QBRs — I teach the frameworks that get decisions made. Delivered remotely or on-site.

→ Digital Resources
Not ready for full training? 

Start with The Executive Slide System — 17 PowerPoint templates + 51 AI prompts for every executive presentation type. 

Or join my AI-Enhanced Executive Presentation Mastery course launching January 2025.
What I cover:
- Board presentations & investor pitches
- QBRs & Budget Requests
- Strategic recommendations &amp; project updates
- AI tools: Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude for faster, better slides

The results speak:  Clients have used my frameworks to close major deals, secure board approvals, and get promoted to roles they'd been passed over for.

Ready to transform your presentations?

📩 DM me for corporate training enquiries
🔗 Get templates now: https://mbhazeldine.gumroad.com/l/executive-slide-system
🎓 Join the course: https://maven.com/winning-presentations/ai-enhanced-presentation-mastery/

Mary Beth Hazeldine

I watched an executive rehearse for 6 hours.

It made her worse.

By hour four, she was second-guessing every word.
By hour five, she'd lost all natural energy.
By hour six, she couldn't remember her opening line.

Here's what happens when you over-practice:

Your brain shifts from "knowing the material" to "performing the script."

One interruption, one question, one blank moment—and the whole chain breaks.

The executives I've trained who present most effectively?

They rehearse for 90 minutes total. Three passes:

Pass 1: Content flow (Does this make sense?)
Pass 2: Transitions (Can I move smoothly between sections?)
Pass 3: Timing (Am I hitting my marks?)

Then they stop.

Because after that, you're not getting better.
You're just memorizing a script you'll forget under pressure.

The goal isn't perfect recall.
It's flexible confidence—knowing your material well enough to present it from any starting point.

What's your rehearsal sweet spot?

I help executives present with confidence | 10,000+ trained | Ex-JPMorgan, PwC, RBS, Commerzbank

I sat through a full-day presentation course when I was a banker.

By lunch, I'd learned how to make eye contact and use hand gestures.

I've been presenting to boards for 24 years. I didn't need tips on eye contact.

I needed to know:
→ How to restructure 47 slides for a CFO who gives me 10 minutes
→ How to handle hostile questions from stakeholders who've already decided no
→ How to present when I'm the most junior person and everyone has an agenda

The course taught none of that.

Here's the problem with most presentation training:

It's built for beginners.

80% performance skills (delivery, body language, slides)
20% strategic skills (structure, stakeholder management, politics)

For senior professionals, that ratio should be inverted.

What executives actually need:

✓ Executive-specific frameworks (not "3 key points")
✓ Stakeholder psychology (what they want vs. what they say)
✓ High-stakes scenario handling (hostile Q&A, technology failures)
✓ Efficiency systems (90 minutes, not 6 hours)

Before investing in any presentation course, ask:

1. Who's the target audience? (If it mentions "overcome fear of public speaking" prominently—it's not for you)

2. What's the framework-to-tips ratio? (You want 60%+ strategy)

3. Does it address executive scenarios? (Board presentations, budget requests, presenting bad news)

4. Is there peer interaction? (Learning from other senior professionals is half the value)

5. Does it include modern workflows? (AI-enhanced efficiency isn't optional in 2026)

If the course can't speak to these directly, it's not designed for your level.

See a full breakdown of what senior professionals actually need from presentation training in the comment below.

---

#ExecutivePresence #PresentationSkills #LeadershipDevelopment #ExecutiveTraining #ProfessionalDevelopment #CorporateTraining #SeniorLeadership

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Most 5-minute presentations contain 15 minutes of content.

That's not a 5-minute presentation. That's a 20-minute presentation delivered badly.

I watched a senior analyst destroy his promotion chances in exactly 4 minutes and 47 seconds.

He'd been given five minutes with the Managing Director. The slot every ambitious professional dreams of.

He spent the first two minutes on background.

By minute three, he was rushing through slides.

By minute four, he was apologising.

The MD cut him off at 4:47. "Thank you. Next presenter."

Here's what I've learned training 5,000+ executives:

A 5-minute presentation requires MORE preparation than a 50-minute one, not less.

When you have an hour, time forgives mistakes.

Five minutes forgives nothing.

The fix isn't speaking faster. It's the 1-3-1 structure:

→ 1 minute: Hook + main message 
→ 3 minutes: Three supporting points 
→ 1 minute: Call to action + close

Start with your conclusion, not your introduction
What's your biggest challenge with short presentations?

"You need to project more energy. Be more dynamic. Work the room."

I heard this feedback for five years when I worked at JPMorgan Chase.

So I tried. I forced myself to be "on" before every presentation. Projected enthusiasm I didn't feel. Tried to "work the room" like my extroverted colleagues.

Every time, I crashed afterward. Exhausted. Depleted. Convinced something was fundamentally wrong with me.

Then a senior partner pulled me aside after a client pitch:

"You seem like you're performing. It's distracting. Your content is excellent—why are you trying so hard to be someone else?"

That conversation changed everything.

I stopped trying to present like an extrovert.
I started presenting like myself.

Here's what I've learned from 24 years in banking and training 5,000+ executives:

The standard presentation advice fails introverts because it assumes extrovert energy creates impact.

It doesn't.

What actually works:
→ Thorough preparation (your natural strength)
→ Energy management (protect time before and after)
→ Depth over showmanship (substance wins)
→ One-to-one connection (not "working the room")
→ Strategic pauses (silence is power)

The most impactful presenters I've encountered aren't the loudest.

They're the most prepared. The most substantive. The most genuine.

Many of them are introverts who learned to present authentically—not performatively.

Your quiet nature isn't a liability to overcome.

It's an advantage to leverage.

"Any questions?"

The worst way to end a presentation. And yet almost everyone does it.

Here's what happens when you say those words:

→ Your audience shifts from "listening mode" to "escape mode" 
→ Nobody wants to risk asking a "stupid" question publicly 
→ Awkward silence kills the momentum you built 
→ Everyone—including you—just wants to leave

I learned this the hard way at Commerzbank.

Delivered what I thought was a compelling 20-minute strategy update. Hit every point. Polished slides. Confident delivery.

Then I said: "Any questions?"

Twelve executives staring at their notepads. Eight seconds of silence. The CEO checked his phone.

"Thank you, let's move on."

I left convinced I'd failed. But the feedback said the content was excellent. The strategy was approved.

The problem wasn't my presentation.

It was my ending.

"Any questions?" had killed the energy I'd built. It created an awkward moment that overshadowed everything before it.

Real audience engagement doesn't happen at the end.

It happens throughout:
- Directed questions to specific people
- Strategic pauses for reflection
- Reading the room and adjusting
- Check-ins before moving on``

The best presenters never ask "any questions?"

They've already answered them—by staying connected the whole time.

I used to hide in bathroom stalls before presentations.

Not metaphorically. Literally.

Shaking hands. Racing heart. Convinced I was dying.

Then I'd walk out, deliver the presentation, and no one had any idea.

Years later, I learned something that changed everything:

The executives I was terrified of?

Many of them were doing the exact same thing.

We just never talked about it.

If you've ever felt alone in your presentation anxiety — you're not.

Not even close.

Happy Saturday. Be kind to yourself this weekend. 💛

The presentation you're dreading tomorrow?

It's probably taking up more mental space this weekend than it deserves.

Here's something I learned after 24 years of high-stakes presentations:

The anxiety you feel on Sunday night is almost never proportional to the actual risk on Monday morning.

Your brain treats "presenting to the CFO" like a survival threat.

It's not.

It's a conversation with slides.

Three things that help me reset on Sundays:
→ Write down the ONE thing you want them to remember 
→ Accept that some nerves are useful (they mean you care) 
→ Stop rehearsing after 6pm (diminishing returns are real)

The presentation will go better than your Sunday brain thinks it will.

It almost always does.

And if you want the full protocol for appearing calm when presenting to senior leadership — even when you don't feel it — get the link to the article I wrote in the comment below.

What's your Sunday night presentation ritual? Or are you blissfully presentation-free this week?

I watched a VP present 47 data points to the CFO last week.

The CFO's response after 12 minutes?

"What do you actually want me to do?"

Here's what most professionals get wrong about data presentations:

They think more data = more credibility.

Executives think: more data = you haven't done the thinking for me.

The shift that changes everything:

❌ "Here's all the data so you can decide" 
✅ "Here's my recommendation, supported by these 3 data points"

Executives don't want a tour of your spreadsheet.

They want your conclusion — and the confidence that you've already done the analysis.

Data is evidence. It's not the presentation.

I wrote about this today — including the exact structure that turns data dumps into decisions.

Link in comments 👇

I once watched a senior leader walk into a Town Hall with a 28-slide deck…

…and lose the room in the first 3 minutes.

Not because the message was wrong.

Because the structure quietly signalled:
“I’m here to present at you, not with you.”

Here’s what most leaders miss about Town Halls:

People don’t need more information.
They need orientation + reassurance + belief.

So if you want your next Town Hall to build trust fast, use this simple structure:

1) The Reality (name what’s true)
“Here’s what’s happening and why it matters.”

2) The Meaning (translate the impact)
“What this changes for customers, teams, and priorities.”

3) The Direction (what stays stable)
“Here’s what we’re continuing, protecting, and doubling down on.”

4) The Ask (how people can help)
“What I need from you over the next 30–90 days.”

5) The Human Moment
A short personal line that creates connection:
“What I’m paying attention to… and what I’m learning.”

That’s the difference between a Town Hall that feels like a corporate update…
and one that feels like leadership.

I shared the full template you can copy in the comments below.

What’s the hardest part of Town Halls for you—clarity, trust, or handling tough questions live?

A VP used Copilot, ChatGPT, and Gamma to build her board presentation.

The slides were beautiful.

The board said no.

She came to me confused: "The deck was better than anything I've made before."

She was right. The slides were polished.

But the structure was wrong.

She'd built up to her recommendation over 20 slides when the board wanted her position in the first 60 seconds.

She'd included data that addressed HER concerns, not theirs.

She'd structured it for herself, not for how her CFO actually makes decisions.

AI had made her faster at building the wrong presentation.

That's the trap nobody talks about.

Here's what I've learned after 24 years in banking and working with executives on high-stakes presentations:

AI can generate slides.
AI cannot generate buy-in.

Three things AI fundamentally cannot do:

1. Read the room
→ See the CFO lean back at budget mention
→ Notice the CEO nod at your third point
→ Adapt in real-time

2. Build YOUR credibility
→ Answer unexpected questions with depth
→ Show judgment about what matters
→ Demonstrate command of the material

3. Structure for YOUR specific decision-maker
→ Know your CFO wants numbers first
→ Know your CEO needs strategic context
→ Know your board wants risk before opportunity

AI produces average content for average audiences.

Executive presentations require tailored thinking for specific people.

The professionals who thrive with AI will be those who invest in the human judgment layer—the framework—and use AI to accelerate execution.

Those who rely on AI for thinking will produce faster mediocrity.

70% framework. 30% AI execution.

That's the ratio that works.

Full breakdown in the comments 👇

The CFO who lost a £4M approval in 11 words.

Actually, he wasn't the CFO. He was presenting TO the CFO.

I watched it happen at Commerzbank.

A VP—brilliant analyst, 15 years of experience—had requested 30 minutes for a technology investment pitch. He'd prepared 47 slides. Rehearsed for hours.

His first 11 words:

"Thank you for making time. I'd like to walk you through..."

The CFO raised his hand. "What's the number and what do you need from me?"

The VP froze. His recommendation was on slide 34.

He tried to explain why the context mattered first.

The CFO checked his phone. Then stood up.

"Send me a one-pager. I don't have time for this."

Meeting over. Budget denied.

Here's what those 11 words signaled:

→ "Thank you for making time" = This is a favor, not a business necessity
→ "I'd like to walk you through" = Your time will be spent on MY process

Now imagine he'd opened with:

"I'm requesting £4M for platform migration. It reduces operating costs 23% within 18 months."

Same request. Completely different frame.

Six months later, I coached a different VP on the same pitch.

He led with the headline.

Approved in 12 minutes.

The difference wasn't the analysis.

It was the first 11 words.

---

What's the worst opening line you've heard in a presentation?

47 slides → 23 rejections.
12 slides → £4.2M raised.

Same founder. Same science. Same market.

Dr. Sarah Chen came to me after 23 failed investor meetings. Her biotech was breakthrough-level. Three pharma companies had already expressed licensing interest.

But her deck was killing her.

I watched her pitch. By slide 8, she was still explaining the problem. Her solution appeared on slide 19. Her ask was buried on slide 43.

No investor made it that far.

"They need to understand the science," she said.

"They need to understand why YOU win," I replied. "The science is why they took the meeting."

We rebuilt her deck in one afternoon:

→ Slide 1: Her unique insight (not the problem)
→ Slide 2: The ask (not buried on slide 43)
→ Slide 3: Her team (not an afterthought)
→ Slides 4-10: Everything else
→ Slide 11: The ask again

Three weeks later: £4.2M at her target valuation.

Here's what most founders miss:

Every slide beyond 12 is an argument against yourself.

It signals: "I can't prioritize. I don't know what matters. I'll bloat your investment the same way I bloated this deck."

Investors pattern-match constantly. Lean decks signal lean thinking.

Six months later, Sarah sent me a note. Her board chair said it was the clearest update he'd seen in 20 years of investing.

He asked if she could teach their other portfolio founders.

The skills that fix pitch decks don't just raise capital.

They establish you as a leader worth backing again.

---

What's the longest pitch deck you've ever sat through?

#PitchDeck #Fundraising #StartupLife #VentureCapital #PresentationSkills

The night before a big presentation, most advice tells you to rehearse more.
I spent 5 years doing exactly that.

Rehearsing until midnight. Lying awake running worst-case scenarios. Waking up exhausted and more nervous than before.

Then a mentor told me something that felt completely wrong:
"Stop preparing by 8pm. Go to bed early. Trust that you know enough."
I didn't believe her.

But I was desperate. So I tried it.

The next morning, something shifted. The fear was still there—but it felt like energy instead of dread.

I delivered that presentation better than any before it.

Here's what I've learned since (and what I now teach):
Your brain needs time to consolidate what you've prepared. Rehearsing until midnight actually interferes with that process.

The goal isn't to eliminate fear. It's to arrive rested enough that fear becomes fuel.

The day-before protocol that changed everything for me:
→ Lock your content by noon 
→ One full run-through in the afternoon 
→ Prepare for 3 likely questions 
→ Stop ALL rehearsal by 8pm 
→ Normal evening. Early bed. No alcohol.

Counterintuitive. But it works.
—
What's your go-to ritual the night before a big presentation?

I felt the heat start at my chest.

By the time it reached my face, 200 people were watching me turn bright red.
I was 10 minutes into a client pitch. My slides were solid. My prep was thorough.
But my nervous system had other plans.

For years, I thought blushing was something I had to hide. Or power through. Or somehow "fix."

I was wrong.

Here's what I learned as a clinical hypnotherapist that I wish someone had told me in that boardroom:

Blushing isn't a weakness. It's your sympathetic nervous system doing exactly what it's designed to do.

And fighting it makes it worse.

The breakthrough came when I stopped trying to suppress the flush and started working WITH my nervous system instead.

The technique that finally worked? A 60-second reset that activates your parasympathetic response—the "rest and digest" system that naturally calms the flush.

I've now taught this to hundreds of executives who thought they were stuck with visible anxiety forever.

They weren't. And neither are you.

I wrote the full method (including the exact 60-second technique) - link in the comments.

If your face has ever betrayed you in a high-stakes moment, this one's for you.

The difference between a 10-minute and 15-minute presentation isn't 5 minutes.

It's a completely different mindset.

After 24 years in banking, I noticed something strange: every organisation defaults to the 10-minute format.

Leadership updates. Project reviews. Interview presentations. Client pitches.

It's not arbitrary. There's neuroscience behind it.

Research shows attention naturally cycles every 10 minutes or so. Your audience's brain wants a reset at that mark.

Fight that rhythm and you're fighting biology.

Work with it and you're working with how humans actually process information.

That's why 10 minutes became the dominant format of business communication:
→ Long enough to build a real argument
→ Short enough to maintain engagement
→ Flexible enough to work across contexts

Master the 10-minute presentation and you've mastered the format you'll use more than any other in your career.

What's the most common presentation length in your organisation?

"Can you say a few words?"

The most terrifying sentence in business.

It happened to me in a JP Morgan Chase conference room in 1991 (I remember the date because I had just moved from NYC to the London office). The Division Head turned, looked directly at me, and asked for my view on timeline risks.

Every head swivelled. Twelve executives waiting.

I had exactly zero seconds to prepare.

My mind went blank. Words came out—I'm not sure which ones. Forty-five excruciating seconds of rambling while my credibility evaporated.

That evening, I made a decision: never again.

Not by knowing all the answers. That's impossible.

But by having a framework that would let me respond coherently even when ambushed.

The framework I learned is called PREP:

→ Point: State your position first 
→ Reason: Explain why 
→ Example: Give one piece of evidence 
→ Point: Restate (signals you're done)

That's it. Four steps. Works for almost any question.

The people who seem naturally eloquent aren't smarter or quicker than you.

They've simply internalised structures that make organisation automatic.

What looks like talent is really preparation meeting opportunity.

Practice PREP in low-stakes situations—meeting questions, casual opinions, dinner conversations.

Within a month, it becomes automatic.

Then "Can you say a few words?" stops being terrifying.

And starts being an opportunity.

The Presentation Advice I Wish I'd Ignored

I spent years following "expert" presentation advice that made things worse.
Here are three rules I finally broke:

1. "Start with an agenda slide"

Nobody has ever thought: "This presentation was terrible, but thank goodness I knew what was coming."

Now I start with the point. The agenda is implied by... making the point.

2. "Make eye contact with everyone"

I tried this once. Looked like a malfunctioning lighthouse.

Now I talk to one person at a time. Four seconds each. Actual connection instead of performative scanning.

3. "Picture the audience in their underwear"

Who came up with this? It's weird. It doesn't work. And it definitely doesn't help when you're presenting to your CFO.

Now I picture them as colleagues who want me to succeed—because that's usually what they are.

The pattern?

Most presentation advice optimises for looking like a presenter instead of actually communicating.

The best presenters I've worked with break the rules constantly. They just make sure the audience gets what they need.

What presentation "rule" have you happily abandoned?

The 7-second window that determines if executives take you seriously.

I learned this the hard way at JPMorgan Chase.

28 years old. Three months into my role. Presenting a quarterly analysis I'd spent two weeks perfecting.

The CFO stopped me mid-sentence: "I've heard enough."

My analysis was solid. My slides were polished.

But I'd already lost.

I walked in apologising for taking their time.
I positioned myself in the corner.
I spoke to my slides instead of the room.

The executives decided I wasn't worth listening to before I finished my opening sentence.

Princeton research confirms what that CFO already knew:

→ People form competence judgments in 0.1 seconds
→ Those snap judgments become durable filters
→ Everything you say gets interpreted through that first impression

If you project confidence in those 7 seconds, your content sounds credible.

If you project uncertainty, even brilliant insights get discounted.

Same data. Same slides. Completely different outcomes.

The question isn't whether these judgments are fair.

They're not.

The question is whether you'll master them—or be victimised by them.

I've now trained 5,000+ executives on exactly how to command those first 7 seconds.

You'll find the link to the full breakdown (including the 3 pillars and 5 biggest mistakes I see weekly) in the comment below. 👇

Everyone's using AI to build presentations.

Most of them still look generic.

Here's why:

---

AI without framework = generic slides, fast.

Framework without AI = excellent slides, slowly.

Framework + AI = excellent slides, fast.

The order matters.

---

I see people open ChatGPT and type:

"Create a 10-slide presentation about Q3 results"

Then wonder why it looks like everyone else's deck.

AI doesn't know:
→ What decision you need from the room
→ What your audience already believes
→ What would make them say no
→ Your organisation's politics

Only you know that.

---

The fix isn't better prompts.

It's doing the thinking BEFORE you touch AI.

Here's the workflow I teach:

𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗣 𝟭: 𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗙𝗬 (no AI yet)
• What decision do I need?
• What's the ONE thing they must remember?
• What objections will they have?

𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗣 𝟮: 𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗨𝗖𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗘 (no AI yet)
• Build your narrative spine
• Write slide titles as assertions
• If it doesn't work spoken aloud, it won't work on slides

𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗣 𝟯: 𝗡𝗢𝗪 𝗔𝗗𝗗 𝗔𝗜
• Draft content for each slide
• Strengthen your headlines
• Identify gaps in your argument

The difference?

You're directing AI with clarity instead of hoping it reads your mind.

---

This is why I teach 70% framework, 30% AI.

The framework is the thinking.

AI is the acceleration.

Skip the framework and AI just helps you build the wrong presentation faster.

---

I've put 24 years of executive presentations into a course that teaches both:

AI-Enhanced Presentation Mastery (link in comments)

But even without the course — try this on your next deck:

Spend 15 minutes clarifying the decision before you open any tool.

You'll be shocked how much faster everything else becomes.

---

Are you using AI for presentations? What's working (or not)?

#presentations #ai #productivity #leadership

I watched a client lose a £2M investment opportunity last year.

Her slides were polished. Clean fonts. Smooth transitions. Professional layouts.

The investors passed in under 5 minutes.

"It felt like every other pitch we've seen this month," one told her. "Nothing stood out."

Here's what most people don't understand about AI presentation tools:

They're trained on millions of slides. 
Which means they produce the average of all those slides. Average is, by definition, generic.

When you prompt Copilot with "Create a presentation about Q3 results," it generates what a Q3 presentation typically looks like—across thousands of companies, industries, and contexts.

It doesn't know your CFO is skeptical. 
It doesn't know your Q3 contains a critical pivot. 
It doesn't know the board has seen 47 similar decks this month.

So it gives you safe bullet points, stock imagery, and slide titles like "Overview" that tell your audience nothing.

The fix isn't a better AI tool. It's better input.

Six weeks later, we rebuilt my client's deck using a framework-first approach:
→ Same information → Same AI tools for execution → Completely different result

She raised £2.1M.

The AI didn't change. Her input did.

If you have an investor pitch, board presentation, or QBR coming up in the next few weeks—and you're tired of AI giving you slides you're embarrassed to present—I'm running my next AI-Enhanced Presentation Mastery cohort soon.

It's 70% framework thinking, 30% AI execution. Works with Copilot, Gamma, ChatGPT, or whatever tool comes next.

Link in comments.

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