The Vital Communicator

Presenting to Executives with Jim Phelan

• Tommy Re

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What do you do when your big presentation to a room full of senior executives goes completely off the rails? In this episode of The Vital Communicator, Jim Phelan, a seasoned leader from Merck with decades of executive presentation experience, shares a career-defining moment when everything that could go wrong, did—and how he turned it into an unexpected triumph. Jim shares invaluable insights on staying composed under pressure, using humor to connect, and the art of preparing for the unpredictable. Whether you're presenting to a CEO or leading a critical team meeting, Jim's lessons will help you communicate with confidence, no matter what challenges come your way. 

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What do you do when your big presentation to a room full of senior executives goes completely off the rails? Imagine standing on stage, your technology failing, over 100 high-level leaders staring at you, and nowhere to hide. In this episode of The Vital Communicator, Jim Phelan, a seasoned leader from Merck with decades of executive presentation experience, shares a career-defining moment when everything that could go wrong did—and how he turned it into an unexpected triumph. You'll hear invaluable insights on staying composed under pressure, using humor to connect, and the art of preparing for the unpredictable. Whether you're presenting to a CEO or leading a critical team meeting, Jim's lessons will help you communicate with confidence, no matter what challenges come your way. 

Tommy Re
Hi Jim, welcome to the show. We're glad to have you today.

Jim Phelan
Glad to be here, Tommy. Thank you.

Tommy Re
Thanks. I can't think of anyone better on this topic of presenting to executives than you, Jim, after your long career at Merck. know you've presented to many of the very legendary CEOs there at Merck and have a lot of experience that you can share with our audience. So I'm looking forward to talking with you. Good. So what was the most challenging situation?

Jim Phelan
Great, all right.

Tommy Re
presentation situation that you ever encountered during your career.

Jim Phelan
Well, that's a great question to start with. There were certainly a number of those for various reasons, but the most memorable for me was much earlier in my career. I was a manager level of a training area in the manufacturing group. And I had a chance to present what we were working on. It was very novel and new technology. This is back in the mid eighties, late eighties.

Tommy Re
Mm-hmm.

Jim Phelan
And we were going to demonstrate the systems for training people we were working on that included things like touch screen back then and laser disc player and interactive media. At any rate, it was a meeting that was the top 100, maybe 150 execs at Merck. And it was my first opportunity to be in front of a group like that. So you'll hear me talk later about preparation and I prepped along with my team many, many times.

Tommy Re
Mm-hmm.

Jim Phelan
We had all these things loaded on a stage in a very large auditorium. And the speaker before me was the head of HR and they used an overhead projector onto a screen. And all of my systems that I was going to present, because they were real and they were set up, were behind the screen up on the stage. So we're ready to go. I get introduced and I come up on the stage and I'm trying to put the screen up. The screen is not going up.

It's going up, tick, tick, up, tick, tick, tick. And I realized like, wow, something's like really wrong here. And this room had an audio booth in the back, an audio visual booth. And there was a team back there and they could see something was wrong. And I can see them running back and forth to try and figure out what is going on. Meantime, I've got over a hundred senior level people out in the audience getting antsy, waiting to see what I'm going to go through with them. And I got a pretty good intro. So I think they had to, you know, they, their interest was tweaked. Long story short, for the first couple of minutes, I looked out, I smiled a lot, waiting for them to get the screen up. And I said, we'll get this taken care of very quickly, hold on. And then I reached that point where the screen wasn't going up. And the only systems that they would be able to see are the actual ones on the stage, because the big screen that I was going to use, which was behind it, couldn't be used.

So with that, looked at it at one point realized this is a make or break moment. I think I was pretty composed. But what I remember is reaching into my pocket and pulling out a quarter and holding it up and saying, hey everybody, I'm going to give this presentation now on these little screens. But before that, here's a quarter. Can somebody go out in the lobby and call my mom and tell her I'm ready to be picked up? And the audience went ballistic. They laughed for quite a while. Then I invited them down to come in the front rows to sit in the stairways that were going up through the auditorium, or even sit on the stage that they really wanted to see what I was going to show. And I went on with the presentation and it went very well, except they were all on a series of screens about this big. I thought my career was over. I was pretty confident about that. And the next day, believe it or not, I got a call from the head of sales training and was offered a position, a director level position. And it was mostly based on what happened in that room. So that's a good horror story. learned a lot from it. I have to say I was as prepared as I could be, but nobody would have ever thought that that would have been an obstacle. But I think the biggest thing I learned was you got to be ready for unanticipated challenges.

Tommy Re
Well.

Jim Phelan
And you have to be ready to react to those as best you can. And you have to be yourself when you do that.

Tommy Re
Yeah, that what a great point. The two things that couple things that I pick up there are being composed, right? The ability to kind of stay composed under those circumstances. People are nervous already when presenting to large groups, especially large groups of executives. And the other thing was humor, being able to, and you have a great sense of humor, so that's, that's good. Being able to be comfortable, be in your own skin and connect with people. And I think, yeah, I mean, it's good.

Tommy Re
That's probably why you had such a positive response to that because everybody feels the same way when they're giving a presentation and something goes wrong. I mean, you're in good company, right? It happened to Bill Gates. You've got to be ready for anything like that.

Jim Phelan
Yeah. I also, Tommy, I believe I'm a glass half full person. And although I probably was in a few situations where this belief wasn't so, but I truly believe when you're trying to do something in front of people and something's not working well, that most people are going to be in your corner and they're going to help you and they're going to support you. And you got to carry that mindset in when you do it, particularly the teams, know, like if you're presenting to a group of people as opposed to, you know, a single individual.

Tommy Re
Yeah, absolutely. So Jim, what a lot of folks that we work with worry about those high stakes presentations and sometimes their own apprehension gets in the way of good preparation. Can you provide some tips for us on how to prepare for executive presentations and what's different when you're presenting to an executive audience compared to maybe your own teammates?

Jim Phelan
Sure. Maybe let's start with the first one because that affects your preparation. Most of the times, senior level execs are looking at big picture. They're used to making well-founded, but sometimes quick decisions. And lots of times don't have much time. Can be very impatient if you're not hitting it home, like from the get-go or at least capturing their attention upfront.

Tommy Re
Sure. Right. Mm-hmm.

Jim Phelan
but that's their life. And let's say you're in a presentation at the beginning of a day long senior leadership team meeting and you're one or two on the shoot. That CEO and their team are going to have another group to go through way past you. So they want to see things that make sense, that sound promising, that are realistic, but you know, you have to be careful how much detail and how you give that to them. So. That's where it comes down to it's like anything else in life, I swear, it's preparation. And, you know, when I think about preparing for those types of meetings or presentations, you know, first off, I think, let's say you're given a 30 minute slot. You have to be realistic about that upfront. What I would tell people, I would coach my managers, I would say, if you've got 30 minutes, plan on what would happen if you had 15 to 20 minutes.

There's a pretty realistic possibility when they get around to you, particularly if you're later in the day on a full agenda, that's what you're going to have. So don't go in and react to that when you have a 30 minute presentation. Think about that ahead of time and where you might shorten things up or just change or reframe the way that you're presenting the material. So that's just a realistic step in terms of being ready, I think. I would always tell people when you're giving a presentation, let's say you've got that 30, 25 or 30 minutes, okay, or at least you think you do. I would make sure upfront, right going in, that I give them the summary, okay? I tell them why I'm here, what I'm talking about, what I'm hoping they'll discuss and decide upon, and what I really need from them.

And if it means I give them some summary data upfront because I'm drawing them to a conclusion or something, I get that upfront, but I don't provide the detail. In that first five minutes, that's your best hope at getting their attention and capturing it. It's more than just getting it. You really need to capture their attention. And if you do that and you also let them know, by the way, there will be plenty of time for questions. And you see a need to see a deeper picture or dive deeper on something.

I hopefully have that information for you and I can show it to you. But right up front in the first five minutes or so, I want to establish the fact that I'm here for a specific purpose. And you know, that can vary. I mean, you may be presenting a, you may be pitching something new. It may be a new project or initiative. You may be updating them on the progress of something. You may be, there's a whole host of different ways, reasons that you would be presenting to a senior team.

But still, no matter what that is, I would let them know upfront, here's what I'm going to be talking about. Here's some summary information and here's what I'm hoping to get today from this group or from you if I'm presenting strictly to the CEO.

Tommy Re
Yeah, we talk a lot about that in our workshops about what's actionable for those senior level executives. They make decisions, as you pointed out, they're used to making decisions and they're looking for, I think, what action they need to take as a result of what information you're providing. Whether, like you say, whether it's a pitch for a new product or a new approach to something, what do they need to do? And I think a lot of novice presenters don't incorporate that early enough. And it's interesting because I had an experience very similar to what you were saying. And I had been working with a group and each of the managers were given 30 minutes to present to their VP. Well, by the end of the day, VP got a phone call and the last manager to present only had five minutes. They had to be able to consolidate the information, be concise.

Jim Phelan
Yep.

Tommy Re
What's most important here, we like to say filter, funnel and frame, get right to it.

Jim Phelan
Yep. You know, so that's part, that's part of the preparation. think one of the most important things to do is to think about where the discussion might go. Give that thought ahead of time. where could it get sidetracked? Where might be some of the challenging questions or, where some of the hot button? But, but don't react in the moment if you can help it, if you can think out and kind of fishbone those out ahead of time in terms of.

Tommy Re
Mm.

Jim Phelan
the kinds of things you'll try to say, where you'll try to redirect the conversation if necessary. There's also a big piece of that when it gets sidetracked. Sometimes you have to listen a little bit and let them talk and even talk amongst each other before you try to pull them back. But think about ahead of time, where might this go?

Tommy Re
Yeah, I love that. I love that idea of really thinking critically about where the conversation could go and writing it down. I think that helps so much in the preparation.

Jim Phelan
Yep, that's part of the planning process. And if it doesn't go there, great, but at least you were ready. mean, Tommy, you and I were both part of a conversation that got side railed with an executive team and we laughed about it afterwards and there was no anticipating where that one was going exactly. But remember we were presenting to a CEO and their immediate management team.

And we were going to take them through a program that we'd built for first line managers. And we were already, we had everything prepped. We had met with the right people. We had anticipated questions, et cetera. And if you remember going in about five, a little more than five minutes, maybe about 10 minutes into the presentation, the CEO raised a question about how this would affect company culture. And we had talked about that as potential, but we did not realize that that was going to be such a hot button. And you and I both know what happened. We spent the entire rest of her management team meeting day having a facilitated and helping to facilitate a discussion around company culture at the manager level. We never really got back to what we were supposed to do. And we came back at a different time.

Tommy Re
All right.

Tommy Re
Right.

Jim Phelan
We never anticipated that, thinking ahead is really important and where it may go.

Tommy Re
Yeah. We spend a lot of time helping folks do audience analysis before a meeting, especially an important meeting and really understanding what the drivers are for the audience. So I think that's an important area as well. And we like to think of those and what are the financial implications of your proposal? What are the organizational implications? And that was a great example of-

Jim Phelan
You heard it.

Tommy Re
You know, that CEO was thinking about what are the bigger organizational implications of this proposal that you're putting in front of us, this program that we're going to do. Any tips or ideas for how to do audience analysis in the organization before an important presentation?

Jim Phelan
Sure. Well, again, in the form of prep, you really want to practice what you're going to say. You want to rehearse, you want to role play, whatever you want to use, whatever words, and not just with yourself. You should absolutely reach out to your boss, your manager, maybe somebody else on the senior team that you're networked with or that you're friends with. But, you know, that's a good way to get those feelers, okay? It doesn't mean you're going to present all...

Tommy Re
Mm-hmm.

Jim Phelan
But you can ask somebody that you know is going to be in that meeting, okay, when you're presenting, like, what are some of the hot themes right now that I might not know about going in? you know, what are some of the things you've discussed that relate to this topic in some way? But again, that's homework. It's easy to do. It's matter of knowing who you need to consult with. And hopefully, you know, somebody, if it's a team-based meeting, you know, somebody that's going to be in there.

Tommy Re
Right.

Jim Phelan
then you can run some of that past ahead of time. I've actually asked in that vein, I've asked people that I know are part of the senior team that I network with, you know, what are some of the worst questions I can't anticipate getting? I shouldn't say worst, because no question is a bet. What are the most challenging questions? Where might I be challenged or where might this go? And it really helps because they'll give you, usually they'll give you very good perspective on what may be a hot button for the team as a whole, or even more importantly, you know, that area that the CEO really wants to pay a lot of attention to.

Tommy Re
Yeah, I love that. And I love the idea of actually doing rehearsal. So I was an actor. I'm used to rehearsal. It's a part of getting ready for any important presentation, any important performance, whether you're an athlete or a musician, an actor, that's part of the preparation, actually doing the rehearsal, saying the words out loud, getting input from colleagues, asking them to play the role of the-

Jim Phelan
Absolutely.

Tommy Re
potential audience with those questions that might get you and being able to practice thinking on your feet. That's so important and you really can't do that without actually doing it. Yeah.

Jim Phelan
Yep. Yep. You know, the other thing that comes up as a challenge, you know, oftentimes is just keeping their attention. Particularly the key player, which if it's at the CEO level, maybe the CEO may not be at that level, but know ahead of time, it may be the person who's running the meeting. may be the highest ranked person in the group, or it may be a couple of different individuals, but you need to constantly check and that's why you need fill your material so well. You don't want to be looking at your notes. Maybe you want to be reading that room. You want to be looking for, you know, is there a person in the room? I read an article. don't remember who it was from a few years ago that talked about knowing when you're going in for a presentation, like who are the crucial knotters? Yeah, the fair concept. They heard of people that the head person in the room, the CEO, whoever it is-

Tommy Re
Right? Mm. Yeah.

Jim Phelan
may look at and look for that nod from them to say, yeah, this is good, this is on track, this is where it should be. Because almost every senior level meeting has some degree of that. And having a good idea ahead of time who that is, is great. But if you don't, pay attention to that in the opening parts of what you're presenting. And read the room, read people, look at how much eye contact are you getting, things like that.

Tommy Re
Yeah, that point about preparing so well that you can be totally present during the meeting is what allows you to be able to pick up on the nonverbal communication that's coming from the audience, because that will guide you. If you may need to speed things up or you may need to pause for more discussion on something, you can pick those things up nonverbally as well. And you can only do that if you're really present.

Jim Phelan
Yeah.

Tommy Re
in the moment and have prepared well. So Jim, you've spent a lot of time in the world of learning and development during your time at Merck, building programs for managers who have to present publicly and work one-on-one with people as well. What ideas or tips do you have for training developers, colleagues of ours that are building training programs?

Jim Phelan
Mm-mm.

Tommy Re
around those important communication skills and in this case the public communication, right, our presentation skills in terms of developing good programs that give people the skills and the opportunity to practice those skills.

Jim Phelan
Hmm. It's good question. I would kind of look at it from, I think two or three different perspectives. know, there's the whole skill part of presenting, crafting your messages. Okay. Knowing how to tell a story, you know, gaining commitment and hopefully leading people where you need to get there. Like there are hardcore skills associated with like, how do I do that? And how do I get better at that? Okay. So I think that's one piece of it. Then there's this piece that you have to, I think, build in the training that concerns the realities of what goes on in those rooms sometimes. Okay. Like what can go bump? What can happen? Where can a presentation or meeting go south? And having really good examples of that that are relevant to the company and to the area that they're being trained to support or be part of, but realistic examples of what can typically happen and how to be ready for some of that. So that's a skill, yes, but I think it's more than anything. It's that awareness and understanding piece, like thinking about that ahead of time. And again, it comes back to that planning. If it goes here, how will I act? What will I do? If it goes over here, how will I act? What will I do? And it may not go either of those places and it may go where you want it to be, which is awesome. But it doesn't always happen that way. That certainly, I think, has to be part of a training development. If you're really trying to skill up, you know, maybe not so senior, even more senior level people that now have to up their game because they're presenting the executive committees, maybe even the board. That's a whole different, that's a whole different set of preparation. I think the most important piece, if you've covered those off...

Tommy Re
Right.

Jim Phelan
is you've got to do practice and role play. You've got to give them a chance to put some of what they've heard and the skills that they're trying to develop into a real life scenario and practice and present. mean, if I were building, for example, let's say it's a two day workshop or maybe it's not even two days, maybe it's spread out over time, it's virtual. I would make sure a lot of them either embedding into the program or maybe towards the end involves real life practice and give them a chance to kick the tires and apply some of those skills, get feedback. That's a critical piece, get feedback. It may even be critical feedback on what worked, what didn't work, and talk about what could be done better the next time. again, to me, they're all vital elements of trying to build that set of skills, because it is a set of skills. It's not one particular skill.

Tommy Re
Right. Yeah. One of the things we've been doing, of course, is using video in our workshops, really giving people the opportunity to see themselves and hear themselves and work on, you know, actually looking at their behaviors when they're presenting. Of course, we do it virtually or live so they can also look at the content they're presenting in the context of giving that presentation.

So it's been great to use video. Have you used any technologies in any way that could be helpful or you suggest any technologies that could be helpful here?

Jim Phelan
I think recording yourself doing whatever it is you're trying to do is great. If you're building that into your training program, can be a very valuable element, but I wouldn't rely on you as the person being videoed to deliver your own feedback. I would still want somebody else watching that, discussing what I said, like, you know, here's what went well, here's where you might want to change something or you're doing too much of this or too little of that.

But seeing yourself, there's nothing more powerful than seeing yourself. I think you have to do it in conjunction with getting some really good and spot on feedback about what you're seeing on that screen that you've recorded.

Tommy Re
Yeah, feedback so critical as we know in whether it's one-on-one or whether it's problem solving, getting feedback in the learning process is critical and then more opportunities to practice. great. Good. Well, this has been a great conversation, Jim. I really enjoyed it and you provide a lot of great insight from your career to our listeners. I have one more question before you go. If we had, if you could give people that are getting ready to present to executives, one piece of advice, what would it be?

Jim Phelan
Mmm. That's a great question. I'm thinking about that for a moment. And actually quite a long time ago, earlier again in my career, I think it was back when the Dead Sea was still sick. not sure. I remember a manager telling me it wasn't a CEO level presentation. was more a senior management level presentation that I was getting ready for. And I remember distinctly, he said to me, be brief, be brilliant and be gone.

Tommy Re
Mm-hmm.

Jim Phelan
So there are three things, and he may have heard that from somebody, I don't know, but that stuck with me. And it really, I think it really helps even thinking about the way that you frame what you're going to say and what you're getting ready to go in and talk about.

Tommy Re
Yeah.

Tommy Re
Yeah.

Tommy Re
Yeah, the limited time you get with senior executives really requires that you consolidate your message. This whole idea of being brief, right? Be concise. What are the actionable items? Bottom line up front, as you pointed out, right? Start with that. You may get cut off. So important. And then recognize that once you've made your point, once you've communicated what you need to communicate, then you can follow up after. But I love that advice. That's great. Good. Jim, thanks so much for being with us today. Really appreciate it. I look forward to seeing you soon. Thanks.

Jim Phelan
Thank you for having me, Tommy. Appreciate it? Yep. All right. I'll see you. Bye-bye.


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