Chapter 11:
Quinn is (almost) visible
Quinn sat at the far end of the boardroom table, where she could control the tech and progress through the presentation slides smoothly. At yesterday’s dry-run, they’d settled on the sequence: Gene would take the first pillar and Quinn the second. Claire and Rob would then jointly present the final pillar and lead the closing Q&A.
It was 9.45 am, fifteen minutes before the meeting was set to start. Quinn had asked Gene to arrive thirty minutes earlier to help her set up, and he had thankfully made it on time. There wasn’t really any prep for him to do; Quinn was just comforted by his positive demeanour and the knowledge that she wasn’t in this alone.
He was sitting next to her, calmly scrolling through email on his phone. His relaxed vibe helped her resist the urge to click through the slides one more time. She had already done it twice to make sure the tech was working.
Claire arrived a few minutes later. ‘Morning. You’re all set up and ready to go, I see. Great.’
Rob arrived next. ‘Morning. Ready, guys?’ he said with a broad smile.
It’s funny to see these two not at each other’s throats, Quinn thought.
Gene rolled his eyes at Rob, smiling. ‘It’s not my first rodeo, Mr Executive Director.’ He turned to Quinn. ‘And it’s easy when Quinn’s running the show.’
Quinn felt her pulse quicken, then noticed Gene’s cheeky smile. ‘Hold on! I appreciate the confidence, but remember we’re sharing the spotlight here. Also, you’re up first, my friend!’
Claire gave her a warm smile and said, ‘You’ll do great, I’m sure.’
As the rest of the executives poured into the boardroom, Quinn’s mind flashed back to the last time she presented: the executives checking their phones and Steph’s subtle signal to wrap up. She sat up and cleared her throat in an attempt to calm her nerves. She was prepared, she had support and the information had been tested with a couple of executives. What could go wrong?
Once everyone was seated, the CEO explained they would defer the opening formalities and start with the presentation, highlighting the importance of the agency’s response to the recommendations. She then added that a couple of executives were travelling and would be joining online.
The CEO’s executive officer walked over to Quinn to help set up the video call. As Quinn rolled her chair out of the way, she felt her nerves return. This wasn’t part of the plan and she wasn’t sure how the presentation would go now that there were two people on the screen to her right. Her mental plan had been to look to her left while presenting. She swallowed and reminded herself that at least she didn’t have to go first.
The CEO looked over at where Rob and Claire were sitting next to each other and asked them to start. They looked at each other and Rob nodded. Claire then gave a few opening remarks about the design of the approach and asked Gene to present the first pillar.
Gene presented the actions, adding the high-level resourcing information for each, and then covered the key risks. Unsurprisingly, Gene presented with ease and confidence and Quinn wondered if she would ever be able to do that.
Gene looked at the CEO after covering the third risk. She nodded, then said, ‘Let’s cover the whole plan and we can ask questions at the end.’
Quinn’s heart started beating faster: it was her turn.
Claire was looking at her, eyebrows slightly raised, her expression asking: ‘Do you need me to step in?’ But Quinn surprised herself by saying, a bit more quickly and loudly than she probably should have, ‘I’ll cover the next pillar.’
The CEO turned her attention to Quinn, giving her an encouraging smile. ‘Quinn, welcome. Yes, please do.’
Quinn looked at Steph, who was sitting across from her, giving her undivided attention.
Quinn’s voice was shaky as she started presenting the first set of actions. She didn’t have the smooth presentation skills she admired in others, but she was glad that at least she wasn’t bombing this time. Her nerves started to settle as she moved through the remaining actions.
She was just about to move on to the risks when she heard one of the executives on the call say, ‘Sorry, Quinn, could you speak up, please? I’m on my laptop here so my speakers aren’t the best.’
Quinn took a breath and said, ‘Ah, yes…sure. I’ll try.’ She swallowed and then tried to speak a bit more loudly.
Managing her speaking volume, while also remaining engaging and on top of the content, proved difficult. After she presented the first risk, she paused and asked the executive online if he could hear her clearly now. When he gave her a thumbs-up, she accidentally skipped the second risk and went straight to presenting the third. When she caught herself, she said, ‘Wow, I guess I got too excited talking about all these risks!’
This sparked laughter in the room and she felt a flicker of pride. It helped her to relax a bit. She went back to the second risk and soon finished her presentation.
When she was finally done, she looked at Rob and Claire, who were meant to cover the third pillar and close. She then sat back and let out a breath. It wasn’t perfect, but it was…kind of good. I did okay, she thought. Steph gave her a supportive smile from across the table.
Quinn turned her attention to Claire who was presenting the actions and risks for the third pillar. Afterwards, she watched Rob walk the executive team through the strategic dashboard. ‘The idea is to keep the Minister and the public across a few key things more frequently, with the detailed reports coming out only every six to twelve months. We’d get input from the regions as to what reporting timelines would work for them.’
The CEO nodded, then said, ‘We’d also need to test the timeframes with the Minister’s office.’
‘Of course,’ Claire said. ‘But if we start with the regions, we’ll have a better chance of landing on something sustainable.’
Rob nodded. ‘Exactly.’
Steve added, with a cheeky smile, ‘Well, it’s good to see front office and back office finally agreeing on something.’ This made everyone laugh, even the two executives online. Rob joined the laughter, though he shifted in his seat. Claire smiled, blushing.
Sally quickly added, ‘I noticed you’ve also indicated the level of effort that may be involved in each action. That’s really helpful.’ Quinn guessed it was an attempt to settle Claire.
Claire sat up, already back in her element. ‘Yes, thanks. This is high level for now, but the implementation team will work out the detailed resourcing, with input from the regions.’
The executives nodded in agreement. Claire added, ‘There’s also a table at the back of the presentation where we’ve cross-referenced the thirty recommendations against the proposed actions and included rationale for the ones we suggest are only partially accepted.’
‘Excellent. Thanks, team,’ the CEO said, then looked at the other executives. ‘Any questions or concerns? Let’s cover those and then we can agree on next steps before we move on to the next agenda item.’
***
That afternoon, Quinn was at her desk trying to clear her email, but her mind kept drifting back to the morning’s executive team meeting. She had left the meeting feeling it had gone well overall, but now she couldn’t help replaying the moment she had stumbled.
Why do I always do this to myself? Why can’t I just enjoy my wins?
She grabbed a piece of paper and wrote a list of things she was grateful for from the meeting: I didn’t die. I got through every slide. I made the execs laugh. I can do better next time.
She looked at the list, crossed out the last point and wrote: I can only get better from here.
A new email came in. It was from Steph, with the subject: ‘Well done.’
She clicked the email. It just had two lines: ‘Great job today, Quinn. Please continue cracking jokes in exec meetings.’
Quinn laughed, then leaned back. She was kind of proud of herself.