Build a message house
Know your North Star message and three key messages. Deliver a short overview, then explore the relevant areas as time and customer interests allow.
Conversational Mastery for Executive Briefing teams
Discussion leader training.
Better executive conversations.
Help your experts turn their presentations into conversations—with a clear message and the confidence to adapt.
For EBC teamsSubject-matter experts and discussion leaders
1–2 daysHalf-day sessions also available
In your EBC or onlineUsing a presentation agreed with your team
The challenge in the room
The agenda changes.
Your message still needs to land.
A discussion leader arrives with a deck and a 40-minute slot. By the time they enter the room, they have 15 minutes—and a customer with questions they did not expect.
A linear presentation makes that difficult. Slides created elsewhere in the organisation can be hard to own, and the pressure to cover them leaves little room for discussion.
Conversational Mastery helps discussion leaders prepare for that reality. They learn to structure the message, open a discussion and use their content at the depth the customer needs.
The approach
A clear beginning. A purposeful close.
A middle shaped by the customer.
Spencer calls this “bookends”: prepare the opening and the close, then give the conversation room to develop between them.
01 / OPENSet the North Star
One clear message.
Three supporting messages.
02 / EXPLOREFollow what matters
Ask. Listen. Go deeper.
Use relevant content.
03 / CLOSEAgree the next step
Summarise the discussion.
Confirm the follow-up.
Make room for dialogue
Use logo-only “breather slides” as a cue to pause. Prepare conversation starters such as: “How does that resonate with what you’re seeing in your business?”
Listen, then answer clearly
Invite the executive to explain more before responding. Lead with the answer or recommendation, add supporting points, then pause. Connect the answer to priorities such as revenue, risk and cost.
Keep the conversation useful
Acknowledge important questions without losing the agenda. Agree a separate discussion or follow-up when a topic needs more time, and use that next contact to continue the relationship.
How the engagement works
Built around your programme.
Practised with real content.
Understand the need
Start with the EBC manager: what is happening in the room, and what needs to change? Where useful, Spencer also interviews discussion leaders, as he did ahead of the Dell workshops in London and Paris.
Tailor the workshop
A core programme is adapted to your briefings, customers and people. Agree the presentation in advance—often a shared deck that the team already delivers.
Practise the conversation
Work on presenting conversationally, adapting to changing time, asking useful questions and responding to executives. Ideally, practise in the EBC itself. Virtual delivery is also available.
What discussion leaders reported
More confidence.
More ability to open a conversation.
26/28
felt more confident presenting in an in-person executive briefing
26/28
felt better able to turn a deck into a customer conversation
Participant-reported feedback: 28 responses across three Dell workshops in London and Paris. Counts include “Agree” and “Strongly Agree”. These are self-assessments, not measured business outcomes.
See the Dell client story
An EBC leader’s perspective / Celonis
“One shift the team is excited about is what Spencer calls ‘Conversational Presenting’: the deck becomes a flexible asset that supports the conversation in the room rather than driving it.”
Vivienne van Gestel
Director Executive Briefing Center
Practical questions
Planning training for your discussion leaders
Who is discussion leader training for?
Discussion leaders are the subject-matter experts who lead customer conversations in an Executive Briefing Center (EBC). This programme is for EBC managers who want those experts to present conversationally, respond to senior executives and adapt when the agenda changes.
How long does the training take?
Workshops normally run for one day, or two at most. Sessions can also be split into half days to fit participants’ schedules. The format is agreed around your programme and learning needs.
Can you deliver the training in our EBC or virtually?
Yes. In-person training in your EBC lets people practise in the room where they lead briefings. Virtual delivery is also available.
Do participants use their own presentations?
Spencer agrees the presentation with the EBC manager beforehand. Often this is a shared presentation that all discussion leaders use, so participants can practise applying the approach to familiar, relevant content.
How is this different from conventional presentation training?
The work covers the presentation and the conversation it opens. Participants practise keeping a clear message while asking questions, listening, adapting the depth of content and managing time. Preparation includes planned opportunities for discussion.
What happens when a 40-minute briefing becomes 15 minutes?
A message house gives the discussion leader one North Star message and three key messages. They can deliver a short overview, then explore the most relevant areas as time allows. They do not need to work through every slide to keep the essential message clear.
Your trainer
Spencer Waldron
Spencer is a communication strategist, presentation expert and executive trainer. He spent nine years at Prezi and is a LinkedIn Learning instructor and TEDx speaker. His work with EBC teams connects presentation structure, storytelling and the skills needed to lead a conversation. His two LinkedIn Learning courses have a combined learner count of over 135,000 (October 2026).
Try the free Executive Communication CanvasStart with your programme
What would you like your discussion leaders to do differently?
Tell Spencer what happens in your briefings and what you want to change. Together, you can work out the right approach for your team.