2025 May Cohort

Learn to crystallize the messaging for papers and presentations with minimal rework for you and your team.

Davina Stanley

Clarity First Program

Board Paper Bootcamp

Is this familiar? &gt;&gt; Writing papers and presentations feels like a chore that burdens your nights and weekends. It might also feel like an unavoidable waste of time. It goes like this ... You are sitting down to review another round of edits on your latest Senior Leadership Team (SLT) or Board paper.&nbsp;This is the fourth round of minutiae you have received.&nbsp;There are minor comments and tweaks in track changes throughout. The draft is a sea of red and you can’t work out what is wrong.&nbsp;You referred to examples your predecessor left you. You and the team have thoroughly addressed every issue the template raises, so this paper should deliver what is needed.&nbsp;On top of this, you urgently need leadership support if the project is to go ahead.&nbsp;But your stakeholders’ continuous focus on minutiae is driving you nuts. They are muddying the message which you have worked toward.&nbsp;What on earth is going on? Seemingly endless rounds of minor edits are getting in the way of a project that will make a real difference to meeting key performance indicators.&nbsp;&nbsp;You settle in for a long night as your days are full moving the project forward and the last thing you want is for your manager to rewrite your paper again.&nbsp;Many executives tell me they draft multiple iterations of every paper and that it is not uncommon to present to leadership multiple times before getting a decision. They think this is a normal part of professional life. It doesn't have to be. I have seen many executives turn this around and look forward to helping you do the same.&nbsp;&gt;&gt; Wouldn’t it be amazing if you consistently got better, faster decisions from papers and presentations that are (mostly!) written within regular working hours? Board Paper Bootcamp teaches you how.

Write papers that lead to better, faster decisions 

Leaders, PMs and experts who want to set up better conversations that lead to better, faster decisions from their leaders.

Finance leaders wanting strategies to make it faster and easier to review business cases drafted by divisional teams.

Company secretaries, chiefs of staff and communication experts wanting to help their teams deliver crisper and more valuable insights.

Independent consultants who need greater buy-in from their clients when sharing their insights and recommendations.

For executives preparing papers and presentations for senior leaders and Boards

You'll leave the Board Paper Bootcamp with ...

My Elevate framework sets up a simple strategy for clarifying the desired outcome for your paper. It works for business cases, recommendations, updates and all other forms of formal engagement with your top decision makers.

A strategy to get clarity around the brief really quickly 

A major challenge in preparing papers and presentations is crystalising the message. Our one-page message maps help structure your thinking to drive both clarity and insight.

A technique for mapping and 'nailing' your messaging

Leverage story patterns, templates and guides to lift the value you deliver in each and every paper. Spark off our extensive library of real-life examples too.

A toolkit for implementing the ideas for future papers

The main 'exercise' during the program is to prepare your own paper. I will take you through the process step by step so you can progress it between sessions.

A finished paper you can be proud of

Program participants enjoy 6 months access of my Clarity Hub. This offers tools, templates, MasterClasses and the opportunity to grow alongside other members, with contributions from me also.

6 months of opportunities to keep asking questions

Joining with at least one colleague helps you embed the approach more effectively in your work. You can not only collaborate in breakouts on your own material, you can help each other afterwards.

An even better experience if you come with a colleague or two

Get confidential feedback from Davina as you implement ideas from the course.

1-1 feedback during the course

Stay accountable and share insights with like-minded professionals.

Community of peers

PowerPoint Planner to help you think through your messaging, Board paper handbook with 24 cases and PowerPoint Toolkit with 7 examples.

Resources vault, including ...

Share your new skills with your employer or on LinkedIn.

Certificate of completion

Go back to course content and recordings whenever you need to.

Lifetime access

Learn how to 'nail' the brief so you have confidence in the question your paper answers. Learn to quickly introduce your main message. Apply these ideas to your own paper.

Clarify the desired outcome and main message

Learn two ways to structure your messaging so you can articulate even complex ideas in a single page (without 2 point font!). Leverage our favourite narrative patterns. Apply these ideas to your own paper.

Synthesise your ideas into a well-organised hierarchy

Learn our SCAN | SCORE | SHARE technique for quickly reviewing the quality of your thinking. Translate your one-page message map into a paper or PowerPoint, even if you must use a structured template.

Finalise your messaging

Ask questions, lock in your tool kit, submit your paper for confidential review, learn to navigate common challenges. Practice core skills.

Consolidate your approach + receive personalised feedback

Enjoy 6 months' access to the Clarity Hub. This offers a weekly 'how to' email, monthly MasterClasses, an extensive library of annotated case studies and more. I regularly pop in to answer your questions.

Continue the learning journey

Course syllabus

Head of Financial Crime Governance, Fintch

Supply Chain Project Implementation Manager, Retail

Project Director, Banking technology projects

What people say about working with me

Meet your instructor

The workshops build on the knowledge from the preparatory modules. The more you know, and the more experimentation you undertake before hand ... the more you will get out of the workshops.

Start learning immediately

These two-hour workshops are highly interactive. They mix group work, individual work and breakouts as you each prepare your own paper step by step. Build on what you have learned in our short powerful online modules.

Learn online, stretch in class

Each workshop introduces a step in the paper preparation process. You will want to progress the paper further outside class. You will also have ~1 hour of short online modules to complete between each session.

Write a paper while you learn

Continue learning with your cohort and others also seeking to lift the quality of their team's thinking. Join monthly MasterClasses, share ideas, ask questions and complete challenges. Access extensive library of sample papers.

Receive 6 months' extra support

Schedule

This course builds on live workshops and hands-on projects

Active hands-on learning

You’ll be interacting with other learners through breakout rooms and project teams

Interactive and project-based

Join a community of like-minded people who want to learn and grow alongside you

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About this course

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