How do you present solutions to stakeholders and users?

Produce a stakeholder map to understand their anticipated position about what you are presenting. Are they going to be for, against, or neutral, will they follow the majority or the leader's position? what's their skills, analytics, operation, marketing, finance? In general "Creatives/innovators minds" are a minority in the organization so start with the numbers and show the sexy stuff at the end of the preso.

In my experience ‘knowing your audience’ is first priority because ‘the soft factors’ are really the hard factors creating management buy-in. I like to share with you ‘15 Principles of Winning Buy-in: - Pick the right moment - Spark a culture for innovation - Create an eco-system for change - Align to Strategy - Co-decide the assignment - WEnovate instead of Innovate - Pick the right team - Create Godfathers - Use proven methods - Crowdsource ideas - De-risk everything - Bring back business - Get customer buy-in - Think outside the box and present inside the box - Make a convincing pitch Wishing you lots of success, Gijs

While developing guest experience in the hospitality sector, we learned that rapid prototyping to scale was the best to communicate our intentions to the stakeholders. Things could be moved, cut, and added as internal folks were walking through the space and giving us their input.

Be Innovative but act Conservative. NOBODY BUYS FROM A CLOWN. I have seen many innovative people present new business ideas in very original ways: playing a movie, doing a dance, and even by doing a flash mob. But it is wise to keep in mind that your executives are still as conservative as ever. Once you accept the risk-averse culture you can be effective. Your idea will be evaluated from at least 4 perspectives: 1. The Customer: Will they like it? 2. The Business model: Will it be profitable? 3. The Technology: Can it be produced? 4. The Risk: What if it's a failure? So draft a new business case: a clear, strategic, commercial, professional, and financial plan for your innovative initiative. It strengthens your persuasiveness.

Be laser focussed on clearly articulating the benefits and quantifying the anticipated impact. Also, demonstrate how you are minimizing the risks and increasing your level of confidence with the idea as you progress through the development. Be also transparent that you are willing to "kill" the idea if it doesn't meet the success criteria.

As innovation facilitator seeing 250+ pitches I learned that a pitch must create a WOW-effect, or your proposal is dead. That’s why I love the 4Ps technique for engagement: a positive attitude, personal connection, powerful story, and passionate delivery. 1. Positive Attitude: involves approaching interactions with optimism, enthusiasm, and a can-do mindset. 2. Personal Connection: is about creating a sense of closeness, empathy, and understanding with others. 3. Powerful Story: captureing people's attention and emotions. So craft a narrative that is relatable, impactful, and coherent. 4. Passionate Delivery: involves expressing enthusiasm, energy, and conviction. It is about conveying a genuine belief in what you are saying.

Transparency of progress and internal input is paramount for internal buy-in. Follow up with stakeholders to let them know the rationale and why an input was taken and why another one was not taken.

> understand our audience > clear & concise > Adding value & benefits > sharing real world examples > supporting 2 way communication process