Preparing Pitches: Crafting Impactful Presentations for Community Health Initiatives

Welcome to episode 29 of the CHM Micro-Credential Podcast! I'm your host, Tami Moser, and in today's episode, we are diving deep into mastering stakeholder engagement for community health management programs. We'll explore the importance of admitting when you don't have all the answers, engaging through research, and handling the nerves that come with presenting. We'll also discuss effective stakeholder management, developing multiple pitches, and utilizing feedback to refine your approach.

Whether you're a seasoned presenter or new to the field, this episode offers valuable insights and practical tips for creating compelling community health programs, managing time effectively, and addressing stakeholder questions with confidence. By the end of this episode, you'll be equipped with strategies to engage your audience, handle interruptions smoothly, and build stronger relationships to support your program goals. So, let's get started and empower ourselves to make a lasting impact in community health!

Tami Moser [00:00:00]:
Welcome to the community health management design podcast. I'm your host, doctor Tami Moser. And today, we're tackling a crucial skill for any health program manager, preparing for stakeholder engagement. We'll cover common stakeholder questions, developing persuasive responses, and practicing your pitch. So let's dive in. You've designed an amazing community health program, created a beautiful portfolio, and crafted a compelling executive summary, but the journey doesn't end there. Now comes the critical task of presenting your program to stakeholders and addressing their concerns. Remember, your ability to engage stakeholders effectively can make or break your program success.

Tami Moser [00:00:39]:
Let's start by discussing common stakeholder questions. While these may vary depending on your specific program and stakeholders, there are some questions you should always be prepared to answer. 1st, what specific problem does your program address, and why is it important? You should be able to answer this at the drop of a hat and explain what it's addressing and why it's important to that stakeholder. 2, how is your approach different from or better than existing solutions? If you can't define how you have created something that has a unique value proposition, then how do you expect someone who's just reading your program and being introduced to it to differentiate it or think of the value in that in that way? 3rd, what evidence do you have that your program will be effective? By this point in the design process, you should be able to answer all of these questions, and you should have some concrete evidence. And we talked about the different tiers, associated with evidence, pool evidence, and have it available. How much will the program cost, and what's the return on investment? This is incredibly important for funders and for anyone that has to try to sustain the program long term. How will you measure success? It's not always about the return on investment. Right? There are other measurements of success, and you've detailed out some key performance indicators that are important.

Tami Moser [00:02:11]:
You've looked at those in relationship to evaluation of the overall plan and evaluation metrics that are important. You've looked at different types of measures and put them together to help you monitor the success of your program. You've got a lot of information to help you answer that question. How will you measure success? Number 6, what are the potential risks or challenges and how will you address them? I think this is always so fundamentally important. What it helps me understand is if people have thought through past the rose colored glasses view of their program. There are almost always some kind of potential risks or challenges. The risk can be as simple as we spend this money on development, and we build it, nobody comes. I mean, you know, so we that's a potential risk, but it's also a challenge.

Tami Moser [00:02:57]:
How would we overcome that? How would we make sure that we reach the right audience at the right time? Number 6 or number 7, actually, how does the program align with our stakeholders' priorities or mission? And this comes down to anticipating what the different groups want to know and developing persuasive responses. The key here is to be clear, concise, and back it by evidence. You should already have answers to all those questions now because you've designed the program, and the program requires all these elements to be put in place. So sometimes it's not about you knowing the answers. It's about how you give those answers to others, how you articulate them. So use the answer evidence example structure. 1st, directly answer the question, then provide evidence supporting your answer, and finally, give a concrete example or antidote that brings your point to life. This kind of is going through the straightforward answer to the backup evidence to the storytelling associated with that element.

Tami Moser [00:04:12]:
Right? Next, you wanna quantify wherever possible. Numbers and statistics can be powerful persuaders. Use them and use them effectively. Know the numbers. And sometimes you don't wanna use the numbers or statistics, but if you have them, then you can find the best way in which to incorporate them. Next is anticipate follow-up questions and have additional details ready. I mean, when you provide that answer evidence example, what might be the follow-up question that could be asked? You can brainstorm through this activity and have others on your team actually help with this. If you've got champions in some of these stakeholder groups where they really have it's a stakeholder representative for a group, if you will.

Tami Moser [00:05:00]:
And they've been a part of your team since the beginning or like we've talked about in the past, you've actually engaged your stakeholders through the development and design process. And now you're at a point where you can actually ask one of them, you know, what would you wanna know in addition to x? Give them this fact, the evidence, and the example, and see what their follow-up questions would be. That's probably a good representation of the types of follow-up questions you would get within that stakeholder group. Be honest about limitations or challenges, but always couple them with your plan to address them. Just because you have a limitation or a challenge, always couple them with your plan to address them. Just because you have a limitation or a challenge in front about it doesn't mean that that's a bad thing. In fact, I always appreciate that because it tells me that someone is actually being very realistic about what they're doing and how it's going to work. For instance, when I see someone talk about, whether it's in the pharmacy space or it's in the health care space in general, and they talk about engagement of their participants, and it's like a 100%.

Tami Moser [00:06:02]:
I'm like, you're never gonna get a 100% of engagement. And they just look at me. I'm like, find me a study where everybody who was asked and wasn't required to do something did it. It's rare. It's rare. Even within student groups, I'm like, I asked for people to engage in this, and it's easy. It can be, like, almost 3 points if you just engage, and still not everybody will. So if you're telling me you're gonna get a 100% of everybody you ask to do x, I'm gonna call you on that and say, what makes you think everybody is gonna do that, and what will you do when they don't? So be honest about the fact that just based on evidence surrounding this particular population, community of people, and other studies or programs that have been used for this community, they may have a response rate or an engagement rate of, like, 60%.

Tami Moser [00:07:03]:
So they weren't able to translate 40% of those that were provided the opportunity into actual members of their program. So I can be upfront about that and go based on the population. This is our realistic expectation of the percentage of the participants that will say yes and actually really engage. And those who start, not everybody's gonna finish. So, you know, I can extrapolate from other studies surrounding the community I'm looking at to help me understand what that's gonna look like. And that can be an honest limitation or I would say that more of a challenge that we would face. So then we can talk through how we might increase those numbers and reach more than what would be expected. So when people outline those clearly and they understand what could and may happen, I feel more comfortable engaging with them because I recognize that they really are thinking through everything.

Tami Moser [00:08:06]:
When somebody pitches something and it's like, everybody's gonna wanna do it, a 100% engagement, It's gonna be and I'm like, I don't think so. And what are you gonna do if they don't? And they don't have any plan because they didn't think of it as a possibility. So, be honest about those and just say, this is how we plan to address it. That has a lot of value. And next, tailor your responses to the specific stakeholders' interests and priorities. Do you think that I've now brought that home enough at this point? I I I don't even know how many weeks now where this has been brought up at some point or other. Tailoring it is so so important. Really think about what they need.

Tami Moser [00:08:44]:
That tailoring it to the stakeholder group can be so valuable in getting the engagement you want from that group. So don't skip that part as if it's not important. It may just be a couple of sentences that get shifted, but that can make a world of difference. So let's look at an example. Imagine you're presenting the Millbrook diabetes prevention program we've been following throughout this course. A stakeholder asks, how is your program different from existing diabetes education programs? Here's what a persuasive response might sound like. Our program is unique in its community centered techno tech enabled approach. Unlike traditional programs that rely solely on clinic based education, we combine in person group sessions with a mobile app for ongoing support and monitoring.

Tami Moser [00:09:33]:
Evidence from similar hybrid program shows there's they're twice as effective at reducing a one c levels compared to traditional education alone. For example, in our pilot study, 80% of participants reduced their a one c to pre diabetic levels within 6 months compared to only 40% in the local hospital standard program. So that really does answer the question. It provides evidence and backs that up and really allows for the differentiation between what our program would offer versus another in the similar space. Now let's address some common challenges in stakeholder engagement. 1, dealing with skepticism. Some stakeholders may be naturally skeptical, address their concerns head on with evidence and transparency. You can also have issues with handling difficult questions.

Tami Moser [00:10:28]:
If you don't know the answer, it's okay to say so. Offer to find out and follow-up promptly. I see this I mean, here's another space. I see this with new professors a lot where they really feel like in order to prove themselves, they have to have the answers to everything and know them right off the top of their head, and they get very irritated when they don't. And sometimes that can lead to them kind of, shutting down students from asking questions, and they act like it's disrespectful for them to ask questions. But, really, what it is is they feel comfort uncomfortable with the fact they may not know answers when asked. I try to point out to them, and I practice this. If I'm in class and I have a I like students ask questions that they ask a question and I don't know the answer, you know, I don't, you know, I don't know the answer to that off the top of my head.

Tami Moser [00:11:16]:
I'll do some research and get back with you. Or sometimes even better, I go, hey, why don't you do a little research and see what you find out and bring that back to class, and then we'll discuss it. And I'll do a little of my own and we'll see how that kind of aligns. Now, that engages them and having to learn something outside of class other than me just handing them an answer. But at the same time, I'm I'm very upfront about I might not have all the answers. And that's okay. I'm never gonna know everything. And if the question's difficult because I don't have an answer, just be upfront.

Tami Moser [00:11:50]:
Say you'll find out. Now, if you say you're gonna get the answer and get it back to them, then that should be a priority when it's over. Is that you go do your due diligence and you get that answer and you communicate it with them promptly. That's key. If if you eliminate that part Lincoln agreed. If you eliminate that part and say you'll find out and get back with them and then you don't, you lost them. The next is to manage different stakeholder priorities. This can be a challenge just jugging juggling it.

Tami Moser [00:12:22]:
Right? It's a common challenge in stakeholder engagement, especially when you're kinda juggling 6 or 7 groups of stakeholders and you're managing their different priorities. That can be a lot. So be prepared to emphasize different aspects of your program for different stakeholders. A tip for live engagements. So if you're gonna be talking to, let's say, representatives from all the stakeholder groups are gonna be present, it is a good idea for you to already have, you know, 2 or 3 kind of prompts for highlights that match up between your program and the priorities of those stakeholders and have that available to flip through. So that if a stakeholder group asks a question, you can kinda flip over to the page that's about them and already have some highlighted snippets, if you will, of relevant content goals. And then overcoming presentation nerves. Remember your passion for your program is your best asset.

Tami Moser [00:13:36]:
Let it shine through. If you don't do a lot of presenting or speaking in public, it can very much, trigger nerves and make it difficult. And one thing I wanna point out is when you shift the space and kind of the context of presenting let's say you're used to getting up and running meetings in your organization. You do it all the time. You get up between you get in front of the c suite. You often do educational, activities for different groups within the hospital. And so you're fairly used to sitting in front of or standing in front of a group of doctors or nurses or going into a specific health clinic and doing something. And because you're so used to those particular settings and particular content, you don't really see a lot of nerves anymore.

Tami Moser [00:14:26]:
And so you may think I won't run into nerves. I speak all the time in front of groups. What I have found over time, because I speak all the time in front of groups of people, some are students. I present at conferences. I do training initiatives, places. So I am used to those different contexts. I can still be thrown into a case of nerves by being asked to speak either with a different size audience than I'm used to. So maybe we move from an audience of 25 to a 100, and that's a big shift.

Tami Moser [00:15:01]:
They're they're a group or a stakeholder group I've never spoken to before, and so I'm not as familiar with or have the rapport already built in, you know, that capability to go, okay. I know how to talk to these people, so I can do this. I've done it before. It'll be fine. It's like, I don't know how to talk to these people. I've never done it before. I don't know if my normal flow and content will really be acceptable, if they'll if it'll work with them, if it can build rapport. And so I'll have a case of nerves.

Tami Moser [00:15:35]:
Just be prepared for that. It's okay. And nerves actually some kind sometimes really work to heighten your engagement, your interaction. It makes you sound less tired than you might be at any given time, and that's where your passion for what you're doing and why it's important can really help overcome the nerves or at least help them be hidden a little bit while you're talking. So, finally, let's talk about practicing your pitch. Here are some strategies for that. Develop a 2 minute, 5 minute, and 15 minute version of your pitch. You never know how much time you're gonna have with someone, and it is amazing how much information you can share in 2 minutes.

Tami Moser [00:16:21]:
You can look to some of these podcasts, and I'm sure sometimes you look at it and go 5 minutes. Why did she even bother recording that? Well, that 5 minute content has information that you need. And so the 2 minute, 5 minute, 15 minute approach gives you some different versions. You have to be very clear and concise. I mean, no extra anything in a 2 minute, but that's all the time you might have. If somebody says, hey, just right up the elevator with me. That's as much time as I have. I've got to get to another meeting.

Tami Moser [00:16:50]:
You can walk with me from this one to that one. That may only take 2 minutes. So can you do enough in that 2 minutes to wet their interest? So by the time you get them to the door they have to go into for the next meeting, they go, hey, you know what? That does sound interesting. Send me an email or shoot an email to my secretary and set up a time or hey, send me the written program or send me your executive summary. They'll tell you what they wanna do next, but at least executive summary. They'll tell you what they wanna do next, but at least they want to do something next. And if they don't initiate that, once you've given them that little blurb and they're about to walk in the door say, is it okay with you if I send a note through email so that we could find some time to talk in more in-depth and see what they say. Right? Or you could go, would you rather me make an appointment come talk to you about this or to send you the summary and then set up a follow-up meeting.

Tami Moser [00:17:36]:
Let them tell you. You're not giving them a you'll notice in that option, I'm not giving them a yes or no option. I'm giving them a choice of 2 things. Now they can still say, hey. I'm not interested at all. I don't even want you to contact me. That's fine. But that's not an option I give them.

Tami Moser [00:17:50]:
They they have to pull that out and and, give it to me. So if you're prepared, then you can take advantage of those little opportunities that can pop up that could give you access that otherwise you're never gonna get. Next, practice with your colleagues, friends, or family members, or I sometimes practice with my dogs. There's something to be said for just walking around and saying it out loud and practicing it different ways, and you're gonna catch things when you say them and go, that does not sound right. It may look right on paper, but when you talk, it does not. You need it you need to rework that because the sound of it versus the way it reads is different. Now colleagues and friends, family members are obviously gonna be able to give you a different type of feedback than my pups will, but it's an audience, and sometimes that's what you've got to work with. But if you're using colleagues, friends, or family members, ask them to play the role of different stakeholder groups.

Tami Moser [00:18:49]:
Define for them who they are, what their values are, and, you know, what they do, what the mission is, and then ask them to think about what you're pitching to them through that lens and give you feedback. You don't always have to take the feedback. Sometimes the feedback is well intentioned, but it's really not gonna help you. Other times, it's, like, vitally important information. Record yourself and watch it back. I know this is very hard to do. Trust me. I know this is very hard to do.

Tami Moser [00:19:20]:
I really don't like watching videos of myself. I've never liked having pictures taken. You know, I don't even necessarily like listening to myself back on these recordings, but it is important you have some context of what you look like when you're pitching the and by look like, I don't mean necessarily the clothes you're wearing. Right? I mean, you'll you'll know what's appropriate in terms of that. I'm talking about facial expressions, and how you're speaking with your hands and your body language and what that looks like and then how you sound. You know, pay attention to your pace, clarity, and body language. Are there spaces where you can pause and allow little white noise? And you'll notice that I've done that in some of these recordings. Now, some of it, I'm literally, and you can tell I'm looking for that next word I've tried to put into what we're talking about.

Tami Moser [00:20:19]:
But other times, those are very purposeful pauses for you to think about what we what I've said up to this point. They're not long. They may only be, like, 2 or 3 seconds. Even 5 seconds in this kind of setting seems very long. Kind of setting seems very long, but it's kind of like white space on a page. It's that pause to allow what you've said to sink in and to provide some space from what you were saying to your next point. So you may need to play with that a little bit to get comfortable with how that pace needs to work, where your pauses need to be, where questions might come from, and you might wanna pause to take questions. That's all important, and you're really not going to be able to understand, look, evaluate that without recording yourself doing it.

Tami Moser [00:21:11]:
Because painful as that will be, that's gonna be a a key strategy I suggest. Be prepared for interruptions. I mean, you'll notice throughout all of these podcasts, there have been interruptions by my pups, Lincoln, Max, and Gracie, 3 standard poodles, by the way. My my home and my office here is the quietest space I have, and they happen to be in it. So they like to talk to me sometimes, and it can be inopportune. So there have been times when I've just had to shut it down and restart because they've had a lot to say. But other times, you'll notice they have something to say, and I just pause for a few minutes and then pick back up. And that's the be prepared for interruption.

Tami Moser [00:21:53]:
Someone walks in. It's somebody's secretary, and they're like, I've got this message. I've gotta give x. And you just have to be prepared to pause and then pick back up. You can also be interrupted because people wanna ask questions mid presentation. You really need to decide also on your strategy for this. Do you want them asking questions whenever they pop up, or do you want them to hold questions till the end? What I always recommend is whatever your method or your strategy is for addressing questions, you let everybody know before you start. You can have a slide that says, you you know, if you would, please hold your questions to the end, and then I will be happy to answer all of them at one time.

Tami Moser [00:22:34]:
Or you can say, you know, when a pop when you have a question pop into your head, feel free to stop me and ask the question because you may not be the only one that has it. And I would I would like to be able to make sure everybody has all the information they need before they get out. You could also say something like, I know questions may naturally come up as we're walking through this program. I've made sure everybody has pens and notepads at your, place. I would suggest using that to take notes and to jot down questions as they come up, and then we'll work our way through them as we get to the end of the presentation. Or at the end of every section of the presentation, I'll stop. And those of you that have questions you wanna ask at that point, please feel free I mean, you can handle this however you want. I've given you, like, 3 or 4 options there, I think.

Tami Moser [00:23:23]:
But the the idea is to decide a strategy for being interrupted and for stakeholder questions to be asked. Inform everybody how you would prefer that to work, and then be prepared for them to ignore everything you ask them to do. In other words, even when you set up, hey. Could you hold your questions to the end? Someone's probably gonna stop you to ask the question because it's just burning a hole in their head, and they need it to get out. So go with the flow. Say thank you for asking that question. I'm sure you're not the only one that has it. Here's my answer, or I appreciate that question.

Tami Moser [00:24:00]:
I'm gonna ask Sally to jot that down because I do not know the answer off my top of my head. We will see if we can get the answer by the time we're done with this meeting. And if not, then we will send you an email if you'll make sure Sally has it, your email address you'd prefer us to send the answer to, and then move on. Right? So be prepared, know how you wanna handle it, practice that a little bit so it can kinda just you can just spit out the words and and go forth. And then time yourself. It's easy to go over time when you're passionate about your program, and you can talk about things to a great extent. I have to really watch that closely in these podcasts. If I can keep them short or as short as I can keep them, I have because I don't want to just pontificate or chase rabbits.

Tami Moser [00:24:45]:
So this is where slide decks really play a role. A slide deck should never have word for word what you're gonna say. If you're reading your slides, you're doing it wrong. The slides really are bullet points that you wanna talk about and expand on. But the value that they also play is they keep you on track. So, many of us that talk partially for a living can chase rabbits. When you're subject matter expert, there's a lot you'd like to say about certain things and share. But not all of it's relevant to the audience you're with right then.

Tami Moser [00:25:26]:
And it could be that it's an advanced level of information, and they don't need or want at this stage nor could they use it yet. So what's the point in throwing it out there? And it may not be they have enough context contextual knowledge built up, foundational knowledge built up that you can actually get them to a point that they would understand that rabbit you would chase. So having that outline to keep you on track and keep you at the level you need to be can be vital to this. Now one other thing you can do, and it really depends. So for many, using a bullet that bulletproof bulletproof well, it can be bulletproof. Putting together the bulleted list to help you stay on track and so you don't chase rabbits. And, you know, okay. I need to talk about this and this.

Tami Moser [00:26:17]:
Then I time myself talking about them. Okay. I can get through that slide in 2 minutes. And then so by the end, I've got 10 slides. 2 minutes a slide is a 20 minute presentation. That's going beyond our 15 minute, you know, mark for talking to somebody. Right? So you you have to think that through. For some, maybe this is new enough to you that those bullet points aren't near enough.

Tami Moser [00:26:40]:
So there are a good number of new professors that will actually type out a script of their lectures, and they will have that in front of them while they lecture. And while they might not read it word for word, they are definitely following it closely. You'll also see this used in the fill in the blank style of notes for students where people have their script, and then they pull out certain parts of it, and it's the job of the students to be listening closely enough and looking at that note packet to fill in those words here and there. And, basically, it's the professor needed a script to work with, and they definitely wanted students to have these particular points, and they want them paying attention, so they use that fill in the blank method. But you might need that script written out to start with. And as you start practicing with it over a period of time, you will be able to set the script to the side and still hit all the important points with a slide deck that has those bulleted points. So keep that in mind, some rules of thumb for that. So here's this the last ask for me.

Tami Moser [00:27:52]:
Develop responses to the 7 common stakeholder questions we discussed earlier, then create a 5 minute pitch for your program. Practice delivering it at at least for at least 3 people, asking them to pose as different types of stakeholders, get their feedback, and refine your pitch. What you're going to be doing next is videotaping that pitch with whatever visual aid you determine is most appropriate, And then that is what you're going to share. So you'll share your program design, your portfolio, and this recorded piece. Now that being said, this does not have to get overly fancy. You can do a free Zoom account, pull up Zoom, pull up your PowerPoint, do a share, share your PowerPoint, have you on the screen, the PowerPoint on the screen, hit record, record it, save it, share the video. It can be that simple. So, don't make this more complicated.

Tami Moser [00:29:04]:
What I want to see is that you've gotta start on a pitch that you understand the primary elements of effective pitching and that different elements I've asked for. That does not mean that you're done. You know, as we kind of end our time together, what my hope is is that this is delivered on the promise of helping prepare you to design more effective community health programming that can really address the primary needs of your community and allow you to better communicate with all the stakeholders to improve overall engagement and funding options. I would love to have your feedback so you'll see that there's an option for you to give me some. All along, I've asked for you to submit anything you thought I needed to fix or that you needed more on. Now it's gonna be the time for me to ask you to look at what you've done over the course of this entire micro credential and provide me with some feedback on what would be help you know, if you could start over what you wish I would have added, and that will be helpful for the next group through. If, as we end this, you wish you had one more set of instructions, one more activity, one more, whatever it might be to help you feel better prepared for the next steps you wanna take, I would love that feedback too. Perhaps I can help.

Tami Moser [00:30:47]:
I have greatly enjoyed this time with you. I hope you have found this to be useful. I would say even if you can take away one primary piece of information from this that helps you improve, then it was worth the effort on my side. And I appreciate in your busy schedules that you've taken the time to work your way through this micro credential program. So for the last time, thank you for tuning in to the community health management design podcast. Remember, stakeholder engagement is not just about answering questions. It's about building relationships and creating champions for your program. I wish you all the best and I wish you success in your community health endeavors.

Tami Moser [00:31:33]:
This is doctor Tami Moser signing off.