The 7-Minute Strategy to Get Your Idea Heard, Approved

Can you only get a few minutes with decision-makers? Need to make an impact fast to get your ideas heard and approved?

Here’s good news for when you’re short on time and big on the ask: Whatever you have to say, you should need only seven minutes to say it.

It’s true that TED Talks allow 18 minutes. But those professional speakers have a larger audience and more on the line than finance pros making everyday or extraordinary asks.

For the rest of us, seven minutes is enough to share meaningful information effectively, says John Brandon, author of The Seven Minute Productivity Solution.

Idea Shared Quickly, Decision Made Faster

If you shared ideas or made requests quickly and effectively, decisions would likely come faster, too.

That would be helpful, considering more than 50% of people feel their employer doesn’t do a good job of eliminating or minimizing bureaucracy. Red tape and delayed decisions frustrate them, according to a Perceptyx study.

But if you start a seven-minute request, you might spark faster decisions and actions.

Start with Preparation

Seven-minute requests, presentations and offers start with preparation. Think about what you want from what you have to say. Almost always, it’ll be to:

• Get support and/or approval, or
• Build knowledge and/or skills.

For example, you might need the go-ahead on AI investments. Think about a specific outcome — for instance, you want a team to master its capabilities for your operations by the end of the year. Or maybe you need to take a smaller step and just get people to accept and navigate the change first? 

Then you can use your one clearly defined goal to plan each minute of the presentation or request precisely.

This guide can help you get the right words in the right minutes.

Minute 1: Get Their Attention

Help your audience adjust to the meeting environment and get focused on you.

Don’t jump to the main point, but start with an attention-grabber that’s tied to the topic.

For instance, play a brief, upbeat YouTube clip related to your topic. Or share a headline story about an early adoption success related to what you want.

Minute 2: Summarize

Explain exactly what you want to accomplish and how you plan on doing it.

For instance, “We need to adopt AI into a fundamental workflow. I will explain our current system, the resources it demands, potential solutions, and my final recommendation.”

Minute 3: Get to the Meat

Minutes three, four, five and six don’t have to follow an exact flow every time you present. But you do need to include the meat of your presentation in these minutes.

Give background in the third minute if you need to get the audience up to your speed. Explain what’s been done and why it needs to change.

Example: “We use the baseline AI applications now. We are getting by without getting involved in buying tokens yet or adding to the existing software. The capabilities are out there. The staff is proficient and gritty, but the system has these limitations …”

Minute 4: Give the Stats

Share hard numbers or stats that are easy-to-understand for the audience and back up your point.

Example: “We can spend a week each quarter closing. A defined move to AI capabilities has the potential to cut that time by 75%. This is how it can happen …”

Minute 5: Bring It to Life

Support what you’ve covered so far with an example that the audience can relate to.

For instance, “When our colleagues at Ajax made the move a year ago, they managed to shorten the cycle by 15% more each quarter since. ”

Minute 6: Paint the Picture

Explain what the future looks like if they accept your ideas or retain the information.

Example: “When we upgrade, we’ll reduce time spent on the most tedious operations in Finance. That will give us more time for strategy and supporting C-Suite decisions in real time.”

Minute 7: Summarize

Give them the take-home idea again – what you want, the most important information they must retain and why. That’s what they’ll remember.