The Easy Answer Was Wrong

Megan had a courage problem.

Not because she was timid. Because she was responsible.

As the operations director for a 1,500-person company, Megan was asked to recommend a venue for the annual all-employee offsite. The default answer came quickly from the executive team: “Let’s just do it where we did it last year.”

Last year’s venue worked great… If you were one of the executives who golfed.

For everyone else, it loudly failed. Long gaps between meetings. Few activities. Limited transportation. The kind of experience that tells employees “This wasn’t designed with you in mind.”

Megan felt the tension immediately. Two crushing forces pulling in opposite directions.

• Disappoint her CEO.

• Or disappoint the entire organization.

It’s a familiar sensation for many leaders. And it’s usually the moment they open slide software.

Precedent Is a Comfortable Lie

Megan did what thoughtful leaders often do. She went looking for a better answer.

She found a new property. Championship golf course. World-class spa. Shopping. Entertainment. Fitness experiences. Excursions for every interest. Even the branding of the space reinforced the theme of the event.

It was perfect. And still, Megan hesitated.

Her organization, especially in high-stakes moments, communicated through decks. Slides were how ideas got validated. Slides were how decisions got made. Slides were proof that you’d done the work.

But Megan knew something that felt hard to articulate. No amount of copied website photos would sell this vision. The deck wouldn’t elevate the idea. It would flatten it.

She arrived at her Campfire Method® workshop carrying a heavy question.

“How do I earn buy-in when the safest option is also the wrong one?”

PowerPoint Would’ve Been Safer

In the workshop, Megan began to see the real risk more clearly.

It wasn’t in challenging precedent. It was in obeying it without question.

Slides would have protected her. They would have given her cover. They would have allowed her to say, “I showed them everything.”

But showing is not the same as persuading.

In moments like this, leaders often mistake familiarity for effectiveness. We assume that because something has worked before, it’ll work again. Especially when pressure is high.

But pressure doesn’t demand compliance. It demands care.

Buy-In Isn’t Rational

One of the most important lessons Megan took from the workshop had nothing to do with presentation tactics.

It had everything to do with how belief forms.

We don’t decide with logic first. We decide with sensation, emotion, and context. The brain is constantly asking “What would it feel like to be here?” long before it asks “Does this make sense?”

When people can imagine themselves inside a future scenario, many of the same neural pathways activate as if they were already living it. Mental simulation builds certainty. It reduces ambiguity. It increases confidence in decisions.

In other words, slides can inform. But experiences transform.

Megan realized she wasn’t asking her executive team to evaluate a venue. She was asking them to imagine their people inside a future she deeply believed in.

She Shut the Deck and Took Them There

Then Megan made the call.

She learned her executive team would already be traveling near the new property around the same time she needed to book it. Instead of preparing slides, she planned a tour.

She thought about time. When would the story unfold?

She thought about location. Where would belief be formed?

She thought about atmosphere. What would people feel as they moved through the space?

She simulated the annual meeting as if it were already happening. She walked the team through the property with intention. Not selling. Inviting.

They could see the flow.

They could feel the energy.

They could imagine their people there.

The decision didn’t feel forced. It felt obvious.

If They Can’t Feel It, They Won’t Choose It

After Megan’s “presentation,” her CEO reflected with her.

“I would’ve never gotten the vision from a PowerPoint.”

Megan didn’t argue her way to buy-in. She didn’t overwhelm with information. She didn’t rely on precedent to carry the idea.

She created belief by letting people experience the future before it arrived.

Sometimes Leadership Breaks Tradition

Megan didn’t win because she rejected convention for novelty’s sake. She won because she was willing to forego convention in service of the story.

Under pressure, leaders default to what feels safe. Familiar formats. Proven templates. Expected moves.

But safety is not the same as effectiveness.

Sometimes leadership means disappointing precedent so you don’t disappoint people.

Sometimes it means trusting your judgment enough to break the pattern.

Sometimes it means closing the deck and asking a harder question:

What does this idea actually need, so it can be believed?

Before You Open the Deck

Before your next high-stakes presentation, consider:

• Is a deck helping people experience the idea, or just understand it?

• What feels safer right now? Following convention or serving the outcome?

• What does your audience need to see, feel, or imagine to believe?

• How could time, location, or atmosphere do some of the work for you?

• What risk are you avoiding, and what risk are you actually taking?

If this resonates, download Everything That Isn’t You, GatherRound’s eBook on designing persuasive environments that support your story in ways slides can’t.

What Are You Doing on February 4th?

In the ultimate expression of “let’s circle back in the new year,” it’s my privilege to invite you to Storytelling for Sales. In this webinar, Libby and I are going to pull apart the traditional sales presentation and offer suggestions to replace bad habits (monologuing, feature dumping, droning demos) with good, old-fashioned story.

If you’ve felt the burning sting of a pitch that fell flat, you won’t want to miss it.

You’ll Learn how to turn ghosted, slide-stuffed pitches into story-first conversations backed by a clear, visual leave-behind to carry the story forward.

🔥 Hi, I’m Eric, and every week, I share insights, observations and tools so you can ditch decks and light a fire in your high-stakes presentations. If you like what you see here, follow me on LinkedIn.