Every month, in my previous role, I was spending 3 days preparing the Business Operational Review presentation.

You know this feeling. Three stressful and super frustrating days of pulling data together, formatting slides, and making sure the numbers all match.

And the crazy part is not even the time it takes to build the deck.

What nobody prepares for is what happens when you walk into the room.

When the CEO looks at you and says, "So what happens to our cash position if we delay the expansion by two quarters?" or "Can you walk me through the sensitivity on those assumptions?" And you do not have the data structured in a way that lets you answer on the spot.

So you say the worst sentence in any board meeting:

"Let me get back to you on that."

I know this because I have lived this. And I have watched dozens of finance leaders live this in the teams I train.

The mistake you make here is thinking that time spent creating slides is the same as time spent preparing for the presentation.

And then after the meeting? You just move on, without reviewing what happened, and without a way to improve for next time.

So today I want to show you a different approach. Three phases that cover the full lifecycle of a board meeting. How you prepare, how you perform, and how you review afterwards. All using AI.

And my goal is that after reading this, you are able to take your board & stakeholder communications to the next level.

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3 Frameworks - Prepare → Perform → Review

So here is the approach I teach in my workshops now. And I am going to show you how to do each one with the help of AI.

But first, something really important to understand. You are the one who knows financial storytelling. You are the one who knows what are the most important KPIs.

AI is not going to replace your judgement here.

What it is going to do is give you a structure, a starting point, something you can push back on and refine. And one rule that I have is never accept the first thing.

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Framework 1: PREPARE — Anticipate What the Board Will Ask

In one of my Crash Course sessions, I showed people a tool I built called the Financial Review Extractor. It is a Custom GPT that I use regularly.

And what it does is simple but powerful. You upload your financial review document (your board pack, your monthly report, whatever you are presenting) and it extracts a structured analysis. It starts with the what, so what, now what. Then it pulls out risks, opportunities, decisions, recommendations.

And, the most important part?

It also tells me the anticipated board questions, so what I should already prepare myself for.

The "what, so what, now what" is a McKinsey storytelling framework. And when you combine it with anticipated questions, you walk into the room with a completely different level of confidence.

I covered the “what, so what, now what” method in my previous newsletter that you can read here.​

So here is how to build this for yourself.

Step 1: Open ChatGPT (or Claude, or Gemini, whatever secure tool you use). Upload your board pack or financial review document.

Step 2: Use this prompt:

Step 3: Once you have got it working consistently, ask the AI:

Save that prompt.

Step 4: Turn it into a Custom GPT (or Copilot Agent, or Gemini Gem, or Claude Project). So instead of running that prompt every month, you have a dedicated tool that already knows the context.

For a deeper dive on creating AI assistants, you can also read my previous newsletter here.

Time investment: 15 minutes the first time you do this. 5 minutes every month after that.

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Framework 2: PERFORM — Build Your Materials Under Time Pressure

Imagine you get the data of your business into one file. And now, you need to present that data. And you have no time for PowerPoint, you have no time for Excel. You have 10 minutes, but you still want to present something to the board.

So how are you going to either create a presentation or something visual? Really, like, tell a story with the data?

So here is what I teach people to do. You have two options depending on what you need.

Option A: The Dashboard Route

If you want something visual and interactive, use the keyword "dashboard" in your prompt. You can also ask for an "infographic."

Upload your data file to ChatGPT or Claude and use a prompt like this:

The output is an HTML file you can open in any browser. Full screen it on the projector and it looks professional. And it took you minutes, not weeks.

And then, and this is really important, you say you do not know HTML, and you want a full documentation explaining each block of code in plain English.

Why? Because when your CEO or your audit team asks "how did you build this?", you have a plain English document that explains every single element. No technical knowledge required.

To read my newsletter on creating self-service dashboards, click here.

Option B: The Presentation Route

If you need slides for the board, ask AI to generate a structured board presentation. But remember the rule I mentioned earlier: never accept the first thing.

Push back. Tell AI which KPIs matter most. Tell it what story you want to tell. Tell it what your board cares about. Because you are the one who knows your business. AI is just the tool that builds it faster.

For my newsletter on how to create financial presentations with AI, go here.

Time investment: 10 minutes for either route, including refinement.

Framework 3: REVIEW — Build a Feedback Loop After the Meeting

After your board meeting, while it is still fresh, open your AI tool and use this prompt:

The output becomes your personal improvement plan. And each month, your preparation gets sharper.

Pro Tip - Use a ChatGPT or Claude with memory turned on to make sure your AI remembers responses from previous conversations. Be careful though, as you might not want AI to remember everything always.

Time investment: 5 minutes after each meeting.

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The One Thing To Remember

Presentations aren’t your focus, creating an impact is.

And with this method, you can go from spending a full month preparing board decks to spending 30 minutes. And walking in more prepared than you have ever been.

• Prepare — 15 minutes. Build a Financial Review Extractor that gives you the what, so what, now what, plus the questions you will face before you face them.
• Perform — 10 minutes. Build a dashboard or presentation that tells a story with the data, not just numbers on a slide.
• Review — 5 minutes. Build a feedback loop so every board meeting makes you better at the next one.

30 minutes total. Once a month.

And you will be operating at a completely new level.

Best,

Your AI Finance Expert,

Nicolas

P.S. - What did you think of this approach? Hit reply and let me know if you are planning to try this for your next board meeting (I read all replies).

P.P.S - If you want to see financial storytelling with AI in action, I sat down with Soufyan (an expert in financial storytelling) to walk through exactly how he uses AI to build clear, compelling finance decks. Worth a watch. Check it out here → BEST Way to Use AI to Create Financial Presentations

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