Help, my CEO can't present!

I heard this complaint a few times. "My CEO can't present. She goes off on a tangent. Ignores the slides. Stutters. I create these beautiful slides for her, but somehow it is a waste of time."

Usually, CEOs are good story tellers (that's how she got the top job). How can you make sure that she gets the best out of the slides that you prepare for her?

1. (Really) listen to the story the CEO wants to tell, and adjust the slides to that. What sequence, what anecdotes, what examples
2. Have the courage to cut slides, CEOs have the confidence to stand up with a black screen and just talk.
3. Finish the preparation of your slides early and force her to PRACTICE. It is easy to "sell" to a CEO to invest an hour to practice a presentation: "we'll just try for 10 minutes, and if that goes well, we'll skip the rest of the rehearsal." A first practice run never goes well, not even for Steve Jobs who practices a few full days to get his major product launch pitches right.

Most CEOs are good presenters.