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#+TITLE: Meeting-Prep — Pre-Wire Method (supporting doc)
#+AUTHOR: Craig Jennings & Claude
#+DATE: 2026-06-10
Supporting document for the [[file:meeting-prep.org][meeting-prep workflow]]'s Phase 3.5. The workflow carries the condensed, in-flow version of pre-wiring; this file is the full Manager Tools method, kept beside the workflow (same name + =.pre-wire= suffix) so it travels with the workflow. Source casts: "How to Prewire a Meeting" (2007) and "Peer Prewire" (2015).
Pre-wire = talking to the people you'll present to *before* the meeting, so the meeting itself is a confirmation rather than a debate. The goal phrase is a *slam dunk* = no surprises + agreement — and that's manufactured in advance, not in the room. The classic venue is a skip-level briefing (presenting to your boss's boss, usually at her staff meeting), but the principle applies to any meeting where you need multiple people to agree.
* Four framing points
1. *Know your time limit.* Ask "how much time do I have?" *first* — before you fix the purpose, because if you build a 30-minute brief for a 10-minute slot you've shot yourself in the foot. Five to fifteen minutes is normal at senior levels; a short slot is not an insult.
2. *Know the room layout.* You'll likely be presenting on your feet; eliminate the trip hazards and the scramble. The frame: eliminate problems rather than create excellence.
3. *One slide per five minutes.* Fifteen minutes means three slides, title included. If you can't talk for five minutes without the slide, you don't know the material. Distilling to this forces the value judgments that being-in-the-room is supposed to demonstrate.
4. *Go for a slam dunk.* The feeling of a slam dunk happens at the end of the presentation, but the slam dunk itself is built entirely in the pre-wire.
* Eight steps
1. *Know your key ask* — the decision or question you actually want answered (a budget number, a restructure, a priority change). "They just want an update" is the most misleading thing you'll be told; there's a decision in play, or they'd have asked for an email.
2. *Draft your slides* — a draft only, after the key ask is clear. The deck is the skeleton, not the body of persuasion.
3. *Brief your boss first* — she's most willing to give real feedback and to catch a glaring error, and she can tell you each other attendee's hot buttons. Don't try to impress her here; impress her when her boss says "slam dunk."
4. *Request time from the other attendees* — a week or two ahead, ask for ~30 minutes (you'll use it more often than you expect). This is you asking for their time, not their attendance.
5. *Brief those attendees* — walk them through it, fold in their input, aim for *agreement*, not just persuasion. Including their thinking is what buys their support in the room.
6. *Re-brief your boss* — with the assimilated input, so the two of you are aligned on the key message before the meeting.
7. *Finalize your slides* — only now, after all the input. This is when you actually have a presentation.
8. *Rehearse* — a real dress rehearsal (out loud, full sentences, in the room if you can), not running the slides in your head. The step almost everyone skips.
Closeout: the two conditions for a slam dunk are *no surprises* and *agreement*. Handle every likely objection before it surfaces — name a known disagreement yourself ("it'll be no surprise that Robert sees this differently; here's where he lands and why we're okay with it") so it can't blindside you.
* Peer pre-wire (the lighter form)
Same technique applied sideways, to peers, not just up the chain.
1. *Don't go to your boss first.* Taking an unvetted idea straight to the boss and getting it shot down — repeatedly — trains the boss to ignore your ideas. "An idea is a dangerous thing if it's the only one you have."
2. *Use the casual mention.* Slip the idea into an existing relaxed conversation with a friendly, open-minded peer — "I'm not floating this formally yet, but what do you think?" It's a discussion of the idea sitting *between* you, not a sales pitch and not a defense.
3. *Decide up front how much you'll change.* Be willing to give up a lot — even 90% — to get the core implemented. Including others' input is what earns their support; half a loaf beats none.
Pre-wire is not "shopping an idea" — shopping wants a buy on an unchanging idea; pre-wire goes in willing to modify. A calibration trick: before you talk to people, predict each person's reaction on a grid, then compare to what they actually say. A big gap means you need a better read on how to work with them.
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