You got 30 minutes with a senior executive to present your case in a highly politically charged issue. Many people bring a very long deck that starts slowly, industry trends, backgrounds, history, until finally at 25 minutes we get to the real issue.
These type of presentations are not TED talks were we take the audience on an inspirational journey. Everyone in the room pretty much knows the background and history (if they did not, they could have read it the night before in your document), probably knows the arguments both sides are making.
Your 30 minutes is best spent showing why the combination of your arguments is the best one. You need to get the point early in your presentation, and have at least one slide that puts all the options, pros and cons on a page. Other slides in the presentation are backups for the points you are making.
Yes, that one slide can be busy, but it should not be unreadable.
- Keep sentences short, think of every word you are adding to the slide whether it is worth it or not
- Group similar points into one overarching one
- Spend very little slide real estate at no brainers to which both sides agree
- Use colors, and layout to highlight the differences between the options
- Project the slide over a white board if you can, so people can scribble and write on it