A “4-pager” success

Jenn told me that I had to write this post since this is supposed to be “our” blog. So here goes:

On Friday I gave my final presentation at Amazon and it went really well. Amazon has a very unique structure for their presentations as they do not use PowerPoint. Instead, Amazon values well-written, thorough write-ups to present information. My VP, director, senior manager, manager, team members, and the VP of Books were all in attendance. The presentation started off with me passing out my “4-pager” and everybody spending 15 minutes reading through it, analyzing my data, and accessing my recommendations. That was a long 15 minutes.

I have spent all summer analyzing data and trying to set the direction for the redesign of the product pages that will happen over the next couple of years. One of my biggest challenges is that much of the data that I needed to make decisions was either missing or incomplete. In addition, my managers already had their own ideas as to the direction we should take, but based on my analysis I felt we should be going another direction. So you can imagine the stress I faced leading up to this presentation. It was something to watch people read the executive summary (4-pager) marking it up and making notes in the margin. I tried to watch what they were marking so that I could prepare my response to their questions.

After the 15-minute reading, I asked if anybody had any questions. My VP started by asking a few questions and had me go a little deeper into my analysis of the first section. Luckily, I was very prepared for this and was able to demonstrate my deep understanding of this area. They could see that I had done my homework and didn’t question that section any further. Then my director said, “I would like to challenge you on one of your points. You state [x,y, and z] and that is just wrong.” Luckily I was able to elaborate further and help her understand how I came to those numbers.

Finally, the VP of Books spoke and said, “I really like your framework here. I think it is the right approach and is the direction we need to be going.” His opinion is very respected as he has been at Amazon a long time and done some great things for the company. This started a very positive discussion of the paper and the possibilities that the recommendations present.

When I got back to my area after my presentation my manager congratulated me and said that the presentation went better than his intern presentation did and better than any presentation he has seen. He and my senior manager had both been nervous about how my presentation would go since I had gone out on a limb with my recommendations. Luckily, it paid off!

So hopefully this all means that I will get a job offer. I definitely want to look at my other options, but Amazon really is an incredible company and I hope to have the option of coming back.