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Martin Tanner, 4th December 2025

We all love to get an agenda for a presentation in advance from the client. After all, it's usually better to have clearly defined topics to cover rather than a vague catch-all title.

But sometimes there are stakeholders in the room who clearly haven't received the same message.

You must have experienced it too? The operational leads or functional experts who want to solely focus on their pain points and their area of the business. Perhaps the incumbent provider is failing in one particular delivery element. Or perhaps they are actually doing a pretty decent job for this stakeholder and they fear the change that might be coming.

And as they steer the conversation, ignoring the agenda everyone had agreed on, suddenly the presentation is no longer about the story you had prepared.

So what do you do? After all, they're rarely the only decision maker or influencer in the room. Do you let them run with it and keep addressing their concerns? Or do you try to steer it back to the agenda?

We’ve all been there. I'd love to hear your comments.

** How do you handle the stakeholder who hijacks the pitch?

** Do you lean in, adapt, or try to take back control?