For consultants before the steering committee
Steering Committee Presentation Template
A steering committee deck in Word that opens with the decisions you need, plus a pre-read, a 60-minute agenda and a finished example pack.
Slide by slide
What goes on each slide of a steering committee deck
Keep the deck to about 10 slides, with detail in an appendix. Give each slide an action title that states the point you want remembered: "Depot 3 should go live in January," not "Depot 3 update."
| Slide | What goes on it | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Decisions needed today | One row per decision: the question, your recommendation, the person who decides and why it can't wait. | Topics to discuss instead of decisions to make. If nothing needs deciding, say so here. |
| Status at a glance | Green, Amber or Red against the committee's tolerances, one reason, and what changed since the last meeting. | A color nobody defined. In the template, Red means only a committee decision can recover the forecast. |
| Progress against milestones | Each approved baseline date beside its forecast or actual, marked Done, On track, At risk or Slipped. | Overwriting a baseline with the new forecast. Only the committee approves a new baseline date. |
| Budget | Approved, spent and forecast at completion for each line, the variance, and contingency left before and after today's decisions. | Spend with no forecast, or a variance with no reason. Explain each one in a line. |
| Top risks and escalations | The three to five highest-scoring risks from your RAID log, with trend, and each blocked item: what the team has tried and who must act by when. | Escalating what the team can fix. Raise only what's beyond its authority or the tolerances. |
| One slide per decision | Background, two or three real options costed in the same columns, one recommendation, and what happens without a decision. | Options with no recommendation, which hands your job to the committee. |
| Action log | Last meeting's actions closed or carried, today's actions with one owner and a date, and the next meeting. | Actions owned by a team. Name one person, and read new actions back before the meeting ends. |
How it works
How do you prepare a steering committee presentation?
Prepare a steering committee presentation by working backwards from the decisions you need. The committee sets the project's direction and rules on anything outside the limits it gave the team. List those decisions first, each written as a question, with your recommendation and the one person who decides. The Teal Book, the UK government's guide to project delivery, puts the rule plainly: make requests for advice, direction and decisions explicit1. Status, milestones, budget and risks follow as the evidence.
The Association for Project Management defines tolerance2 as "a level of delegated permission to vary performance from specified parameters." Agree your tolerances with the committee at the start, such as two weeks on any milestone and 5% on the budget. Inside them, the team acts and reports; outside them, you bring the committee a decision. Show every forecast beside its approved baseline, because without one, the Teal Book notes, terms such as late, early or over budget have no meaning3.
Walk each decider through their decision before the pack goes out, then send a two-page pre-read three working days ahead. Roger Schwarz, writing in Harvard Business Review in 2015, advises distributing updates to be read before the meeting4, keeping only a brief part of it for questions. So spend the first 25 minutes of an hour on decisions. Download the template as it is, or paste your status notes above: River drafts the decisions slide first and brackets anything your notes leave out.
How it works
From status notes to a steering committee pack
Download it or open it in River
Download the three Word documents free, or click Edit with AI. Paste your status notes above first, if you have them.
River drafts the decisions slide
River writes each decision your notes name or imply as a question, then fills milestones, budget, risks and actions from your facts alone.
Fill what's left to confirm
Missing dates and figures stay in brackets, listed at the end of the deck. Add them, and write any recommendation River left open.
Brief deciders, send the pre-read
Ask River to write the pre-read from your deck, check each decider has seen their decision, and send it three working days ahead.
Steering committee 4 · 26 Aug (example)
Warehouse system rollout · 60 minutes · pre-read sent 21 Aug
- 1Decisions needed todayMove Depot 3 go-live to 12 Jan? Release $28,000 of contingency? Both recommended.
- 2MilestonesTwo done, one at risk and two on track; Depot 3 and the project close slipped
- 3Budget$628,000 forecast against $600,000 approved; $12,000 of contingency left if the release is approved
- 4Top risks and escalationsThe carrier hasn't answered three requests. The ask: the sponsor calls the carrier by 29 Aug.
- 5Action logFour of five actions closed; the fifth is today's escalation
What you'll get
A steering committee deck that opens with the decisions needed
- Each decision as a question, with your recommendation and who decides
- Milestones, budget, top risks and the action log, a slide each
- A pre-read, a 60-minute agenda and a finished example pack
Before and after
Your status notes in. Decisions first out.
Depots 1 and 2 on track. Vendor's test environment came 9 days late, weekend work recovered 1 and 2 but not Depot 3 (20 Oct), and peak starts 1 Nov. Moving Depot 3 to 12 Jan would cost about $14k. Budget $600k, forecast $628k. Carrier still hasn't sent label details.
Slide 1: We need a decision today on Depot 3's go-live DEC-01 · Move Depot 3 go-live from 20 Oct to 12 Jan, after peak? Recommendation: [your recommendation]. Decider: [decider]. Slide 3: Depots 1 and 2 are on track; Depot 3 won't make 20 Oct. Depot 3 go-live · baseline 20 Oct · forecast [date] · Slipped. Slide 4: Forecast is $28,000 over budget. Approved $600,000 · forecast $628,000 · variance +$28,000. Escalation: label details from the carrier. We need [who] to [act] by [date].
River fills only what your notes say. These notes name no decider or recommendation, so both stay in brackets.
What lands in your doc
What's inside the steering committee template
- Steering Committee Deck
Six rules, then a section per slide with its job, a title to write and a table to fill. - Decisions needed today
Slide one: each decision as a question, with your recommendation, the decider and why it can't wait. - Status, milestones and budget
Colors defined by the committee's tolerances, approved baselines beside forecasts, and contingency left after today's decisions. - Risks, decisions and actions
Top risks and escalations, a costed slide per decision, and an action log numbered by meeting. - Pre-Read and Agenda
A cover email, a 60-minute agenda, a two-page pre-read, a send checklist and the steps after the meeting. - Example Steering Committee Pack
A finished pack for an invented warehouse rollout, the same project as our RAID log and closure report templates.
Questions consultants ask
Common questions
What is a steering committee?
A steering committee, often called a project board, is the group of senior people who set a project's direction and make the decisions its team can't. The Association for Project Management says it usually comprises2 the sponsor, senior managers and sometimes key stakeholders. The team runs the work and reports in a weekly status report; the committee approves changes to scope, dates and budget.
How do you present to a steering committee?
Lead with the decisions and your recommendation for each, and take progress as read. If the committee decides as a group, agree how first. Bain & Company, the consultancy behind the RAPID method, asks for clarity up front5 on how a group settles a disagreement, such as majority vote or the chair's call. Before anyone leaves, read back each decision and action.
How far ahead should you send a steering committee pre-read?
Three working days is a good default: enough time to read it, but not so early that the numbers go stale. Before it goes, brief each decider one to one, so nothing lands as a surprise. Make sure its numbers match your status report and RAID log, and that each decider will attend or has named a deputy who can decide.
How should you set red, amber or green status?
Set it against the tolerances the committee agreed, so each color means the same thing at every meeting. In this template, Green is within tolerance, Amber is outside it but recoverable by the team, and Red needs a committee decision. Always write one reason beside the color, because a color on its own starts an argument about the color.
How often should a steering committee meet?
As often as decisions fall due. Monthly suits many projects, with a meeting at each stage gate and an extra one when a decision can't wait. Between meetings, a weekly status report keeps members informed. If two meetings in a row have nothing to decide, ask the sponsor whether a written update could replace the next one.
Is this steering committee template free?
Yes. Download all three Word documents (the deck, the pre-read and agenda, and the finished example) with no signup. The deck is laid out slide by slide, so you can copy each section into your firm's slide template. Edit with AI opens the same documents in a free River workspace. Paid plans add more AI use and access to the most advanced models.
What does Edit with AI do?
It opens the three documents in a free River workspace. If you paste status notes first, River fills the deck, decisions slide first, using only the facts you gave. Anything missing stays in brackets, listed at the end to confirm. Without notes, it offers to fill the deck in with you. Once the deck is done, it can write the pre-read with the same numbers.
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