He had presented to the board forty-seven times.
He knew the room. Knew the faces. Knew which members asked questions to demonstrate engagement and which ones asked questions because they'd found something. Knew the specific quality of attention that preceded a yes and the quality that preceded a no and the quality, rarer and more valuable, that preceded something unexpected.
Thursday's presentation had that third quality in the room before he'd finished the first section.
The proposal was clean.
He had written it himself, working from Seren's draft, which had been specific and workable and structured with the precision of someone who understood that a proposal needed to solve the problem before it named it. He had added the industry outreach section. The operational argument. The framework for voluntary adoption by partner companies.
He presented it in eleven minutes.
When he finished, the room was quiet.
