I’m now a Company CO, but I’ve been at BN, BDE, and DIV HQs. Universally, the meetings rely on prep by the XO/CoS and the people who owe him the data. Make sure your info is current and correct and get it to him on the standardized PPT slide or whatever format he wants, and be ready to answer any questions about from where the data came.

At the company level I admit my time on staff has influenced my meetings to be a bit more formal than the company is used to, but I try to keep the floor open and discussion honest. I’ve seen generals not get the whole picture because majors and captains were afraid to correct their interpretation of data, and I don’t want that happening to me. The hard part now is making sure my PLs, XO, and others at the meeting either get me the data I need or take down the info I put out.