Communicate Like a CTO
22 April, 2026 – Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Amplify your impact and learn how CTOs communicate with less-technical audiences. In one day, you’ll gain practical tools to explain technical ideas clearly, speak the language of business, and influence stakeholders as a trusted engineer or leader.
Looking to upskill your team(s) or organization?
Michiel will gladly help you further with custom training solutions.
Michiel Zijnstra
Training Advisor
Duration
1 day
Time
09:00 – 17:00 (GMT +2:00)
Language
English
Lunch
Included
Certification
Yes
Level
Professional
What will you learn?
In today’s fast-paced and cross-functional work environment, technical people like software engineers often need to explain complex technical concepts to colleagues and decision-makers who don’t share the same technical background. The ability to translate technical work into business value is no longer a “nice to have” and now it’s a core skill.
This highly interactive workshop equips participants with practical tools, frameworks, and strategies to communicate clearly and persuasively with non-technical stakeholders.
Key takeaways
- Apply a repeatable 4-step communication framework to transform technical updates into business-friendly messages.
- Adapt communication styles for different audiences, using persona-based thinking to tailor content and tone.
- Translate technical work into business impact by framing it in terms of time saved, costs avoided, revenue gained, and risk mitigated.
- Use the Pyramid Principle to deliver recommendations upfront to senior managers and support them with clear, concise reasoning.
- Replace jargon with simple, relatable language that still preserves accuracy and credibility.
Program
Through a mix of short lessons, activities and real-world examples, you will learn how to adapt your message for different audiences, structure information for clarity, and connect technical outcomes to business priorities such as time, money, and risk.
- Learn how communication works
- Identify where communication breaks down
- Understand a core communication framework
- Identify your target audience
- Build empathy with your target audience
- Tailor your communication
- Learn how non-technical think and communicate
- Reframe technical topics in business language
- Build a business case
- Learn how executives different from other stakeholders
- Understand the Pyramid Principle
- Apply the Pyramid Principle
- Learn why simple language is better
- Apply metaphors to improve your communication
- Learn the writing process
- Identify common written issues
- Revise to improve your writing
Who is it for?
This course is designed for software engineers, staff engineers, technical leads, and engineering managers who regularly interact with less-technical stakeholders such as product managers, executives, marketing teams, or clients.
It is especially valuable for those looking to strengthen their ability to convey complex technical concepts in clear, business-relevant terms, influence decision-making, and build stronger cross-functional relationships. Participants should have a basic understanding of their technical work, but no prior communication training is required.
Requirements:
Some experience working in a professional software environment
You will learn the core fundamentals in this course!
Why should I do this training?
Land technical details better
Writing or saying something isn’t the same as communicating effectively
Grow your influence
Strong communicators have better influence over decisions and directions in a business
Reduce friction with stakeholders
Get buy in for tech debt or technical improvements
What does it look like?
What else should I know?
After registering for this course, you will receive a confirmation email with practical information. A week before the training, we will ask about any dietary requirements and share relevant literature if you need to prepare.
See you soon!
Course information
Lunch and snacks are included in the training.
Grow your career by improving your communication skills.
Travel and accommodation expenses are not included.
Meet the trainer
Patrick Kua
Patrick Kua is a seasoned technology leader who aims fogrowth and success of tech organizations and technical leaders.
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