Presentation Summit 2026: Conversation with Robin Davis

  Robin Davis is the founder and CEO of Metre, a healthcare-focused proposal firm helping organizations turn complex RFPs into winning growth opportunities. With 25 years of experience winning business in healthcare, Robin is a visionary entrepreneur, speaker, APMP Fellow, and unapologetic lover of proposals who believes clarity is a competitive advantage. Since founding Metre in 2009, she has built a reputation for bringing strategy, structure, and compelling storytelling to high-stakes sales pursuits resulting in $20B in revenue for her clients. A natural connector and wired to build, Robin also owns Homegrown Taproom & Kitchen in Nashville, TN with her wife.

In this conversation, Robin talks about the upcoming Presentation Summit 2026, being held virtually from September 13 to 16, 2026.

Indezine.com is the official media partner for the Presentation Summit.

Geetesh: Robin, your session this year is Find Your MAGIC, a framework for articulating value propositions. What led you to build this particular framework?

Robin: I’ve spent 25 years helping companies win business in healthcare, and one thing I’ve learned is that most organizations don’t have a value problem—they have an articulating-their-value problem. Ask someone what they do and they can talk all day. Ask why a customer should choose them instead of someone else, and suddenly you start hearing things like “trusted partner,” “innovative,” and my personal favorite, “best-in-class.” Okay…but says who?

I built MAGIC to make that conversation easier and more disciplined. Start with what the customer Gets or Gains, connect that to the Main Attributes that make those outcomes possible, explain what makes you Competitive, and then earn the right to make those claims with Indicators of Proof. The result is a value proposition that is relevant to the buyer, easy to evaluate, and justifiable—not just a collection of lovely adjectives. And in a competitive environment, clarity is a competitive advantage.

Geetesh: Your background is in request for proposals (RFPs) and proposals, a world with its own pressures around clarity, compliance, and persuasion in a highly competitive environment. Finalist presentations are often the last step in the procurement process before the winner is selected. How does that experience shape the way you build a PowerPoint deck?

Robin: In an RFP, nobody gets extra credit because something was technically included somewhere on page 147. The evaluator has to be able to find it, understand it, and believe it. I approach presentations the same way. Particularly in a finalist presentation, I’m constantly asking: What does this audience need to walk away knowing? What do we want them to believe about us? And what evidence will give them the confidence to choose us?

So I build a deck from the gain backward, not from the company outward. I want the audience to understand what changes for them, then the capabilities that make that possible, why this solution is meaningfully different, and the proof behind it. That also means I’m pretty ruthless about content. If a slide doesn’t advance the story or help the audience make a decision, why is it there? PowerPoint is not a storage facility for everything we know about ourselves.

Geetesh: Tell us about Metre and your focus on the healthcare industry. What have you learned about articulating value in a regulated industry that could help other presenters too?

Robin: Metre helps healthcare companies win business through RFPs. We’re 100% healthcare focused, and we bring strategy-first leadership and execution to the process—from pre-RFP planning through the finalist presentation. Working in healthcare teaches you very quickly that a bold claim by itself isn’t a value proposition. You have to connect the outcome you’re promising to how you’ll actually deliver it, what makes your approach different, and credible evidence that says, “Yes, we can do this.”

That’s useful well beyond healthcare. Don’t make your audience do the math on your value. Tell them what they get, show them how you create it, give them a reason to choose you, and prove it. At Metre, that discipline has helped our clients secure more than $20 billion in revenue over the last 15 years; for end-to-end proposal execution, clients have advanced to the next stage every time and won state contracts 95% of the time. At the end of the day, “trust us, we’re really good at this” isn’t a value proposition. Proof gives your audience a reason to believe you—and a reason to choose you.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog post or content are those of the authors or the interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company.