In the minutes prior to taking the stage for their session on the intersection of compliance and information technology (IT) at Compliance Week’s National Conference in Washington, D.C., the panelists turned to each other and asked an eye-opening question.

“Whose idea was this again?”

The joke was the discussion would be lightly attended, attracting only the “closet nerds” interested in hearing about IT for an hour. But when the room filled up and the session got underway, the speakers offered core lessons on the importance of compliance having a seat at the table in the technology conversation.

“You have to translate compliance speak into geek speak and then geek speak into board speak,” said David Kessler, vice president and associate general counsel at BAE Systems, of interacting with IT. “They are multiple, different languages. If you can’t do that, you’re never going to get your message across to those who have to make the decisions.”