With
this guide you can quickly get help on a wide variety of
presentation techniques and topics. Written in a fast-paced,
easy-to-read style, it offers specific and practical tips.
For example, you can glance through the Table of Contents
and simply click on a topic of interest. You will be instantly
connected to that section for comments, ideas, lessons, and
examples (links are available only in the electronic version).
This guide is not intended to provide a comprehensive, step-by-step
recipe for giving presentations. Plenty of books and other
resources offer that kind of information. Instead, our purpose
is to equip you with skills that most presenters lack. You
will learn how to control and captivate an audience so that
you and your company will stand out in a crowd.
You do
not need to read through this guide in any particular
order. In fact, it is designed so you can jump in and
out of it in as little as 3 minutes to get valuable help.
Use this guide whenever you want to get a quick new idea
or suggestion for your presentation. This is the same
way that entrepreneurs operate and it also respects your
limited time.
To become
a great presenter you must be open to considering different
approaches. Just because you are comfortable or even
satisfied with the way you currently present your business
in front of a group does not necessarily mean it is the
most effective approach. Even experienced and polished
start-up chief executive officers practice over and over.
They try out new ideas and get critiqued by others. Sometimes
they videotape their presentation to find ways to improve.
The tips and concepts you will learn in this guide have
helped scores of entrepreneurs to significantly improve
their ability to raise money and attract corporate partners.
You may
find that some of the tips below are obvious or simply
common sense. But, as we all know too well, common sense
is rarely common practice. An Internet search on “presentations” generates
1.5 million hits! Why so much information and yet so
few great presenters? Part of the problem is that nearly
everyone teaches the same techniques. With everybody
using the same cookbook, most presentations end up looking
the same. For example, there is the age-old approach
to “tell them what you are going to tell them, tell
them, and tell them what you told them.” Although
this technique applies in some situations, it also can
result in terribly redundant and boring presentations.
In contrast, this guide addresses situations that will
arise as you go and meet with investors (e.g., handling
a disruptive person who is intent on torpedoing your
pitch, and you while he’s at it).
Why are
there so many mediocre and poor presenters? Because people
think that just because they have done a lot of presentations
they are good at it. That’s like saying if you shoot
1,000 free throws at a hoop then you are a good shooter.
What if only 10 shots go in? In fact, if anything, you
are very good at missing. People who do lots of presentations,
but keep repeating the same mistakes, are practicing
failing. Yet we frequently hear entrepreneurs say they
already know how to present because they do it all the
time. Think about this: How many people in an audience
are going to come up to you and give you sincere, objective,
and constructive feedback? Most entrepreneurs get busy
doing the stuff of running a company without taking the
time to learn and practice the right techniques.
It is hard
work to become a strong presenter (i.e., telling the
story of your business in such a way that compels people
to want to be on your team and pursue your mission).
You must be committed and always open to learning. We
have shared the techniques in this guide with hundreds
of entrepreneurs around the United States. We work with
start-ups that have raised tens of millions of dollars
in venture capital, eventually become acquired, and gone
public. The techniques you will learn, and that you will
really get to learn and practice at “The Art
of Telling Your Story” workshop, are techniques
that have helped these successful entrepreneurs. They
know they need to constantly update their pitches and
modify their style for different audiences.
It is essential
to have a variety of techniques at your disposal so that
you can be spontaneous and address any audience. And,
of course, not all of these tips apply in every situation.
For example, you may choose to use a prop of your own
for one group of investors (e.g., 10–20 investors
at a venture fair) but use a prop from one of the audience
members when talking with a single venture capital firm.
While it is generally true that you do not want to put
too much information on your slides (especially when
presenting to business people), sometimes you need to
cram in a lot of technical information and test results
(e.g., when pursuing a corporate partner).
Most entrepreneurs
do not get the opportunity to see other start-ups present.
Many of the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) winners
who attend our workshops tell us that they learn a great
deal from watching other people and hearing the feedback
they receive. This guide captures these lessons and suggestions
on how to effectively tell your story to investors and
corporate partners.
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