Delivering Effective Presentations

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Delivering Effective Presentations

• Presentation for Philippine Emerging Start-Ups
  Open
• November 19, 2005
• Arie Bernardo Bulahan, Principal
• WTP Capital, LLC

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Discussion Outline

• Goal of Todays Session
• Introduction
• Two Key Presentation Elements
• Our Focus Content
• The Elevator Pitch
• The Business Plan Pitch
• Making Slide Presentations and Preparing for the
  Pitch

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Goal of Todays Session
Equip PESO finalists with the essential tools for
making effective elevator and business plan
pitches.
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Two Key Presentation Elements

• Content the message (substance)
• Delivery the way message is communicated (form)
• Structure
• Language
• Style

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Content Must

• Laser focus on key issues
• Be meaningful to the listener
• Build a logical case
• Issues
• Facts
• Conclusion

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Presentation Must

• Consider the audience
• Potential investor, customer, business partner,
  link to decision maker, endorser?
• Be meaningful to the listener
• Build a logical case

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The Elevator Pitch
What is an Elevator Pitch?

• A concise, carefully planned, and well practised
  description about your company that your mother
  should be able to understand

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The Elevator Pitch
What is its purpose?

• To get the listener interested in your idea or
  business concept
• not to sell, but to intrigue
• To pave the way for an opportunity to sell later
  on
• An invitation to talk or meet later
• A request to send the business plan
• Note
• The 60-second pitch is equivalent to around 14
  lines of 12-point text, or between 150 to 225
  words

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Contents of an Elevator Pitch

• 5 Key Points
• Who you are
• What you do (core business)
• What pain you address (mission statement)
• Who your market is and how big it is

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Contents of an Elevator Pitch

• 5 Key Points (cont.)
• Who your competitors are and your competitive
  advantages over them (Patents, technologies,
  customer validation, core competencies)

Note If you still have time, you may cover
management track record of key executives
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Sample Elevator Pitch
Description of core business
Better We offer software that improves a
companys ability to manage its mobile resources
like trucks, equipment and personnel. Our
solution is capable of sensing and reporting
material deviations from routing plan or delivery
schedules, as they happen, allowing quick
corrective action where others cant.
Not good We have developed a proprietary
algorithm that models moving objects as
trajectories and uses a dynamic variable to
manage uncertainty. Our technology allows
companies to optimize their mobile assets in
real-time and develop a whole new class of
location-based services.
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The Elevator Pitch
A Few More Tips

• If your targeted market is large, say so, but use
  realistic figures
• If your competition is failing, say so but also
  be sure to say why you are better
• When stating your competitive advantage, identify
  key strengths and opportunities
• Make sure you sound like an expert in your field
• Make sure you look and sound like you did your
  homework

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The Elevator Pitch
The Close

• Exchange cards (you could actually do this
  anytime during the pitch)
• Next steps
• If no interest, get referral
• Get out the lift
• Dont reveal any emotion (like scream Yes-s-s-s!)
  before the door closes

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The Business Plan Pitch
Goal

• Convey that the business proposition is a good
  investment opportunity Sell the deal

Motivation

• Ask What am I doing this for?
• Raise funds
• Solicit valuable insight
• Solicit support/endorsement
• What do I need from the audience?

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What Matters to Investors

• That the business opportunity
• Solves an important problem
• Has momentum
• Patents/Prototypes
• Beta customers
• Management team
• Has the basic ingredients for success
• Huge addressable market (in US Billions)
• Revenue projections
• Barriers to entry/competitive advantage

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What Makes for a Compelling Business Plan Pitch?

• Good First Impression
• Clarity and Simplicity of Presentation
• Focused and Objective Presentation
• Facts are credible, complete. and consistent with
  analysis
• Compelling Business Proposition

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The Compelling Business Plan Pitch

• Good First Impression

• Introduce the Management Team
• Past successes/Pedigree (education, past
  start-ups)
• Domain Expertise/Unique capabilities
• Profit and Loss Responsibility
• Connections (technology advisor to the President
• Reputable Board Members and Advisors (wo are
  betting on the company)

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The Compelling Business Plan Pitch
2. Clarity and Simplicity of Presentation

• Cover only 3 to 5 Key Points (example below)
• Pain and Solution (e.g. unmet need and related
  product/service offering)
• Opportunities Threats (e.g. market size,
  competition)
• Marketing Plan -- sales and distribution
  strategy
• The Team Senior Mgt., technical and support
  staff
• Financial Highlights and Potential Returns

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The Compelling Business Plan Pitch
4. Facts are Credible, Complete and Consistent
with Analysis

• Claims about the size of the market or the
  capabilities of a product/solution must be
  supported with research from reputable
  third-parties or research institutions relying
  purely on in-house research tends to weaken
  credibility and cast doubts on the true business
  potential
• Projecting a growth in revenues or in market
  share without considering the competition is an
  incomplete analysis

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The Compelling Business Plan Pitch
3. Focused and Objective

• Focus on what matters to your audience
• Address every key aspect about the business,
  described in section 2, objectively, being
  careful to consider the weaknesses and
  limitations of the business, as well as any
  potential threats
• Example though proof of concept has been
  established, product has to undergo beta testing
  before it is launched for wide-scale commercial
  production

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The Compelling Business Plan Pitch
5. Compelling Business Proposition

• After all is said and done, if the audience is
  convinced that
• the need is overwhelming
• the solution is unique
• the opportunity to scale is undeniable
• the financial returns are highly attractive, and
• Management is deemed capable of bringing the
  business to its desired levels
• Then the business plan pitch may be deemed
  successful

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What to Take Along when Making a Business Plan
Pitch

• Backup slides for key areas (e.g. market
  segmentation, financials)
• A reference list for all key executives (i.e.
  personal and customer references)
• A pen and paper to take down notes
• Feedback from audience
• Unanswered questions
• Additional requirements

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The Business Plan Pitch
Structure

• Story
• Beginning
• Middle
• End
• Transitions

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The Business Plan Pitch
Structure
Two Kinds of Transitions

• Between sections of the presentation

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Slide Preparation

• Intro slides are required
• Less is more
• Spend 1 minutes per slide on average
• High information to ink ratio
• Informative titles
• Clean 1-2 line bullets
• Graphics require time and explanation

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Notes on SlidesLess is more. Dont make your
audience work too hard.

• Bullets are useful...
• But dont write out your whole bullet. Always
  have more to say than is written on your slide.
  Make sure you use large fonts. A rule of thumb is
  16pt minimum for a small room, 20pt minimum for a
  large room. Use sans serif fonts (fonts which do
  not have little tails on the letters ex. Arial
  not Times New Roman).

Meaningful graphics
Great slides
Simple style
Clear text
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Notes on Slides (cont.)Less is more. Dont make
your audience work too hard.

• Style is important
• But dont choose complex backgrounds
• Use either light text on a dark background or
  dark text on a light background.
• Always, always, always double check all spelling
  nothing makes you look less professional than
  spelling and grammatical errors

Meaningful graphics
Great slides
Simple style
Clear text
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Notes on Slides (cont.)Less is more. Dont make
your audience work too hard.

• Graphics add variety...
• and can make many points better than text
• Keep simple
• Animation, while fun, is distracting
• Avoid clipart that doesnt help you make your
  point
• Decorations are pure distraction

Meaningful graphics
Great slides
Simple style
Clear text
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Useful Practice Techniques

• Divide up the presentation and practice per
  section
• Practice in front of the mirror
• Recruit at least two test audiences
• Use tools
• Stop watch
• PowerPoints timer
• Tape recorder
• Video

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• Sources/Adaptation from
• Berkeley Business plan, http//haas.quimbik.com/fi
  les/Berkeley20BizPlan20Speech.ppt
• The Dreaded Elevator Pitch, http//www3.imperial.a
  c.uk/pls/portallive/docs/1/40720.PPT
• Waverly Deutsch, University of Chicago,
  Delivering Great Presentations
• David Mitchell, Babs Carryer, Elevator Pitches
• Oxford Brookes University, The Elevator Pitch,
  http//www.brookes.ac.uk/research/Elevator20Pitch
  .ppt