Simple presentation rules for an entrepreneur

As you know, StartupIndex holds project sessions almost every month. These are closed conferences where the authors of start-ups hold their presentations to independent experts and investors.

We have already conducted more than a dozen of such project sessions, at which about seventy startups were represented. Today, following the results of this work, we came to the conclusion that the manner of behavior of the speaker and the quality of the presentation strongly influence the way investors and experts evaluate the quality of the project itself .


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Now there are a lot of activities for startups, where they present their projects to the audience. Often videotaping events are held at such events - as, for example, at our project sessions. In this article we will talk about how to effectively launch a startup in front of a professional audience and still look good on video.

Slide show preparation

• Write briefly, concisely, tezisno. Do not try to duplicate your report with text on the screen - it is better to add the missing information to the words than to try to “shove” everything in one slide and make the viewer take a large amount of data in 30 seconds. The presentation should serve only as an illustration of your words.
• Do not get carried away with the functional description of the project. Dedicate the main part of the business model, market and competitors, finance. Include a slide with a description of the team and at the end clearly state your proposal for the investor.
• To display numeric data, use infographics.
• Use a font size (size) of at least 22. Text printed in a smaller font will not be visible to viewers.
• Make a presentation of high-quality graphic materials - if slides are included in the video, you will need high-resolution images for editing.
• Save the presentation in PDF format - so you will be sure that the slides will display correctly on any computer with any platform.

As an example, see the presentation of the projects " ComSindrom " and " My business ."

Appearance

• It is highly undesirable to wear black, white, bright red, fine-grained and striped performances. All this is strongly rippled on the video and distracts the viewer from your story.
• Turn off the phone and all other radio equipment - it can not only distract you at the most inopportune moment, but can also generate noise when shooting.
• The presence of ringing and shiny jewelry is undesirable.

Preparation for performance

• Before the performance, we recommend that you show your presentation to family, friends or colleagues. At the same time one should not try to memorize a speech by heart - it is better to concentrate on communication, to get all possible questions. This is the best way to prepare for a performance, and this is the only way to develop confidence “in battle”.
• If the event is videotaped, before your performance go to the director or administrator of the crew. He will show where to stand during the presentation so as not to fall out of the light and how to hold the microphone correctly so that you can be heard well in the video.
• If event organizers do not prepare handouts for the audience, take care of this yourself. Print several copies of 3-4 page short text summaries with basic information about the project. Having listeners in the hands of such resumes will greatly simplify life for them and you. This will allow them to be guided in your presentation and can immediately remove a lot of questions.
• Make sure you know in advance how to switch slides and that your slideshow is correctly displayed on the computer connected to the projector.
• If the event organizers have given you a strictly limited time, make sure that during the performance you are guided in this time and understand how much you have left. To do this, ask a colleague to note the time and show you the plates with the remaining minutes, or use the timer on your laptop or iPad.

During the performance

• Try to behave confidently. At first glance it may seem that no one is listening to you, but this is a deceptive impression: at that moment the audience reads the presentation and, if there is access to the Internet, go to your website and analyze your closest competitors.
• Do not look at the screen - because so you will turn your back to the audience and cameras. Address the hall, and the audience will unconsciously be more supportive to you.
• Stand where the organizers put you. Remember that the presentation slides are displayed on the back of the screen, and if you move around the stage during the presentation, you can obscure the screen, and the projected image will be reflected on your face.
• Talk about the most important thing. Clearly follow the schedule of performance, which is set aside by the organizers - if you do not keep within the allotted time, you will most likely be interrupted, and you will not get to the most important sections. To avoid this, use the helper or timer, which was mentioned above.
• If the format of the event implies questions from the audience, answer briefly and to the point, not going away. Any evasion is easily felt, and causes a strongly negative reaction. Answer all questions in detail is optional: just make it clear that you have the answers. If the answer requires more detailed comments, offer to tell about it after the speech “on the sidelines”.
• Do not trash. Remember that speech consists of words and pauses between them. The one who knows this is a practically ready speaker. Do not be afraid to use small pauses in your speech.

Often, summing up the project sessions, we hear dissatisfaction from entrepreneurs with how they conducted their presentations. At the same time, they understand that the experts could, because of this, be less supportive of the project and give lower marks.

Of course, the experts are experienced enough to look at the true content for any form, but a quality presentation can really make the listener more loyal and create a more favorable impression about the project being presented.