Next week I will be running a workshop on presentation skills and pitching for our clients at SFU Venture Connection. For many entrepreneurs pitches and presentations revolve around the slides. Whilst I will be talking about slides during the workshop the real focus will be on the story.
Slides are merely a tool which should, to paraphrase Seth Godin, reinforce the story the presenter is telling, not repeat it. Many entrepreneurs struggle with the whole pitching, presenting piece. However, contrary to what many of them think, this is not because they have poor slides. It’s because they don’t know their own story.
Garr Reynolds has been talking about this for years, but his latest book gives the game away in the title! The Naked Presenter . In other words, what would your pitch/presentation be like if you didn’t have any slides? Can you still communicate your story and get the key points across?
When it comes to presentations one of the old favourites is practice practice practice. Practice is important because it really helps you learn your own story and learn it in a form which is hopefully more digestible to your audience. With the right structure you should be able to clearly tell your story. You can use the word ‘message’ for ‘story’ if the language isn’t working for you.
This means you can use your slides in a very different way. They can be used connect with your audience. Done well, this is emotional and nearly always driven by image. This is applies even when the audience has a clear expectation for slides – telling your story is going to be the most successful approach.
Ultimately, investors are looking to invest in you. Some may be impressed by your ability to deliver slides but it’s more likely they are looking for a compelling reason to buy into your story, and make it part of their own.
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