HELPFUL STEPS ON HOW TO PITCH AND PRESENT
From sales talks to keynote addresses, entrepreneurs reveal how to make a business presentation with impact. Pitching and presenting are core skills for all entrepreneurs to master. No matter what size your business, there will come a time when you’ll need to stand in a room and give a speech. Whether there are five people in front of you or 500, public speaking can be a nerve-racking affair. But presentations don’t have to be silky smooth; the keys to success are to think hard about your audience and to speak with passion.
Be human
People don’t really mind if a presenter isn’t super-confident, smooth and word perfect. They’d rather listen to someone they can relate to, trust and, ultimately, like.
Toby Moore is the founder of software startup Content Club and curator of TEDxBrighton. He says the best speakers are those who can empathise with their audiences.
“I’ve seen over 50 TEDx speakers close-up and their reaction from the audience. The ones that make the strongest connection aren’t the most polished, but the ones with the most empathy. Caring about the audience leads them to connect emotionally, take them on a journey and make them part of the story.”
Tell them a story
People love stories and the best public speakers tell them. Caspar Craven, who is famed for sailing around the world with his wife and three children, regularly speaks at business conferences on subjects such as teamwork and resilience. His speeches include anecdotes, both from his entrepreneurial past and from his adventures sailing around the world with his family.
He encourages people to tell stories about themselves to engage the audience. “I tell a lot of stories. When I’ve been in audiences, it is always interesting when speakers do this. I like it when speakers share stories and then pull the ‘a-ha’ moment out at the end,” he says.
Craven also adapts his presentations according to the needs and moods of the audience. Reading the room is important, he warns: never just plough on regardless. “You can sense the energy in the room and you may need to adapt things as you go along in order to respond to what’s going on. Slavishly following your presentation and not adapting to what’s happening should certainly be avoided.”
It’s about them, not you
If anything will help you to relax, it should be this: the audience isn’t fixating on you as they are mostly thinking about themselves. Carl Reader, chairman of business advisory firm d&t, speaks regularly at conferences about entrepreneurship and has made many sales presentations. He says it’s key that speakers think about their audience, not about themselves. “For me, when I’m listening to a sales pitch, I want to know: will it fix my problems or create new opportunities? Will I be able to afford it, and do I trust the seller? When I’m speaking, I think about what I want my audience to think, feel and do.”
He says he avoids reading out loud. “Never script your presentation. It sounds contrived, creates more fear and the audience never know if you miss something that you intended to say.”
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Use pictures
In order to convey passion and to show your personality, it’s essential that you don’t read. All of the best public speakers say it is better to make a speech filled with passion, albeit with a few mistakes, than it is to read.
Meg Fenn, co-founder of marketing agency Shake it Up Creative, recently spoke to an audience of 4,000 people at marketing conference BrightonSEO. She carefully prepared image-based slides to aid her presentation. “Including too much detail on each slide and then reading every word runs the risk of presenting something tedious,” Fenn warns. “Because I’m a graphic designer, I like to take time over my slides so that my deck looks great and the slides are visually impactful, without being too cluttered.”
Practise and train
Entrepreneurs agree that presenting and pitching are all skills that can be improved. In fact, some event organisers do offer training to their speakers, recognising that many very talented people need help in this area.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com