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Business Presentations: 4 Keys to a Successful Dog and Pony Show
The more proper amongst us prefer that it be referred to as “the Road Show.” Whatever it is called, it is one of the most demanding, exasperating and truly frustrating experiences that any entrepreneur will be called up to participate in.
The tension comes from several fronts.
First, this is the hour that truly may make or break your company.
As if that weren’t sufficient, it is also a time when you will be expected to meet and entice a set of total strangers.
It is the time when failed equipment or misspelling in the overheads can spell disaster.
Most importantly, it is the time when the venture capitalists judge YOU. Your idea has already been presented, probably in a well-constructed financing proposal. Something in that proposal caught their attention – you may or may not know at this point what it was that caught their attention.
There are things that you can do to make this harrowing experience work. For instance:
1. Do your homework on the venture capital firm.
Find out everything that you can about this group: its focus, its members, its recent investments, its successes, and its failures.
Research the background of the key players. What boards of directors do the members currently sit on? What is each one’s specialty?
Have any partners recently joined or left the firm?
Has a new investment fund been announced?
What has been the investment trend of the firm over the past 2-4 years?
2. Incorporate your knowledge of this group into your presentation.
If, for instance, one of their portfolio companies would be your supplier or customer, show that name in the flow chart.
If your company’s success is dependent on recruiting from top universities, use the names of the universities that the partners attended as examples.
One young entrepreneur recently asked me why he should mention these names, insisting that the partners already knew this information. Yes, I said, they do know it, and they need to know that YOU know it. Let them know that they are important enough to you that you have devoted a fair amount of time to learn about them.
3 Break away from a PowerPoint presentation.
Don’t get me wrong – I personally think PowerPoint is the greatest piece of presentation software ever invented. I have used it – a lot. And so has everyone else.
Do you have any notion how many PowerPoint presentations your audience has sat through? Mmmm. That’s nothing I would want to do.
So demonstrate your creativity and show your product/idea in a different way. A prototype. A diagram. An image that builds item by item as you talk. Do a brief PowerPoint at the beginning, then break away into a different kind of presentation.
4. Make sure you respond to any questions that members of the group may have.
It may not be possible to bring all your team members to the presentation, but it must be possible to have them standing by in case you need to call for a clarification on a particular issue.
A good technique is to give a “short” response immediately, then promise a more complete follow up. This gives you a definite reason to contact the firm again.
5. Make sure there is a plan for follow up.
Don’t leave the room with issues dangling, or with no clear path for re-connecting with the investors.
Odds are, they won’t offer this re-connection, other than to say, “We’ll be in touch.” It is up to you to provide the steps for follow up. “I understand you would like drill down information on the 2nd and 3rd year projections. I’ll have that to you within 24 hours.” Then do it.
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Source by MaryAnn Shank
