When I was in high school, I worked as a part-time bagger/janitor/deli clerk at the Star Market in Wellesley, Massachusetts. On slow weeknights I would get bored and practice my comedic talents by telling jokes over the public address system. If I didn't have any jokes, I would read weekly specials using a subtle amount of "exaggerated exuberance". Other times, I announced random newspaper articles or excerpts from the manual for the Hobart deli slicer.
Attention Star Shoppers. If the meat grip is not needed, it may be stored out of the way by sliding it to the top of it's travel, rotating it under the carriage tray and allowing it to rest on the retaining clip. Thank you for shopping Star Market.
The customers were the best audience ever. 20 to 30 people scattered throughout the store, each in their own world, each weighing important purchasing decisions; jarred peaches, canned peaches, or half-price dented can of peaches? Is this cantaloupe ripe? Should I buy more Space Food Sticks? The humor blind-sided them - I loved to interrupt their "focus" and watch them laugh.
(by the way, here is a great old commercial for Space Food Sticks)
My experience on the microphone at Star Market helped me later in life, when I started to give presentations. Most audiences - particularly VC audiences, need to be shaken up in order to get their attention. They need to be taken out of their "safe place", challenged by something unexpected, captivated early, and filled with curious anticipation.
Here are some tips on presentations:
Have a goal. Think about what you want as a result of your presentation. Avoid passive goals. Do you really want to inform, present, show or demonstrate? Probably not. You probably want to SELL, ENROLL, GET, BUILD or INFLUENCE. Your presentation shouldn't be a crap-shoot. It isn't a chemistry experiment either. It's your opportunity to influence others.
Know your audience. If your audience is a VC, you should understand that VCs see hundreds of presentations every year. If you know who you are meeting with, do some research in advance. Understand who they are, and what they are interested in.
Subtly mention something that demonstrates that you know your audience. "Larry - I know that you invested in XYZ corp - this startup is similar to that because...". You will win some important bonus points by doing so.
Flatter your audience, if possible. You don't want to be a sycophant, but if you come up with a compliment of some sort, you will gain additional points. Limit the flattery to either before or after the formal part of your presentation so it appears to be genuine.
Preparation is everything. Not only will your presentation be more effective, but you will feel more confident and prepared. This confidence will show-through during your presentation.
Highly structured presentations can give you a false sense of security. You will think, "with this level of organization, even a monkey could get through it". But be careful - if you build a presentation with the idea that you have a nice "safe place" to present from, you will lose touch with your audience. Also, many potential investors intentionally disrupt structured presentations to see how the presenter will react. Instead of finding comfort through a structured presentation, find comfort by knowing your audience, anticipating objections, and having a clear purpose.
Be slightly irrational - let your passion show through. Don't go overboard though. Ideally, you want to come across as insanely enthusiastic but capable of respectful restraint. Act like your "meds" happen to be working really well at that particular time. Better yet, act like you took your meds just before the meeting - out of respect for the audience.
Don't just talk about your feelings unless asked. Never say, "I love this because..." Demonstrate love. Make it obvious.
Know your stuff. You're not an actor, you're an expert. Anticipate objections and make a list of answers in advance.
Don't preface your presentation by saying that you aren't good at presentations. People want to see presentations from people who ARE good at presentations, not people who AREN'T good at presentations.
Practice, practice, practice. Find an audience to practice in front of. Give the presentation to other people on your team, your kids, your wife, your mother-in-law. Tweak your presentation as necessary. Take notes during these practice sessions so that you remember what you want to tweak.
Show graphs, not tables of numbers.
Use "show and tell" style to keep your audience's attention. Boil your presentation down to 10 slides. Make a PowerPoint file for each slide. Name them with simple names like "Overview", "Marketing Plan", "Product Plan", etc. Put them in a folder and sort them alphabetically (so they are NOT in any logical presentation order). When you arrive at the presentation, open up the folder and put it on the screen. One big empty folder with 10 icons. Open up slides as you need them. When you are done with a slide, regain eye contact by closing the slide and returning to the blank screen for a while. By doing this, your audience will not be able to anticipate your next move - and you will remain in the forefront of their minds.
Your goal is to avoid "the squint". The squint occurs when your audience starts to fixate on the screen rather than you. "The squint" is a clear sign that you've lost their attention. It's a tricky move on their part. They look like they are thinking about your value proposition, but in reality, they are trying to remember their shopping list for an upcoming trip to Star Market.
Haha, I work there now. When I am announcing over the loud speaker I will keep that in mind for later in life!
Posted by: Paul | October 09, 2007 at 10:32 PM