GAP Fellows Tips: 1st Dry Run Presentation

[Sachiko Shiohara]

Hi Fellows!!

Hope you're doing well. I know many of you have been quite involved with your teams, reviewing their business plans and meeting with them after plenaries so great work on all of the support!

Here's a draft of the next round of tips for the 1st Dry Run Presentation. There were no tips sent out last year, so I took a stab at a few that came to mind. 

Would love any additional ones you can think of! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sDaXykq2mKUfI3rGWGOURdwb-x_3uCn3nB3WTjkrpS4/edit?authkey=CPWy5YkF&hl=en_US&authkey=CPWy5YkF

Please add your thoughts by noon next Tuesday 11/1.

Thanks and Happy Halloween!

Sachiko

11/2/11 Email: 1st Dry Run Presentation

A few tips for you as you’re wrapping up your 95% draft business plan and switching gears to your 1st dry run presentation.

• Work on boiling down all of the information you’ve gathered into a clear story. Prioritize what you want to get across and come up with the most succinct ways to communicate those key points.
• Identify who your final presenter is going to be and have that person present for all of the dry runs. Pick your strongest presenter who will tell your company’s story the best. This is not the time for weaker presenters to practice their presentation skills. :)
• You can divide up the slides based on the specific areas of expertise you’ve developed throughout the course of the project, but it’s a good idea to have the presenter compile the final presentation so they can adjust the flow, order of the bullet points, any animation, based on how they plan to present.
• While you all are now experts on the product technology and the industry, keep in mind that not everyone in the audience (e.g. your panelists) will be, so make sure to explain things clearly and define key industry terms.
• 15 minutes is much shorter than it seems. Practice as much as you can so you can get a sense of where you need to economize.
• Embrace the “Foster funnel” slide or some version of it that illustrates your market selection process. It’s a good way to summarize how you selected your beachhead.
• The presenter should face the panel, not the audience or the executives. And remember, you want them to focus on what you’re saying, not struggling to read the slides behind you. No need to inundate your slides with all of the information you want to convey.
• During the Q&A, try not to show your table of contents to your backup slides (you can black out the screen). This way, you’re not giving them ammo to ask you questions you want to avoid answering.

Feel free to send your fellows a draft of your presentation prior to the dry run. It’s always helpful to get a fresh perspective even just to get a sense for flow and basic understanding.