How to Present
By: David Galbraith
Tags: Presentation Tips, Raising Capital, Pitching

Many people use Powerpoint for two scenarios:

For a deck that is designed to be taken away and read. As part of a talk, video or in person pitch.

The format of these should be completely different, but rarely is. You should prepare a different deck for each.

This lecture by Patrick Winston’s at MIT on ‘how to speak’ explains the difference, perfectly. It is about talks that convey ideas and a vision and steps of execution. I have summarized the key points he makes in how to do a talk because it has helped me better differentiate between a deck for a talk and how to present it, vs a deck to be read. This will hopefully make any startup’s pitch decks better too, and I would argue all startups should have two pitchdecks for presentation and take-away, respectively.

Content

Have a thesis based on one or more ideas.

Make it based on something you are knowledgeable about and practice telling people it. Speaking is more important than writing.

2. Get people incentivised to follow the thesis:

Start with a promise of how what you are going to say will empower the listener.

3. Get people to follow the thesis:

(a) Repeat the thesis 3 times with examples.

(b) Build a fence around it by defining what it isn’t.

4. Get people to follow again if they’ve zoned out:

(a) Use verbal punctuation — saying what you’ve covered and where you are, to give people a way to get back up to speed.

(b) Ask a question to get people back on track. Allow seven seconds for an answer, make it easy enough someone will answer and difficult enough that it’s a challenge to do so.

5. Where and when to talk:

Deliver it at 11am in a well lit place you have made yourself familiar with and where enough people have showed up.

6. Tools & delivery

(a) Use graphics, slides or whiteboard.

(b) Gesture and point at things so you have your hands and face visible. Don’t turn your back on the audience.

(c) Use props (physical objects that explain something).

(d) Use less slides with less words, they are condiments to what you are saying (a presentation for talking about is not the same as a presentation for reading). We only have one language processor and we can use it to read stuff or listen to the speaker.

(e) Do not use font sizes less than 40 point.

(f) Display passion to inspire.

(g) Tell people the stories (examples over time) they need to know by stringing together symbolic elements (instantly grokable). We are a symbolic species that tells stories.

7. Practice

When practicing use people that don’t know the topic as they won’t imagine information that isn’t there.

8. Establishing Credibility

Establishing credibility (e.g. job talk or prior to a presentation) within 5 minutes, by:

(a) Showing you have a vision for what could be done to solve a problem the listener cares about and something new in your approach and the steps that need to be taken,

(b) Describing something you have done in the past (list the steps taken to solve the problem it did, so that it reinforces the credibility to be able to execute a future vision).

End by enumerating your contributions.

9. How to stop: final slide and final words

(a) The final slide can be up for a long time: list your contributions to the world: what you’ve talked about; the things you’ve demonstrated; what people get out of it.

(b) Do not end with a slide saying: “Questions?” or “Thank You” or “The End” or “Collaborators” or a link to your website.

(c) To indicate the end, you could just say “Thank you” or “Thank you for listening”, but it’s weak, it suggests people have done a favour listening to something boring. Find some other way of showing gratification.

(d) Maybe tell a joke “that way people will think they had fun the whole time”.

10. Recognition

5 things if you want your thesis and ideas to be remembered and recognized:

(a) have some kind of symbol associated with your work.

(b) A slogan.

(c) A surprise — a part of your thesis that is contrarian or new

(d) A salient idea — an idea that sticks out.

(e) Tell the story of the thesis — how it works, why it’s important.