Presenting Great

Business Plans

For I.C. Stars

Waverly Deutsch, Ph. D.

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Two Key Elements

 Semantics – What you want to say

 Content

 Syntax – How you say it effectively

 Structure
 Slides
 Delivery

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Content

Everything you know about your subject

Does not equal your presentation

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Elevator Pitch

Purpose: Catch listener’s attention

Tools: Two sentences
Content: Clear statement of what you do
Not good: We have developed a proprietary algorithm that models moving
objects as trajectories and uses a dynamic variable to manage uncertainty.
Our technology allows companies to optimize their mobile assets in real-
time and develop a whole new class of location-based services.

Better: Our software dramatically improves a company’s ability to manage

mobile resources like trucks, service personnel and equipment. The system
builds on standard tracking systems by proactively notifying dispatchers
when schedules are off and enabling them to match resources to
requirements on the fly.

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Selecting Content

 Time available  Theme

 Audience  Key take-aways
 Make-up  Data
 Size
 Interactivity

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The 10 Minute Business Plan Pitch
 Theme: This is a good business investment
 Elevator Pitch provides the content
 Key Take-Aways:
 We solve an important problem
 Problem
 Solution
 We have momentum
 Patents/Prototypes
 Beta customers
 Management team
 We are a good investment
 Market size
 Revenue projections
 Barriers to entry/competitive advantage

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Nested Diamond Outline

Introduction, Theme and Agenda

Key Take-Aways and Supporting Data

Conclusion and Summary

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Two Kinds of Transitions

Between sections Into your first point

of the presentation

Between key points

To signal the end

 Smooth the flow

Between slides  Connect the supporting data
 Often the one piece of a
presentation I script
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Doing Demos

 Practice your transition into the demo

 Explain briefly what the audience is about to
see
 Make sure the technology works smoothly
 Limit the amount of data entry you need to do
 Show one or two scenarios to get the point
across
 Have one team member run the computer
while another talks
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Notes on Slides
Less is more. Don’t make your audience work too hard.
 Bullets are useful...
But don’t write out your whole bullet. Always have more to say than is written on your
slide. Make sure you use large fonts. A rule of thumb is 16pt minimum for a small
room, 20pt minimum for a large room. Use sans serif fonts (fonts which do not have
little tails on the letters – exp. Arial not Times New Roman).
 Style is important…
But don’t choose complex backgrounds that make it hard to find your content. Always
use either light text on a dark background or dark text on a light background. Red and
Green are bad colors for text. Always, always, always double check all spelling –
nothing makes you look less professional than spelling and grammatical errors.
 Graphics add variety...
And can make many points better than text. Keep graphics simple and always build
them as you make the point of the graphic. Animation, while fun, is distracting to the
audience. They stop listening to you and start trying to figure out what is going on.
Avoid clipart that doesn’t help you make your point. Decorations are pure distraction

Simple Clear Great

Meaningful slides
style text
graphics

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Notes on Slides

 Intro and Agenda slides

 Names on Intro slide
 Agenda slides optional in this kind of presentation

 Less is more
 1-2 minutes per slide minimum
 Speak to the slide, don’t skip over content

 High information to ink ratio

 Informative titles
 Clean 1-2 line bullets
 Graphics require time and explanation

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 Presenting Financials
Revenue
9,000
drivers Product
8,000 Revenue
7,000 Licensing
$ in 1,000’s

6,000 Revenue
Gross
5,000
Profit
4,000
EBITDA
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
-1,000
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Total Revenue $ 17.4 $ 169.7 $ 943.1 $ 4,630.9 $12,603.0
Product Revenue $ 17.4 $ 149.5 $ 502.4 $ 2,292.0 $ 4,584.0
Breakeven
License Revenue $0 $ 20.3 $ 440.7 $ 2,338.9 $ 8,019.0
Gross Profit $ 8.0 $ 75.2 $ 366.6 $ 1,500.9 $ 4,998.0
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EBITDA $(88.5) $(312.3) $(241.3) $ 264.6 $ 2,599.7
Delivery Styles

Presenter’s Role Goal Situations/Material

Educator Teaching Academic settings
Business conferences
Introducing complex new material
Evangelist Persuading Consultant to client
Change maker to management team
Legal settings/Some political settings
Motivator Inciting Action Key note speeches
Motivational workshops
Political campaign speeches
Salesperson Closing the Deal Sales calls, Trade show
Fundraising meeting
Business plan competition

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Delivery Tools

 Voice
 Clarity
 Volume
 Pace

 Body Language
 Eye contact
 Movement
 Gestures

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Useful Practice Techniques

 Divide up the presentation and practice

sections
 Practice in front of the mirror
 Recruit at least two test audiences
 Use tools
 PowerPoint’s timer
 Tape recorder
 Video

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Handling Q&A

 When interrupted during the presentation

 Answer concisely
 Bring the audience attention back to the presentation
 Take control of your time
 After the presentation
 Really listen to the question
 One team member take the lead
 Be concise – answer the question directly
 Work as a team – a second team member can add a brief
comment

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Summary: Specifics for your Situation

 Content – sell the business

 Versus describing product or service
 Structure
 Solution to a problem
 Momentum evidence
 Return on investment
 Slides
 7-10 maximum for a 10 minute presentation
 Graphics to illustrate product and milestones, present
financials and market size
 Delivery
 Salesperson, closing style
 Work the transitions, especially the handoffs between team
members

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Thank you!

Waverly Deutsch
waverly.deutsch@chicagobooth.edu
773-612-1188

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