WRITING IN THE SHARK TANK

Source: Tina Lawson,
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ddfic/1030695200/

On Monday night this past week, my team and I finally passed what's been rumored to be the biggest hurdle in our University of Iowa MBA program: The Venture Capital Fair in the "Capstone" class, Strategic Management and Policy. Over the previous three weeks, my team had worked the hours equivalent to a full time job creating a business plan, complete with a tactical plan and pro forma financial statements. The numbers did not go well and we ended up having to get $750,000 from VC Fast Eddy, but in my world - the Word World - it was a resounding success.

The Friday night before, I watched the TV show Shark Tank for the very first time. I'd been told it was similar to how the VC Fair goes. That's right - I had nightmares. So I turned to what I know to work out the details: Words. Our entire team made sure the written part of the Business Plan flowed smoothly and seemed to be authored by one person rather than four chunks thrown together, which it was in reality. We did the same thing with the slides to go with our presentation.

Since I'm the only one with the flexibility thanks to my work-at-home schedule, I worked on some details the day of the fair. I printed a sign with our logo for the door, reworked a handout that tied directly to key phrases in our presentation (Goal: BE XXX), and created name tags.

My goal with all this was so that at least with the weaknesses in our plan, we would be memorable and give the impression that we tried hard and knew how to handle the "business." And it worked. Though we ended up having to invite Fast Eddy to our investment team, everyone we talked to gave us great reviews on our presentation.

The lesson? When presenting something to potential buyers or investors, don't forget the details that will help you standout. Sure, it would be best to have a stellar plan and a stellar presentation, but when you know you are weak in one area (those numbers killed us from the beginning), at least make sure you don't end up with both a weak plan and a weak presentation.

May the sharks in your tank always be friendly,
-The Wordsy Woman

SHOOTING BULLETS - POWERPOINT TIP

My rule of thumb when creating a slide show or Power Point presentation is you can't go wrong with bullet points; lists of information set off by dots, dashes, check marks, or other small, simple graphics. If you are giving an oral presentation, your slide show should only enhance it. It should not be able to replace your presentation. If that is the case, just run the slide show as a movie. The slides should add interest to your presentation and draw attention to key points.

When putting together a slide show to accompany an oral presentation, I think of myself being in the audience. What would I want to see? What would bore me? What should I remember as the most important points? Then I design the slides around that. Including too many complete sentences (or even too many words, period) on a slide will distract the audience from the message. They will be so busy reading the slide, they won't hear what you are saying. A few to handful of bullet points with words or short phrases next to them key audience members into the most important points of your talk. They highlight your talk and provide a visual cue or reminder to help them remember what you say.

Words or phrases placed in bullet points work even better if you have pictures or other graphics to go along with them. Graphics make the presentation more interesting; audience members won't get bored looking at slide after slide of just words. If possible, run through the slides on the projector you will actually be using for your presentation to make sure your font is big enough and shows up (avoid light colors) and that any graphics you use will be clear.

Power Point presentations or slides can be great assets to any oral presentation; they can help keep the audience engaged, help them remember your key talking points, and provide them with an overall enjoyable experience. However, they must be used correctly to avoid the risk of boring the audience, overwhelming them, or detracting from your message.

Happy speaking and thanks for reading!
-The Wordsy Woman