Are you considering making your business idea pitch at the Cumberland Business Incubator Fast Pitch during Global Entrepreneur Week?  You know it’s a great opportunity to share your amazing, world-changing business idea with your community.  You’re excited and a little nervous.  You might not have ever done a pitch session before, so you may not know quite what to expect.  What follows should help you prepare.

A great Fast Pitch presentation is clear, easy to understand, and timely.  Follow these top five tips for your Fast Pitch presentation and you’ll keep your audience interested, engaged, and ready to ask the right questions.

5.  Don’t panic.

Even if you’ve done plenty of public speaking, it’s easy to work yourself up when the stakes are high.  Remember, Fast Pitch audiences are on your side.  They want you to succeed.  When you walk on that stage, take a deep breath, smile, and find a few friendly faces in the audience.

4.  Use a few carefully selected slides with few words, more images and minimal distraction.

Six minutes isn’t long.  People tend to stop listening when they see dozens of slides, and it can be hard to regain their attention.  If you limit your slides and the density of text (maybe even have a few slides with only images), your audience will pay attention as you tell them your story.  Keep the slides simple.  Stay away from fancy animation.  This isn’t about your PowerPoint skills, but how effectively you tell your story.  You can also craft your slides to lead the audience to the questions you want to answer.

3.  Proofread your slides.  Have at least two other people proofread your slides.

You are so familiar with your material, it’s easy to overlook typos and other errors.  Don’t trust that autocorrect will catch all your mistakes.  Pour over your slides for accuracy and ask at least two others to review them.  Try reading them from the last slide to the first as a new way to catch errors.

2.  Balance technology and emotion.  Tell your story.

It’s easy to forget that humans are touched by stories.  When you include the story about your product or service, its impact, or why you are driven to act, audience members become emotionally (and intellectually) connected to you.  When you tell a story, you give people permission to care about what happens to you, your startup, your business, and your customers.  Intellect can lead to engagement and curiosity.  Emotions provoke action.  Tell a story to trigger both.

1.   Practice, then practice again.  Stick to your time.

Practice your presentation with people who haven’t seen or heard it before.  They can help you find holes and decide what to leave out.  They can also help you figure out the questions you should anticipate.

Practice lets you get used to the rhythm of your talk.  You’ll be more relaxed, speak more confidently and will feel better about the whole event.  Practice also allows you to make sure you stay within the six-minute time limit, leaving plenty of time for Q&A.  By being timely, you show respect to the Fast Pitch organizers and audience by indicating that you understand their time and input are valuable.

Most importantly, have fun!  You are talking to an audience of peers who want you to succeed.  You’ve got this.  Go forth and conquer.