Biotechnology YES

Presentation Skills

Who?

Jane Nolan MBE

Entrepreneur and Enterprise Educator

supporting the work of Newcastle University

Careers Service

MD Venture Coaching and Consulting Ltd

2nd Year PGR

Session Aims To enable you to be confident when

planning, preparing and presenting a

pitch to an audience

To consider this in the context of the

Biotechnology YES Competition

To critique and learn from the 2010

Winners’ elevator pitch

To have a go & give each other feedback

Biotechnology YES Not a hard copy business plan

Assessed on the presentation - SO

Vitally important that you have

A compelling story to engage and convince

your audience to invest in your idea and your

team

Well constructed, slickly presented

You need to speak confidently about your

business and answer questions well

Judging Criteria

Overall structure and presentation

Feasibility of:

Research and development and IP strategy

Commercial and marketing strategy

Financial planning strategy

Management and personnel strategy

Audience You are pitching to potential investors

They are looking for growth potential supported

by convincing research

Will your product or service sell, what is your

USP, how profitable will the business be, how

will it grow? Who are the team and what are

their strengths? Can you protect your IP?

How will you finance the business? What is their

exit strategy going to be?

The audience Will expect you to speak convincingly

Will expect you to have the authority and

ability to speak about your subject

Will listen closely IF you capture their

imagination

Are easily distracted

Respond well to variety

Are normally friendly and sympathetic....so

keep them engaged and interested!

Biotechnology Yes Winners 2010

Microbe Solutions Ltd Elevator Pitch –

Critique it

Strengths

Content

Structure

Delivery

Biotechnology Yes Winners 2010

http://www.biotechnologyyes.co.uk

/videos.html

Chris Cobb delivering Microbe Solutions Ltd

(University of Manchester) elevator pitch

Your Presentation Opportunity to make an impact

To inspire

To be memorable

It is a type of performance

It needs to be prepared and planned with

great care and performed with

confidence

Structure Prepare your script – a

compelling story

Beginning

Middle

End

Introduction - Beginning

Make a bold start-say something

interesting and attention grabbing!

Make a bold statement of the

opportunity your business will address

Use a quote / anecdote / article /

challenge/ question

Bill Gates Foundation

Malaria causes nearly 1 million deaths

per year and 85% of those who die are

under 5 years old. 90% of the deaths

are in Africa. We aim to improve

existing and develop new tools to

prevent and treat malaria. Our long

term goal is to eradicate this deadly

disease.

Core Content - Middle Take the audience on a logical and memorable

journey through your story

Have a simple but strong story line

Make it relevant to them

Seize and keep their attention

Be careful of humour... it can be disastrous

The Conclusion - End

Summarise the key points

Refer to where you started

End with a “call to action”

Have a clear ending and a big finish

Let your passion and enthusiasm shine through

to the very end

Biotechnology YES

Presenting your business – MARKETS

Market – significant demand, scaleability?

Approach – business model, strategy?

Risks and returns – how will you make money,

what are the risks and how will you mitigate

them? 3 -5 years for VCs – need high returns!

What will your business be worth? What is the

exit strategy for the VCs?

Biotechnology YES

Knowledge – Patents, Trade Marks, IP

Ethical, legal, meeting regulations

Team – an excellent team, covering all roles,

everyone aware of the plans for the business,

with shared goals and vision

Sustainability – profit generating, pipeline of

development for the future

Need to Consider – Finance Tree Proposition

People

Potential

Path to market

Proven

Is there a significant enough market?

Is it scaleable?

Do you have innovative, defensible products?

Do you have a strong management team?

• How much Funding needed? -

enough to grow

• Financial return

• Forecasts and exit

Elevator pitch gives helpful structure but

your pitch will be 15 minutes!

Elevator Pitch Checklist Bold statement of the problem (attention

grabber)

Our product is… (simple non-technical description)

That provides… (key benefit that solves problem)

For… (target customers)

Who have/are… (compelling reason to buy)

Unlike… (objective analysis of competitors shortcomings)

© CfEL, Cambridge University, 2006.

Elevator Pitch Checklist

Our unique selling point is… (main

source of competitive advantage)

We need to raise £… in order to… (why

you need the money)

Call to action (engineer feedback and a

follow-up meeting)

© CfEL, Cambridge University, 2006.

Preparation Think about:

• Visual aids

• Your notes

• Handouts

• Audience

• The room / venue

Visuals

DO make them easy to understand

space information out – less is more

Break down complexity – simple slides

grab attention

allow time for the audience to absorb

use colour carefully

Handling nerves Nerves are natural – even top athletes

experience them

Adrenalin and commitment drives

performance

Try to relax, breathe deeply, shoulders

down

Start slowly.....use your voice

Speak to the whole room

Handling Nerves

Smiling helps

Keep the energy throughout your

sentences – don’t let them fall off

Pause for effect (and to breathe)

Arrive in plenty of time and check

everything is in place

Handling nerves

Practise!!!!

Have plenty of rehearsals and run

throughs

What’s the worst that could happen?!

Make a risk analysis of what could go wrong

and what you will do about it.

Think about who will have responsibility for

what

Consider everything but don’t miss out the

obvious.

The audience – who are they, what do they want from us?

The message – what’s the big thing we want to say?

How do we effectively use the time?

Key Points to Remember

Please make your

presentation

memorable and make

sure you show

evidence that you

have a well

researched business

idea

PowerPoint presentations You don’t have to use powerpoint (or any

electronic presentation, but if you do: – Use the slides as a support

– Never read a slide to the audience

– Avoid design templates, create own visual theme

– One idea per slide, limited text/bullets

– Not too much animation

– High quality images

– Use sans-serif fonts

All the technology in the world won’t hide a poor presentation

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1762603

Bad slide!!!

Your Style Believe in what you are saying – be

convinced of its truth and importance

Empathy and sincerity

Plenty of eye contact

Refer to notes, don’t just read them

Modulate your voice

Keep the energy through to the end of

each sentence

Your Style Be yourself – let your personality shine

through

Use words and phrases that you feel

comfortable with

Beware of jargon or scientific language that

your audience might not understand

Be enthusiastic – show passion – it is

contagious!

Keep their attention!

Try introducing the

next topic with

“Who can afford

to ignore...”

Change your pitch

and intonation

Questions

In the competition - 10 minutes for questions

Questions mean someone is interested -

they give another opportunity to impress

Receive feedback well

Questions Listen well

Repeat or rephrase the question

Be prepared to be challenged

No one expects you to know everything –

think of ways to find out more for the

questioner

Keep an eye on the time

Think about your dress code!

Think about the Time!

Think about eye contact!

Think About the SPACE!

Think professional

Think questions!

Smile

SMILE!!!!

Your Turn

2-3 minute Elevator Pitch

Your competition idea if possible

Sell us your business plan!

Summary

Plan well

Prepare well

Practise like crazy!

Thanks and Good Luck

with the competition!