Presentation skillsYour time to shine

Hackathon 2014

CONNECT

• No one likes to sit through a boring presentation where the speaker is either clueless or inattentive.

• Audiences lose patience with the presenter who does not know them or where he is going, so

• Deliver material that is of value to the audience• Know who the judges are, and what’s important

to them. If one judge is a designer, emphasize your entry’s beautiful design. Certainly don’t disparage something which is important to a judge if you want to win them over

CONNECT

1. Make sure judges can summarize your app in one sentence. When deliberating, judges will remind each other about each entry. Don’t make a judge search through notes to remember your entry.

2. Clearly state who your intended user is. If the hackathonhas an entrepreneurial feel to it, this will give judges an idea of your total addressable market.

3. Don’t spend time explaining what you couldn’t accomplish. I’ve heard presenters list everything they attempted to do, but failed. Focus on what you built, not on what failed.

GET TO KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

• Do your homework and know how you are being judged

• Understand the judging criteria. Devote attention to all judging criteria, not just one criterion in particular.

• Know what they are looking for

• Know what you are being judged on

• Know what matters to them

• Know what is of value to them

DEFINE NOW AND THE FUTURE

• Don’t just throw around data and technical jargon w/o knowing what you want the judges to do with it.

• Land your most important points early. Don’t wait until the end. You might forget, or run out of time.

• Organize your data and talking points to direct attention to a specific point.

• Never lose sight of your end point

• Go back and forth btw now and the future

• Alternate btw the present and what the future looks like. Heighten attention and shine a light

FIND THE COMMON GROUND

• Answer why yours is the best

• Show how you improve, eliminate or create a new solution or method

• Provide evidence of why yours is the best

• Give an example and eliminate any doubt

• Use familiar setting or common ground

• Use familiar teminology

ANTICIPATE RESISTANCE

• Prepare for all the objections that might come up

• Share your concepts with a few people outside of your group

• Have them share with you their questions and concerns

• Practice practice practice