A couple of things I've learned:<p>Find somebody with terrible eyesight, and see if they can read your deck. If they can't (probably because your colors are bad, you have too much text, and/or you're being cute with fonts), fix your deck.<p>Turn off your phone/IM/notifications. Seriously.<p>Don't bring up anything you aren't going to explain--it just distracts people. Think of it like leading people through a house--if you show a door but don't open it, they'll be preoccupied with what's behind that door when you're making your next important point.<p>Never do a live demo without screenshots and videos as backups, just in case. <i>Never</i> let somebody from the audience help you debug things--just kill it and move on.<p>Your audience has no idea what you're going to say, so don't worry about fucking up mid-sentence or pausing too long--most everyone will totally miss your hiccup. They <i>will</i> remember if you screw up, backtrack, and look visibly shaken.<p>Don't read off your deck don't read off your deck <i>don't read off your deck</i>.<p>~<p>These are things I've seen students and people new to pitching screw up on a lot.
<i>If you make a joke, telegraph it. If you're not sure the joke will land, cut it</i><p>I would also say leave an obnoxious amount of time for laughter, I know at my demo day pitch I cut laughter short because it was hard to hear and I was fairly anxious
Excellent advice. Many of the points work for all presentations, not just pitches.<p>(But then, some would argue that all presentations are pitches - you want the audience to buy what you're selling, whether it be because they share your values, they see the value, or they value the approach.)
I'm especially curious about the last point - that screenshot slides are especially bad.<p>I gave a presentation to an audience comprising my target market, and did almost all screenshot slides - the purpose was to give a high-level tour of the app. I would rather have demoed the product in action, but it was an iPad app and the facility lacked the means to Airplay the screen.<p>From what I could tell, the presentation went ok - people came to talk to me about the app and they were quite excited. So it worked out ok for me.<p>But circling back to my question, given that experience, I'd like to know what the context is behind "screenshot slides are especially bad" - why? What should be done instead?
Don't use acronyms that aren't universally recognized, either. Define them upfront, and even then, people have a tendency to forget what the definition is.
any advice on coaches for helping me develop pitches? i've been displeased with a pitch i've been giving lately, and i suspect my audience is as well. i'd like to improve my skills.