21st Century Core Skills

 Sample Written Content

Communicating Your Vision, Speaking Your Passion

Speak Up!

“Presentations rise or fall on the quality of the idea, the narrative, and the passion of the speaker.  It’s about substance, not speaking style or multimedia pyrotechnics” (HBR).

Now that you’ve learned all types of marketing strategies, the competitive landscape, pricing and KPIs, it’s now time to pivot to presenting your idea. You can have a great idea but it must be told properly. It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.  0

Public speaking is not a soft skill, people! Instead, it is a hard skill (such as coding) that demands practice and iteration—much like entrepreneurship.

Present With Ease 

About public speaking/pitching

Developing your public speaking skills as an entrepreneur can take you far.  Pitching your ideas and articulating your thoughts in front of an array of audiences can boost your confidence and self-esteem.  

Practicing this skill can give you comfort speaking to more unfamiliar groups of people. When you are challenged to present your business plan in front of investors for instance, you will be ready to deliver the strategy, vision, and finances with ease. 

Two ideas to keep in mind: 

1. Know your audience.  That is always the first step.  When you know your audience, you can understand how to effectively get your message across.  Why do you think salespeople can be so convincing?  They analyze their audience and tailor their pitch to particular needs and desires.  

2. Build trustworthiness. Well-versed communication can increase trustworthiness.  People will know they can rely on you to deliver the facts and engage in purposeful communication.  Public speaking enhances your research skills and deductive reasoning skills.  It requires you to work from a premise and draw a conclusion based on research you have gathered.  This research can be based on observation, it can be based on experience communicating with experts, or it can be information gathered from the Internet.  

Why is public speaking/pitching important for your business?

As a burgeoning entrepreneur, learning to perfect your elevator pitch is critical to success.  Maybe you need funding and have to address a group of investors.  Maybe you have the opportunity to appear on a panel of experts.  Maybe you are asked to explain your vision in a television interview.  Perhaps as your company grows, you must host customer seminars.  Perhaps in the future you will need to represent your company at industry association events. 

You need to be able to capture how innovative and necessary your venture is and the unique value it offers to the world.  With consistent public speaking practice, you can develop that persuasive capacity, fine-tune your verbal skills, and expand your leadership potential.  

What makes an effective presentation?

So let’s dive into the critical aspects of an effective presentation.  

Know your audience (yes, we’re emphasizing this again!)

Try asking yourself, “Who is my audience? What do they need to hear from me?”  They are the ones in the spotlight here.  Feel free to create a list of questions to serve as prompts for what you intend to say.

Give your audience reason to care.  Be relevant and authentic, and always relate what you are talking about to them. Rather than a first step, this is more a point to keep in mind throughout the preparation and delivery.  You should always be thinking about your audience.

Frame your story: purpose and narrative

What is it that you want to say?  While this question may seem obvious, many presenters do not contemplate this question enough before delivery.  You have a purpose.  Know what that purpose is, and envision how you can take your audience on a journey.  Don’t just deliver a presentation, craft a full narrative.  According to an article in the Harvard Business Review, “A successful talk is a little miracle--people see the world differently afterwards.”  

Try to uphold these tenets in the process:

1. Limit the scope of your presentation to that which can be explained and enlivened with specific, engaging examples

2. Keep it simple, concentrating on your core message

3. Remember that ideas and stories are what interest us

4. Identify your strengths in order to effectively build up your story

Plan your delivery: knowledge and structure

Develop the direction of your presentation by noting your main points.  Try to limit this to three concise points at most.  What is critical for you to get across?  You want to have a clear (and limited) sense of your purpose throughout the presentation.  

It is also important to make sure you know your product or service offering.  What are the details of how it works and why it is unique? What numerical figures can you weave into your story to enhance your credibility?  According to a study that examined data from two television shows built around entrepreneurs in search of venture capital (Shark Tank and Dragon’s Den), entrepreneurs who demonstrate evident signs of preparedness and a clear grasp of their material created credibility among investors and received greater funding regardless of the venture.  

Critically consider the structure of your presentation.  Perhaps your purpose aligns with a past-present-future structure?  Or comparison-contrast, cause-effect, or problem-solution-benefit? Or what?-so what?-now what?  Think about what organization best matches your key points.  

Consider the format and your presence

Remember to make eye contact.  We are all human and communication is all the more powerful when you are really connecting with the people in front of you.  Acknowledge them and make it clear that your purpose is to connect with them.

Try to use variation in sight, sound, and evidence to better connect.  Vary your speed and emphasize changes in pitch and tone.  Be aware of your posture and use gestures with purpose.  When considering your evidence, pull from data, testimonials, anecdotes.

In planning the multimedia aspect of your presentation, if you have photographs or illustrations that make the topic come alive, then absolutely present them.  But if you do not, consider doing without any.  These are not always required and if they do not enhance the delivery of your purpose, then doing without them can be more effective.

Stay flexible

Even though nailing down your structure and key points are necessary, try to stay flexible and open to spontaneity.  As you talk, watch and listen to your audience and then adjust your pitch or presentation based on the clues you are receiving.  Try to relax and breathe! Public speaking will often include a jolt of adrenaline, but it shouldn’t be an overly stressful activity if you’re confident with the material. 

Prep-work = nonnegotiable 

How to Get Ready for the Big Event 

These days, there are innovative ways to practice, without having to give the spiel your friends and family have heard countless times. Record yourself! Set down your phone or any device with a camera and record your presentation over and over. We are our worst enemies, as the saying goes, and watching yourself can really clarify where your presentation can improve. 

Get your presentation down--but--do not memorize it! This can create a disconnect with the audience.  According to a study where 760 volunteers rated hundreds of hours of TED Talks looking for patterns, memorized lines and scripts are not memorable, and there is power in the first seven seconds of a talk.  Make a grand entrance.

Something else to think about: look and feel your best when you’re giving an especially daunting presentation. This goes back to how relevant the audience is. If you’re speaking to a group of elementary school students about your concept, you’re not necessarily going to dress extremely formally. Kids might respond best to bright colors and patterns. Likewise, some investors might be impressed by a smart suit or dress. In any event, consider how your appearance can strengthen your connection to a group of people, and boost the growth of your endeavor. 

When you are putting it all together, do not forget that there is no one good way to do a talk. There is no one good way to effectively communicate to your audience. There’s not even one type of occasion to give a speech--video messages are increasingly powerful. So let your talk be yours and feel confident in your unique delivery.