The Art of Pitching Ideas

Apr 09, 2010 -

One of the first things I teach to the MBA students studying entrepreneurial business in my class called Creativity & Innovation in Organizations at Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Business and Management is a practical skill: presentation. Specifically, how to pitch an idea. Whether you’re a startup looking for venture financing or simply trying to get an idea implemented in a large company, you won’t move that idea along to action unless you can pitch it well.

I teach two specific formats: short and long. But neither one is longer than 20 minutes, which is about the maximum attention span of a busy professional. The short format is called pecha-kucha (a Japanese phrase meaning “chatter” and pronounced “peh-CHAHK-chah”), and the long format, devised by Guy Kawasaki, is called 10/20/30. I have them use pecha-kucha (the students call it 20-20) for presenting reading assignments, and 10-20-30 for projects and longer case studies.

PECHA-KUCHA

Pecha-kucha was invented in 2003 by two architects, Mark Dytham and Astrid Klein, working in Tokyo. They owned a small event venue called Super Deluxe that wasn't doing very well. Pecha-kucha was their innovative answer to the question of how to revive the space. They invited designers and architects and artists to present their work and ideas. But there were some rules:

• Exactly 20 images (slides)
• Each slide displayed for exactly 20 seconds (total of six minutes and 40 seconds)

The format made for an effective, efficient, entertaining, and rather elegant presentation. It wasn’t long before Pecha Kucha night became a hit, with hundreds attending. There are now Pecha-Kucha nights held in hundreds of cities all over the world, and the schedule is posted at Pecha-Kucha.org.

There is even a Pecha-Kucha for Haiti. In February, on the seventh anniversary of Pecha-Kucha Night, 117 cities came together on a single day and held events across the globe to support Architecture for Humanity’s plans for rebuilding in Haiti. Over 200 events have been held since, and Architecture for Humanity just announced that the proceeds and donations allows them to build the first Pecha-Kucha School in Haiti.

I first learned about pecha-kucha in a W ired article by Dan Pink, who was on a fellowship in Japan at the time, and I enjoyed Dan’s pecha kucha on Emotionally Intelligent Signage.

10/20/30

I learned about 10/20/30 nearly a half decade ago in Guy Kawaskai’s blog post called "The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint." In the post, Guy said:

“As a venture capitalist, I have to listen to hundreds of entrepreneurs pitch their companies. Most of these pitches are crap...I am evangelizing the 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint. It’s quite simple: a PowerPoint presentation should have 10 slides, last no more than 20 minutes, and contain no font smaller than 30 points.”
 

According to Guy, 10 is the optimal number of slides because a normal human being simply can’t comprehend more than 10 concepts in a single meeting. As for the content, the 10 slides should be devoted to:

1. Problem
2. Your solution
3. Business model
4. Underlying magic/technology
5. Marketing and sales
6. Competition
7. Team
8. Projections and milestones
9. Status and timeline
10. Summary and call to action

I use a slightly modified version of these topics for my students when presenting their projects, but it’s pretty close. And I can attest to the effectiveness of the outline.

As for timing, 20 minutes leaves time in a one-hour meeting for logistics and discussion. And the 30-point font is a lifesaver. Guy’s right when he says the reason many people jam a slide with text is that they don't know their material and are more comfortable reading off the slide. Bad idea, because not only does it make for an ugly and boring visual, your audience can read ahead, and all of sudden you’re the one behind!

When it comes to slide design, less is definitely more. If you want to hone your slides to be both visually appealing and impactful, visit Garr Reynolds’s site, PresentationZen.com, or pick up his book by the same name.

Finally, here’s a quick test to gauge how well your pitch is going: is your audience leaning in or sitting back?

Matthew E. May is an innovation consultant and the author of In Pursuit of Elegance: Why the Best Ideas Have Something Missing. He blogs here. You can follow him on Twitter here.  

Tags: in pursuit of elegance, matthew e. may, pitching ideas, presentation

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These restaurants bring in the dough

Even in a recession, these are the best-selling independent restaurants in the country.

Posted by Kim Peterson on Friday, April 2, 2010 1:05 PM

What makes Tao Restaurant and Nightclub in Las Vegas so popular? The beautiful people, the loud music, the $34 Chilean sea bass?

Whatever it is, Tao has hit the jackpot, once again topping the list of highest-grossing independent restaurants in the U.S. Tao retained its top ranking even though its food-and-beverage sales dropped 13% last year, according to Restaurants & Institutions magazine, which compiles the annual list.

• Quiz: What type of spender are you?

The average dinner check at Tao was $70 last year, and overall the restaurant brought in just over $59 million in sales. That was enough to easily beat the sentimental favorite on the list, Tavern on the Green in New York City, which came in second.

Tavern on the Green, which closed Dec. 31, nabbed only $27 million in sales. (The restaurant is now selling its name and other assets to the highest bidder.)

• Video: Reforming restaurants' menus

Last year wasn't a great one for restaurants, as a prolonged recession kept people at home -- or at least spending less on food and alcohol. Sales were down at the top 100 independent restaurants in the country, R&I reports. Combined, they brought in only $1.37 billion last year, compared with $1.52 billion in 2008.

Here are the rest of the restaurants in R&I's top 10 list:

No. 3: Joe's Stone Crab, which began in 1913 as a small lunch counter in Miami Beach, according to its Web site. Now, Joe's wrings an average $68 dinner check from its diners, and brought in $26.3 million in sales last year.

No. 4: Smith & Wollensky in New York City. This restaurant had the highest average dinner check, at $84.50, for a total of $25 million in food and beverage sales.

No. 5: Old Ebbitt Grill in Washington, D.C. The average dinner check at Old Ebbitt's was the cheapest of the top 10, at $24, but it served an astonishing 1 million meals. To give you a sense of that accomplishment, consider that the restaurant that came in second for meals served, Tao Las Vegas, only served 590,000. Old Ebbitt took in $24.5 million in sales last year.

No. 6: Carmine's, in New York City's theater district. The family-style Italian restaurant with big portions had an average dinner check of $30, and reported $24 million in sales last year.

No. 7: Lavo Italian restaurant and nightclub in Las Vegas. The owners of Tao apparently know how to run a restaurant, as their new Lavo location brought in $22 million in sales. The average dinner check was $60.

• Fast food breakfast is making a comeback

No. 8: If only I got paid extra every time I wrote the word "Tao." Yet another Tao restaurant gets in the top 10. Tao New York saw sales of nearly $21 million last year, with an average dinner check of $68.

No. 9: Buddakan in New York City. R&I calls this place a "see and be seen" concept, and said the restaurant uses promotions and accepts reservations online to help drive sales. Buddakan brought in $20 million in sales last year, with an average dinner check of $49.

No. 10: Rounding out the top 10 is Gibson's Bar and Steakhouse in Chicago. The "meat-eater's paradise" (according to Zagat) saw sales hit nearly $20 million last year, and the average dinner check was $62.

April Program - Literary Agents
Admit it. You've been in training to be an author. Learn what type of manuscripts agents can sell.

Guest speakers:
Michelle Brower of Folio Literary Management
Alexandra Machinist of Linda Chester Literary Agency
Bob DiForio of D4EO Literary Agency

Date: Thursday, April 1, 2010
Time: 6:00 - 6:30 - Registration, networking, cash bar
6:30 - 7:00 - Three course dinner
7:00 - 8:15 - Program, Q&A
Place: The Norwalk Inn, 99 East Avenue, Norwalk (I-95, Exit 16)
Admission: $35.00 for CPC/FCC/NYPC members
$40.00 for non-members
Admission price includes dinner.
Reservations: Recommended, but walk-ins always welcome.
Call (203) 968-8600 or e-mail ctpressclub@gmail.com

I tremble to think what would happen if our cloud computing disappeared one day. Or if my family album was ever deleted from my hardrive. Good thing I only have a dog. ^^

Want more readers? Ask yourself if these words describe your blog:

Consistency, eloquence, uniqueness, specific, personal, analytical, detail, thought provoking, passion, instructional, networked.

How to Add U.S. National Holidays to Outlook
by eHow Internet Editor

Instructions
Step 1:
Open Microsoft Outlook. From the Tool menu, select "Options."
Step 2:
Click on the "Preferences" tab. Look for the calendar section and from that section, click on the "Calendar Options" button.
Step 3:
Look for the middle section of the window which comes up for a button labeled "Add Holidays." Click on the button.
Step 4:
Choose your country from the list to add all the national holidays of your country to your Outlook calendar.
Step 5:
Put a check mark next to a religion on the list if you would also like to add religious holidays. You may add more than one religion and more than one country to display multiple sets of holidays on your calendar.
Step 6:
Click the "OK" button in the Holidays menu and then again in the Calendar Options window to apply your calendar updates.
Step 7:
Remove any holidays you do not wanted included in your Outlook calendar. Switch to the calendar view and then from the Tools menu select "Current View" and then "Events." Right-click on any holidays you do not want and click on "Delete." The holidays will no longer appear on your calendar.
Step 8:
Follow the same procedure once every year to update your Outlook calendar with the new holiday dates for the year.
How to Add U.S. National Holidays to Outlook | Provided by eHow.com

When I saw this on GMA a couple days ago, I couldn't believe that a nanny could be so abusive to a little baby. It appears the short excerpt on GMA was only showed a glimpse of what really happened. Check out the extended footage on the local news.

A canvas page is the space in Facebook below the Facebook header and to the left of Facebook’s sidebar ads...