I’m attending Finovate Spring in San Francisco (Finovate.com). We’ve seen a number of great demos, and others that haven’t gone so well. If you think of a classic consultant’s 2x2, with one dimension being strength of the idea and the other the strength of the presenter, probably the most unfortunate quadrant is the one that has a great idea, but shoddy delivery. Here are a few tips to help Finovate speakers give a killer presentation that will have the twittersphere take notice (with apologies to those who prompted the observations):
- First, before you do anything else, State the Problem that you’re trying to solve
- Have a demo that works; extra credit for something live
- Involve the audience, preferably with something live (see #2)
- Have a catchy slogan
- Print catchy slogan on a tee-shirt
- Speak in a Commonwealth accent (Australian, British, Kiwi, South African – they’re all good). Americans think you sound smart
- Avoid using the terms “security,” “identity,” or “authentication.” These are all terribly important, but from a presentation perspective, you’re starting from a hole ten feet deep.
