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Investor presentations take time and patience to prepare. Doing your homework, settling on strategy, developing messages, honing a pitch and delivering it well, will all be required. The judgment on whether you’ve hit your mark however will be swift. Your audience will usually decide within the opening minute of your pitch, whether they want to hear more.

With so much at stake, there is simply no room for error on the basics. Investors won’t be sold on a good idea poorly presented. However powerful your product or idea, your presentation must be targeted to this very specific audience to be successful. Keep these basics in mind when preparing for your investor presentation:

o Where’s the beef? It’s simply not enough to explain your product or idea. Investors want to know whether that product or idea presents a worthwhile market opportunity for them. You must show you understand this potential and have done your homework well enough to be able to describe it from their point of view.

o Know the lay of the land: Know what others are doing in your field and how your idea or product stacks up to the competition. Who are your competitors, and what makes your product unique in comparison to them?

o Short and succinct: Investors will not invest in something they cannot understand or explain easily to others. No matter how complex or sophisticated your idea is, you simply have to be able to talk about it in a way that anyone, even those outside your field, can understand.

o Confidence is catching: Enthusiasm and confidence are essential in convincing investors of the need and worth of your idea. Hone and practice your pitch as much as possible to nail this one.

o Present like a pro: Keep your pitch short and powerful with a clear flow and a logical progression. Don’t forget to close the deal with a call to action and a clear “ask” about what you’ll need financially to make this investment a success for all.

Remember — let your passion and your confidence shine through!

Aileen Pincus is founder of The Pincus Group, providing communications training worldwide. www.thepincusgroup.com

Talking in front of a group of friends is drastically different than giving a speech to a number of co workers or colleagues in class or work. However, the basic principles that govern great communication are the same. You may not be aware of it when using them in everyday conversations, but they really come quite naturally to anyone. This article will give you an overview on how you can understand and leverage these skills you already have!

1. Use Body Language- Effectively using hand motions or gestures when talking is a crucial aspect of oral presentations. Most people are too nervous to do more than stand or switch feet while presenting, but if you just imagine talking to close friends it all becomes more natural and you won’t be so fearful.

2. Be Firm- When talking to your friends, you usually don’t have doubts or speak softly, right? So why do so in a presentation? Talk with a strong voice and make sure your face expresses confidence in what you’re saying.

3. Avoid Reading from Notes- Having a few note cards is alright, but don’t rely on them to do the talking for you. Make sure you have a good grasp of what you’re going to say before the speech even arrives, and then get up and say it!

4. Keep The Audience’s Attention- This is something you also have experience doing with friends, and that can easily be accomplished with other groups of people. Keeping the focus on you can seem challenging depending on the environment, but it’s not nearly as difficult as it seems. If you through in a relevant interlude, and react to what’s happening with the audience or perhaps ask the audience to chime in with their opinion on a part of your topic, then it becomes easier to be heard.

5. Use Humor- Humorous anecdotes sprinkled throughout your oral presentation can keep the audience awake and focused on you as well.

6. Utilize visual aids- Hand outs and diagrams or charts, if allowed and prepared well, are great ways to get your audience not only interacting, but interested in what you have to say much more than if you simply talked to them. This is just the same as when you explain a story to a family member or friend and mime it out with things around you.

7. Know When to Stop Talking- Everyone whose ever said the wrong thing will probably be good with this one- if you know how to speak well and explain your views, then chances are you won’t get antagonistic looks. If you are badly received by your audience, however, you should know when to call it quits and wrap things up. Alternatively, you can keep talking but change things up and make them a bit more fun for the audience.

As you can see, communication as a whole relies a lot on these basic things, and you can become a better presenter if you learn to utilize every day methods of getting your point across in formal speeches. These tips will hopefully get you off on the right foot when you’re giving a speech.

One of the most important, although, often, overlooked/ neglected, assets, and skills, needed, to be a truly, effective, quality leader, is the knowledge, ability, and expertise, to effectively negotiate, for the best interests, of one’s organizations! Over, and over, again, true leaders, are confronted, with a variety of circumstances, where negotiations, become an essential component, and necessity. After, over four decades, of involvement, in most areas of leadership, from identifying and qualifying, to training and developing, to consulting to well – over, a thousand actual, and/ or, potential leaders, as well as serving, as a leader, for many different types of groups, I often, stress, how important this is, what it means, and the key aspects, which must become part of every leader’s skill – set. With that in mind, this article will attempt to, briefly, consider, review, examine, and discuss, what this means and represents, and why it matters.

1, Know/ recognize objectives/ goals/ priorities/ needs: Before one can negotiate, effectively, he needs to truly, understand, his organization’s, and constituent’s, actual needs, goals, and priorities, so as to know, what objectives, he must prioritize, in any negotiating. Without this knowledge, and understanding, how can anyone, best – represent, his group, and stakeholders, best – interests?

2. Study the opposite side/ party: It’s important to realize, and recognize, you will be negotiating with another party/ side, with its own set of needs, and priorities. The more one knows, his opposition’s objectives, conditions, set of priorities, etc, the more successful, one’s negotiating, will, potentially, become!

3. Proceed with an open – mind: Great leaders proceed with an open – mind, prioritizing, the possibilities, etc! When, this is the mind – set, it permits a negotiator, to see things, from a variety of other perceptions, instead of only seeing, his own – side, of any issue, etc!

4. Consider viable options and alternatives: When, one thoroughly, considers, as many possibilities, ramifications, contingencies, etc, he positions, himself, in the best place, to be able to succeed, and benefit his group. Thinking, outside – the – box, and considering various possibilities, or paths, often, brings forth, the best potential results, etc!

5. Negotiate using win – win negotiating: Quality negotiations stem from, both sides, leaving – the – table, believing, they benefited, and the process, was a fair one! To do so, win – win negotiating, must be the approach. This means, it’s not about beating/ defeating an adversary, but, rather, working – together, to generate the best result, for all involved. It requires, proceeding, consistently, in, an open, and honest manner.

Do you have the skill – set, attitude, and personal quality of character, to become a quality negotiator? Are you, up to the tasks?