Reviewing my experience at London’s SeedCamp and BizSpark, two leading events aimed at getting young companies mentorship and investment, it is glaringly obvious that start-ups don’t execute pitches as well as they could. In the business world, if you don’t successfully persuade an audience of your value, it’s worse than not having presented at all. Why am I so sure that start-ups need careful preparation to prevent dangerous mistakes in performance?

First of all, it is my business. My background is theatre, and I’ve worked for twenty years with actors, entrepreneurs and executives to optimize opportunities in front of audiences. Event organizers, including those behind BizSpark and SeedCamp, also understand the importance of good preparation and ask me to work with teams of start-ups before their final investor pitch at the end of the day.

Second, I have it from a top source: I work with Inma Martinez, a well-known advisor of tech companies and a specialist in mobile. After serving as a judge for a series of business plan contests, Inma articulated her frustration with this problem. “There are plenty of great ideas out there that don’t get heard simply because the CEO is not naturally a good speaker,” she told me. What’s more, there are plenty of content experts in the industry but not so many who have spent equal time working with digital media and with professional performers.

The uncomfortable truth is that getting investment –particularly in today’s climate- requires more than a great idea; it demands a brilliant performance. This is hard stuff, even though we all think we should be able to communicate effectively in public.

Unfortunately, it’s not that easy.

First, there’s fear. Studies have show that in the U.S., people are more frightened of public speaking than they are of death. In the U.K., death comes in at is number three – after spiders (number 1) and (you guessed it) – public speaking.

Second, we all share innate programming – and limitations – in how we pay attention. Surveys have demonstrated that human beings absorb only 7 percent of communication verbally. That means entrepreneurs must transmit a whopping 93 percent of information to investors in the way they speak, move, and engage their audience wordlessly. In other words, in the investment procurement game, performance is ultimately more important than what you say.

So how likely is it that an amateur can become a great presenter?

The surprising answer is very likely indeed. 95 percent of great performance is preparation and practice. Only 5 percent is innate talent and charm. Because people are creatures of habit, once we start behaving in a particular way, it’s very hard to stop. That’s hard work. Put another way, you have to change your mindset AND the way you execute what you know in order to change for the better.

Here’s the good news: the odds are in your favor that you can create new habits and you’ll become at least an above-average presenter. No matter where you are now on the learning curve, you can get where you want to be with practice and the right feedback.

Here are some tips that can help anyone improve as a presenter.

Tip 1. Practice learning new behavior. And don’t wait until the last minute.

Improving performance requires practice in front of a variety of audiences who can offer knowledgeable feedback over time. In my 20-year career, all presentations improve – sometimes tremendously – in the course of a typical coaching session. (A one-time coaching session can last anywhere between 15 to 60 minutes, depending on the length of the presentation.)

Tip 2. Once you’ve been coached, don’t stop practicing.

Your journey can’t end with one session, so make practice part of your regular routine. Without dedicated persistence, you will more than likely revert to old behavior as time passes. New habits must be learned over time, so take refresher courses. There’s no other way to integrate what you learn into what you already know.

Take it from Emma Gilding, President of In:Site at DAS Omnicom, a large communications holding company based in New York. Emma’s job is to conduct and advise cultural behavior for internal and external stake-holders. I caught up with Emma to find out more about how she handles high-pressure situations for her company. Among her other responsibilities, Emma looks at the level of excellence in presentations for at least one pitch per month by the agency’s cross-disciplinary team. This includes everyone from account executives to creatives.

Emma has developed a rigorous schedule that delivers results. For three consecutive weeks Emma builds up confidence in her presenters by asking them to pitch in front of their own teams. On the fourth week, she turns up the pressure and asks them to pitch in front a variety of audiences, ranging from people unfamiliar with the subject area to those who are downright hostile.

The tough love pays off. Emma’s strategy is to take her team out of their natural environment (where they can preach to the converted) and gives them an uncomfortable but necessary reality-check. To this end, Emma purposely chooses audiences who will be a hard sell. As she put it: “I want the team-members who present to be aware that the context will change, and that they’re performing, and what that means. Performers must be aware of how they’re perceived by total strangers – body, voice, the whole lot.”

Tip 3. Engage the audience. Use your body effectively.

At BizSpark, SeedCamp and other high-profile events, start-ups come to me with a host of common ailments. Among these: nervous movement, lack of eye contact and incessant mumbling almost a complete inability to be heard. Finally, perhaps most common of all, many entrepreneurs turn either sideways or their backs to the audiences and talk (literally) to their slides rather than to investors. The reason? Even when these start-ups know their material by heart, they are afraid of forgetting what they need to say.

Clearly, you can’t capture an audience (let alone impress them) if people can’t see your face or hear you properly. Worst of all, both are the surest indications that you are afraid. No one gives money to the timid. You’ll never impress anyone if you don’t seem entirely confident in the value of what you have to say.

Sound familiar? For more on how to combat this, see Tip 1.

However, beware of going too far in the other direction. The biggest turn-off for Emma is smugness, particularly from “the younger crowd.” As she put it to me: “It’s important to know that you’re not entitled to win just because you put the work in.” Your attitude comes across in your performance, and we all know there’s nothing more obnoxious than someone who‘s too cocky.

Tip 4. Engage the audience – Emotionally.

The winning pitch – either before a crowd or behind closed doors — is one that inspires. As James Caan, an investor from Dragon’s Den, told us at BizSpark, he invested in and made hundreds of thousands of pounds on a woman whose pitch impressed him even though her idea didn’t. In other words, she made him feel what she knew to be true even though Caan didn’t believe her words.

The trick is to know what role you’re playing and understand your audience. Emma told me that often people appear as caricatures of themselves when they don’t focus on the right goal. Her advice: “First, always know that you’re playing a character in every presentation. Then keep in mind what that character wants passionately – and why it’s worthwhile. It will come across.”

Keep in mind that inspiration occurs at the meeting point of emotional and intellectual insight. This means in order to close a deal, you have to make people feel great about what you’re saying no matter how much they already believe you intellectually.

Don’t kid yourself that your ideas, no matter how brilliant, can hook a listener if you don’t present them with emotion in mind. No one remembers all the information offered by a favorite teacher, but we all remember the thrill it gave us. If people walk away from your presentation feeling inspired, it won’t matter that they can’t remember every detail of your content. You’ve won their heart, minds and – hopefully – financial backing if you’ve done the job right.

The bottom line: In business, you’re always on stage. Pitches, presentations, and even conversations are all part of self-marketing. If you don’t create enough personal impact, there’s another entrepreneur right behind you ready to take advantage of your lost opportunity.

Annette Kramer began her career in the New York theatre and has been coaching actors for over 20 years. When she moved into the business world, Annette continued helping performers – this time executives and managers – improve their presentations and enhance their personal brand. After eight years working at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Annette has moved to London where she is currently building a performance advisory practice for Stradbroke Advisors in London. For more performance tips and advice, check out her blog.

Tags: BizSpark, coaching, DAS Omnicron, early-stage startups, elevator pitch, entrepreneurs, In:Site, investors, performance, public speaking, Seedcamp, startups, VC, venture capital

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