Preparing for Informal or Spontaneous Presentations
Preparing for Informal Presentations
Instructions: Read the following scenario and write your responses to points 1-3 below.
Imagine you have just entered an elevator on the ground floor of a major hotel in the capital city, where you have been invited to attend a reception for donors and philanthropists. Standing next to you is Bill Gates. You are both going to the reception. You introduce yourself and he asks you what kind of work you do. You realize you have about three minutes to tell him about your organization and why it is important to develop and deliver a new product or service you have identified or implement a new project. Your hope is that he will be moved by what you tell him and compelled to fund the development of your organization's new product or service or project.
- Tell Bill in one or two sentences what your organization hopes to accomplish in society—its mission, or the reason it exists.
- Tell Bill in one or two sentences what new product, service or project your organization needs to develop and introduce to accomplish its mission more effectively.
- Tell Bill in one sentence how your organization is uniquely qualified to deliver this new product, service or project.
It is also key that organizations are knowledgeable about the technical areas their prospective or current funders are investing in to achieve their own visions and missions. Thus, it is extremely important that an organization tailor its presentations to each individual funder or investor. An organization should use the information from its intelligence gathering to highlight how their products, services and projects can help the funder achieve its goals.