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I’ve been spending some time at the I2P competition being held at the new AT&T Conference center at UT. Here are some observations on the pitches.

1. Personalize your customers

The most memorable slide/phrase in two days of product pitches: “Meet the Joneses…” The pitch was for a new kind of memory plastic based earplug/earphone. Their market research slide associated each market with a member of a typical American family – classic and effective.

2. The need for a laser pointer indicates a design flaw in the presentation

The correspondence between what you say and what your slides say should be obvious, right?

3. Memorize everything

You probably need to memorize enough to fill about three hours. You have a ten minute pitch, followed by questions. It’s the question that can break you. Know everything.

4. Never speak from the side – find the front of the room

Some teams were still tied to their laptops, even after a day of practice. Didn’t they watch how successfully other teams utilized the stage? If you need to flip the slides yourself, go out and my an accessory that can do this from anywhere on the stage. They don’t cost that much, and they work almost everywhere.

5. Every cool technology needs a cool demo

Live demos are a risk, but the impact can be amazing.

6. Wireless should work

I’m amazed at how poor the wireless coverage is in the new AT&T Conference center. Reliable wireless should be a standard feature for such a venue.