Tag Archives: pitching

Communication Skills Part of YEDI Success

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As most of you know I am part of a team that trains entrepreneurs, both for-profit and not-for-profit, in Canada and abroad.  This year our organization YEDI (York Entrepreneurship Development Institute) which operates partnership programs with York University and Schulich Executive Education Centre was ranked the #1 University-linked accelerator in the world, by UBI Global.  I am proud to be on the YEDI team, where my primary role is to improve the business communication skills of our entrepreneurs in the areas of leadership, customer service, networking and pitching skills (from slides to body language!) and branding.   As an original co-founder of YEDI I can attest that having communication skills training was always part of the formula for YEDI, since a great idea will be wasted or shelved if the business owner cannot express it in a simple and impactful way to potential partners and investors, catching their attention and clearly understanding how they will benefit.  At the risk of sounding too self-serving, I wish YEDI continued success and exciting developments in the near future!

http://www.yedinstitute.org/yedi-ranked-1-in-the-world-by-ubi-global/

Improve Business Communication Skills at Toronto Event

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Professional Development and Networking Event: Key Communication Skills to Grow Your Business!

The key to successfully starting and growing a business is effective communications.  Your great idea will not get interest from anyone if you can’t share your vision, persuasively pitch your company to investors, and clearly market your products and services.

NCCA Canada is proudly partnering with YEDI and City of Toronto to co-host a half-day professional development and networking event at Toronto City Hall where you will learn how to develop these vital business communication skills. Our President, speaker extraordinaire and body language expert Mark Bowden will deliver a keynote not to be missed, which will be followed by your chance to join mini-workshops hosted by our industry professionals on the topics of pitching, networking, and clarifying your business vision.

This is an exciting and unique opportunity to meet coaches, trainers, learning and development professionals, entrepreneurs and business owners, gathering together to connect, share and learn. This event is open for everyone, but space is limited.  Please join us!

Toronto City Hall – Friday October 13th 2017, 10 – 2 pm
Cost: $20 (**free for NCCA Canada Members)

To Register with EventBrite: https://ncca2017.eventbrite.com

**Discount code will be emailed to NCCA Canada members.  If you didn’t get yours, please contact NCCA Admin and we will email it to you.  Hope to see you there!

Schedule:

In Main Chambers
10-10:45 – Welcome, Opening Remarks, Body Language Expert Mark Bowden’s keynote on how to use non-verbal communication to persuade, assist with selling and add credibility to the business individual

10:55-11:30 – Mini-Workshop 1 – The Art of the Quick Pitch

NCCA Executive Director and 3V Communication Coach Ric Phillips leads an interactive class on how to effectively pitch your business in a very short time, with or without a slide deck

In Member’s Lounge with Select Vendors

11:30-12:15 – Lunch and Networking

*Note – Member’s Lounge will be open to all for food and networking until 4 pm!

Mini-Workshops in Committee Room 3 (2nd Floor)

12:15-12:45 – Mini-Workshop 2 – Networking: It’s Telling Not Selling
Networking guru Colleen Clarke shares her top tips and formulas to make networking less painful and improve your elevator pitches – something every business person needs to help self-market better!

1-1:30 – Mini-Workshop 3 – Know Your Vision

YEDI President and successful serial entrepreneur Dr. Marat Ressin leads a dynamic seminar on understanding the importance of having a vision for the entrepreneur/coach/small business owner, and how to identify and communicate it to others. This skill is essential if you want to get buy-in, gain followers to your cause, or lead a team in business.

1:45-2:30 – Round Table – Coaching and Learning & Development Trends

Informal discussion on the coaching and learning and development industries, their trends and how they can help businesses and individuals grow. Hosted by Ric Phillips and L & D Consultant/NCCA Designated Trainer Lauren Waldman. Bring your questions!

Our half-day event is complete, but networking remains available in Committee Room 3 and the Member’s Lounge until 4 pm.

 

Register with EventBrite: https://ncca2017.eventbrite.com

How to Develop & Deliver an Effective Pitch (with Slides)

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Ric at TechSoup Canada 2Recently I gave a short seminar at TechSoup, located in the CSI (Centre for Social Innovation) building here in Toronto. TechSoup had asked me to speak about developing and delivering an effective pitch, with a slide deck. Their target audience is non-profits who want or need to build their technical skills to help improve efficiencies in their organization. The seminar had a small live audience and it was live-streamed as well.

Just as I teach my clients, I broke my talk into three main chunks: pitch structure, slide guide and public speaking & body language tips. I wrote a brief article on my LinkedIn profile going over the key takeaways, so please click this link to see the article, and then like and share (either here or there) if you found it useful.  Thank you.  🙂

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/develop-deliver-effective-pitch-ric-phillips

And if you desire more info on pitching and presentations, please see my brand new ebook called “3V Podium Power:  Next Level Public Speaking, Presenting, Pitching & PowerPoint Repair!” located on this site here in the ‘store’.

UPDATE:  TechSoup did a great recap of my seminar, and have also included the slide deck I used in case you want to see them (but the 2 videos I used are not included, fyi).  Please click here to see their summary and my slides.  Please share this info here, there, or anywhere.

TechSoup Link Here

https://www.techsoup.ca/community/blog/effective-pitches-nonprofits

Thank you so much!

Are You on a Confidence Tightrope?

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Do you know how confident you should act in your presentations?

Robert Herjavec (one of the angel investors from the TV show “Dragons’ Den” and “Shark Tank”) was recently asked this question: “What’s the most common fundraising flaw you see in entrepreneurs?”
His answer: “Overconfidence, bordering on arrogance. Or lack of confidence, bordering on insecurity.”

As a coach and a believer in the power of confident communications, I know how hard it is to walk this tightrope. You don’t want to fall right?  So what should we do? Well the answer for communication is the same answer for the real situation – KEEP YOUR BALANCE.

You must be confident in your pitching and presentations. If you are trying to convince others to believe in you or follow you, you must give them a reason and a feeling to do so. That is right, both logical and emotional reasons must be there. You need to be passionate about what you are saying (or selling) and you need to have hard facts and figures to back up your beliefs.

A confident presenter is challenged less than an unsure or meek one, even on Dragon’s Den or Shark Tank. When a confident person handles the first challenging question successfully, smoothly and convincingly, there is less desire to challenge again and again.

To be confident you must believe in what you are saying, have data to back it up and be comfortable talking about it to others. Confidence comes from competence, and vice versa. Make sure you prepare well.

Keeping your balance means that you must be confident to succeed, especially in North America, and you must balance that with logical reasons so that it is not just your opinion.

For example:

“I think you should buy my soft drink machine because I think it is the best value for money and I get a lot of revenue from it”

could be transformed into:

“To get the best value for your money and a three to one return on investment, choose our soft drink machine. Recent statistics show that there is a growing increase in soft drink machine use when a variety of drinks are offered, and I strongly believe this is the way forward for our company.“

In this example we do not start out with our opinion. We start out with compelling facts and numbers that the logical brain can absorb. Then passion is displayed. It sounds more confident, doesn’t it?