Presentation coaching that will help you win awards or raise capital!

For those of you who are tracking the events of DEMO in Singapore, here is a showing of where the companies who will be launching or giving an alpha pitch are coming from. It’s quite impressive to meet these companies beforehand and then see the transformation after coaching. Tomorrow is a full day of dress rehearsals.

Speaking of rehearsals, I believe there is a BIG difference in practicing and rehearsing. Practicing is something you do by yourself. You take your script and memorize it and learn it so that you can deliver it without using any notes. Rehearsing is different in that you must do this in front of a living breathing person or people. If you don’t have any people watching you when you rehearse, then it is called practice in my book. If you have people with you, even if they don’t give you any comments or feedback, then it is called rehearsal.

Here is a map of where the companies launching this week are from:

This is going to be a very exciting week since I will be coaching many of the companies presenting at DEMO Asia 2012 in Singapore.

It’s going to be a very long set of flights from San Francisco, but I am set with extra batteries, books, movies, and lots of other things to keep me busy at 35,000 feet above sea level. The weather should be amazing and in the 80′s, so I can pack a bit lighter than normal.

I’ll be reporting in from DEMO Asia starting Tuesday, February 28. Stay tuned for reports from Singapore!

My dear friend Max Shapiro, from PeopleConnect Staffing, is running a brand new event for start-ups. It’s called IGNITE! and it kicks off on Tuesday, March 13 at 5 PM at RocketSpace, 181 Fremont Street in San Francisco.

Here’s how it works:

Ten companies are chosen each month to participate in IGNITE! Presenting companies will each have a demo table to have the opportunity to meet and network with angles, VCs and guests during the first hour. Attendees will then vote for their favorite company, and the top four will get to present to a distinguished panel of VCs and Angels. The panel chooses who they feel is the most promising startup.

The winner gets a pitch meeting with our Sponsoring Venture Capital firm, Hummer Winblad.

Following the pitches, Mitchell Kertzman, Managing Director of Hummer Winblad, will be interviewed by Eric Ferraro, a startup attorney at LeClairRyan and a former startup CEO himself.

If you know of any companies interested in being selected to participate in IGNITE! please have them click on this link: https://gust.com/r/enterprises/via_group_new and complete the application. (Note, there is a $150 fee for those companies who are selected. There is no charge to apply).

We have space for approximately 100 guests. If you’d like to attend, just click on this link http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2719818049. The admission fee, if you sign up before February 24 is just $25.

For more information please visit www.ignitefundraisers.com or email:ignite@peopleconnectstaffing.com.

Just over one week ago, I had the distinct pleasure of coaching the IBM SmartCamp finalists selected from around the world. All of the companies selected had solutions that will help build and maintain a smarter planet for all of us to live on.

To see what each company presented, take a look here:

Yesterday, I had the privilege and honor of coaching the DEMO Asia 2012 class of demonstrators and alpha pitchers. Skype worked perfectly as did Prezi all the way to Singapore from San Francisco. It’s amazing what the speed of light can do for communications. It was one of the most fun talks I have ever had the opportunity to deliver because the people in the room seemed so intent on learning as much as humanly possible in our meeting.

You see, the folks in the room are the DEMO Asia 2012 class of companies hand picked to announce their company, product, or service to the world in Singapore during the conference on February 29 – March 2. There will be over 100 Asia Pacific start-ups at this conference, which is actually a bit more than what we have even seen here in the U.S. in recent years. I’m even more excited because they have invited me to be at the conference to work with the companies as I have done in the U.S. for many years.

There will be a few nuances to this conference. For example, my understanding is that you can’t really give someone an award with the word God in it. So, at the DEMO Awards Ceremony, the top companies at the conference will get a DEMOguru Award. That should generate just as much media exposure and attention as does the DEMOgod Award. In addition to that, one company will be selected as the winner of the People’s Choice Award by the paying audience. And, one Alpha pitcher (90 seconds with a microphone) will get the Rising Star Award. Alpha pitches are for companies that may still have their idea on the back of a paper napkin and want to attract the attention of early stage investors.

I am very much looking forward to attending the conference in a few weeks and spending time with some famous people. Chris Shipley will be there as will Matt Marshall and Neal Silverman along with the entire group running the conference from Singapore. It should be a blast!

Thank you to all of the people who registered for our story workshop. However, due to an unfortunate confluence of events for several of our speakers, we need to postpone the workshop to a later date. Please stay tuned to this blog for a very exciting announcement in the very near future.

I admit it. I made a mistake in the pricing of So, What’s YOUR Story? workshop. The registration fee for a seat at the workshop has been reduced by 50% and the streaming by 60%. I hope you will take another look at the great line up of speakers, coaches, and mentors that will be teaching you how to use the power of story when talking about your businesses, products, and services.

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