Archive for the ‘Great Demos’ Category

So, What’s YOUR Story? workshop – Open for registration

Sunday, January 1st, 2012

Are you an entrepreneur, a CEO, or a marketer searching for a better and more effective way to communicate the value of your business, product, or service? If yes, So What’s YOUR Story? is THE workshop to attend.

This workshop is bringing five incredible speakers together… an Emmy Award-winning TV producer, a professional writer and director, a well-known angel investor, a visual storytelling instructor, and a Silicon Valley pitch coach…. to teach you how to use the power of story in your business.




Imagine being able to get your compelling, memorable, and relevant stories into the minds of your investors and customers so they are compelled to take action?

There’s one more really exciting innovative take-away you will get from this workshop. Each of you will get “YOUR 15-Minutes of Fame” by sitting down with one of the presenters (or qualified mentor) privately, one-on-one, to talk about your story ideas that you developed during the workshop. Your private conversation can be recorded for you to share with your team back home. This is a very unique opportunity that is included in the price of admission. Every person that attends will get their 15-Minutes of Fame.


So, What’s YOUR Story? is being sponsored by Citrix Startup Accelerator, VentureBeat.com, IBM SmartCamp, and SVForum.org.

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Startup Monthly rehearsal sessions in January

Wednesday, December 28th, 2011

Join Startup Monthly as teams practice and learn how to create great pitches to investors for their Demo Day on Jan 22nd. You too can sign up your team to participate.
Startup Monthly
The rehearsal workshop would focus on how to design, script, and deliver more memorable presentations, and how to best showcase your product when pitching your product to VCs and angel investors.

Here is the link to the event registration page: http://pitchworkshop1812012.eventbrite.com/

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Socially Relevant wins First Place at JumpStart Days

Tuesday, October 4th, 2011

TimeGrab, from Socially Relevant, takes first place at the Jumpstart Days held at Rocketspace each month. They were up against 11 other companies this month and prevailed as the top company of the night. Way to go David and team. You made me proud.

David Parpart wins JumpStartDays

TimeGrab, a revolutionary mobile platform to engage users before, during, and after fun events. TimeGrab for iPad creates mobile, social communities for concerts and sports that provides a rich visual experience around entertaining content and related ecommerce. TimeGrab is the social timeline tool that can be personalized. In addition to providing a fun mobile environment for users, it also serves as a fan development, management, and commerce platform for the events and entertainment industry, which can be deployed as a manage service or in SaaS mode.

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Getaround wins 1st place at TechCrunch Disrupt 2011

Friday, June 3rd, 2011


It’s really very exciting to me when a client comes to me just a few days before an event and asks for help. I live for those types of opportunities. And, that’s exactly what happened when Getaround called me just a few days before TechCrunch Disrupt 2011. The founders of the company were seasoned presenters and had been on stage at DEMO in another company, but they each felt that in order to hit a homerun, they needed some coaching.

I arrived at the Getaround offices in San Francisco on the Friday before the event. Sam Zaid, co-founder (the tallest dude on the right side of the check) and I went over the script and made all sorts of changes in order to make the demo even more memorable. On Sunday, Jessica Scorpio, co-founder (holding the check) and I used Skype to rehearse the script while they sat in their N.Y.C. hotel. They worked extra hours to be sure that the demo was indelibly inscribed in their minds and that it was delivered with passion and over-the-top enthusiasm. And, that’s just what they did!

One of the best parts of the demo was when the camera shifted to the back of the room where a Tesla was sitting. As part of their demo, they used the iPhone to unlock the Tesla to demonstrate how someone would actually get into a car they rent through Getaround. It was a magical moment for the team at Getaround and the audience apparently loved what they saw.

Getaround was chosen as one of the two audience choice winners among 32 presenting companies and came out as the top company in the event. They walked away with a check for $50,000.

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GetAround rocks the stage at TechCrunch Disrupt

Wednesday, May 25th, 2011

GetAround was on stage yesterday at TechCrunch Disrupt in New York. One of the judges said that he had a “holy shit” moment on stage after seeing their demo meaning he thought the product was great. They have an amazing offering whereby you can rent cars from people nearby where you live. Instead of using ZipCar, you can now choose from hundreds and hundreds of personally owned cars to rent by the hour or the day. You can even rent a Tesla right now! And, they have Berkshire Hathaway as their insurance company. That’s a big win for them and their renters. Watch and see below:

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Carmine Gallo presents Steve Jobs techniques at Stanford GSB

Tuesday, February 15th, 2011

Everyone has heard of Steve Jobs and what a great presenter he is. Carmine Gallo authored a book named, The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs and I was fortunate to be in the audience when he presented to the Stanford Graduate School of Business last week. Gallo is a really great presenter himself, which means he must take his own advice! In his talk, Gallo demonstrates how extraordinary leaders such as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and others communicate the vision and the value behind their service, product, or brand. Here is the presentation in full:



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Top 15 Tips For DEMO Presenters

Sunday, August 8th, 2010

Here are my Top 15 Tips for people planning to present on stage or give an Alpha pitch at DEMO in a few weeks:

  1. Determine the overall goal for going to DEMO before writing a script. Then, be sure the demo plays straight to your goals.
  2. Start your demo in the first 15-30 seconds. Remember, the audience is there to “see” your demo, not hear about it.
  3. Tell a story that is compelling and memorable and be willing to do something no one else has ever done before on stage.
  4. When storyboarding your demo, think show ‘n tell. Not tell ‘n show.
  5. Have a call to action at the end of the demo. And, asking people to come to your booth is a weak call to action. Get creative.
  6. Memorize every word by practicing until it hurts. Then, practice more until you add your heart and emotions back into the script by using your voice and body language effectively.
  7. Mark rehearsal times on your calendar now and do not move them for anything.
  8. Have an outsider review your plans for the demo (Board members, PR, or a professional coach.)
  9. Show some love to the AV crew because they are the people who will make your time on stage look professional (and they may even be able to make you look 20 pounds lighter if you smile and ask nicely!)
  10. Do not wear a white shirt, herringbone, or hounds tooth clothing because it makes the camera go crazy!
  11. Put your best presenter on stage to do the talking, even if that person is your receptionist. It’s not about fame. It’s about making a great lasting impact on the audience and viewers in Internet land.
  12. Rehearse in front of a video camera and watch your performance. The best way to learn how to improve is to actually watch yourself in action! Video is one of the best learning tools you can use during this process.
  13. If you tend to get dry mouth when you get nervous, try using an old actors trick. Put a small amount of plain Vaseline on the outside of your upper and lower teeth so your lips don’t stick.
  14. When Matt Marshall is introducing you, take 2-3 slow deep abdominal breaths as you get ready to speak and channel the rush of adrenalin into excitement and enthusiasm as you take your place on the stage.
  15. Remember to have fun and smile, especially when you are on camera!

Good luck to all of you who are headed to the most amazing stage on the planet for announcing your company, product, or service to the world. Your demo or alpha pitch will be on-line on the DEMO website within hours of your performance and it will stay there for a very long time. Make sure you put your best foot forward to get the most out of this experience as possible.

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