The Agile Startup: Quick and Dirty Lessons Every Entrepreneur Should Know

Make It Stick

As advertising execs know better than anyone, repetition is the key to building brand awareness. The same is true when you present. A complicated, multi-faceted message won’t stick. To keep your takeaways from getting lost in the mix, limit yourself to a maximum of three key messages. Relate all aspects of your presentation to at least one of the messages, and reiterate the key takeaways often. One way to do this is, as the expression goes, to tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them.

Imagine this: You’re about to give your presentation when an investor tells you that she’ll fund your round under one condition—three people, independently polled, must be able to tell her all three of your key messages.

Before your next presentation, ask what two or three messages you want the audience to take away from your presentation. Chances are, about the same time that you start to feel like an idiot from repeating yourself so many times, the message will start to get through.

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