Keys To A Persuasive Presentation Or Investor Pitch

After an entrepreneur I’ve trained pitches to a room packed with several hundred investors, like this year’s Jumpstart Foundry Investor Day Pitches, no less than 10 people always ask me the same question…  “Why do I have the feeling that he/she is into Spirituality or something?”  And I always answer “That’s hilarious.  I have no idea.”

Actually, I do have an idea.  As a matter of fact, I know exactly why they feel that way.  It’s due to a calculated and well timed series of moves and cues that Yogis use during meditation, and “charismatics” from India use when speaking to their followers.  You’ll also see many of the same hand gestures, or “Mudras” as they’re called, used by those practicing Yoga and Transcendental Meditation.

When I’m attempting to secure effective communication between an entrepreneur with a startup idea, to a room full of possible investors, it’s important to equip them with every possible tool I can find or create.  So I do that.

In most cases, Science can’t tell us why these gestures create the feelings they do in humans.  Or why some humans feel compelled to do specific tasks when they are presented with them in a specific fashion.  I’ve found them to be extremely potent when used properly in an interrogation setting, as well as in a presentation or pitch setting.

It’s such a rewarding feeling when you see a pitch containing these gestures and movements executed flawlessly, like the pitch Trevor McCormick, of Spotwise, gave at the Jumpstart Foundry pitches this year.

Watch this video of several sections of that pitch and you’ll see, from a different point of view, the same things the investors saw that made them ask me “Why do I have the feeling he’s into Spirituality or something?”  If you have any questions, or if there’s anything you’d like to learn more about, please email me or ask in the comments.