In a previous post, I mentioned that I had been working with student finalists in the annual pitch competition hosted by the John S. and Marlene J. Brinzo Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation at Kent State. A small group of faculty, staff, and donors mentored the finalists for 4-5 weeks leading up to the event to help them hone their financials, slide decks, and overall presentations. Because we had a lot of positive feedback from the students, I thought I’d share some of what we discussed in this blog post. 

A few weeks ago, I was part of a small group of faculty and donors who presented a workshop for student finalists in the annual pitch competition hosted by the entrepreneurship center in the college of business. Since the finalists are from a variety of disciplines, and have different experiences in business and public speaking, the workshop was designed to offer guidance on what they should include in their slide decks, tips on public speaking, stage presence, and so on.