The Pop up Pitch Presentation

Slide 1. Title

A single statement that evokes the secure feeling of clarity. So they know what you will be talking about and it will help you keep on target as you go through the rest of the pages.

• Keep it to a single sentence.
• Whom you are talking to.
• Your audience, not you.
• Make sure they see themselves in the title.
• What are you talking about?
• Isn’t the product or feature you are trying to sell.
• It’s the positive outcome your audience will receive by taking the action you suggest.
• Make sure they see a benefit that matters to them.
• The verb or action you want them to take.
• Examples
• "You can sell more cookies" – for a group of motivated girls scouts.
• "Together we will transform the healthcare" – for a hospital team.
• "How I can help our company grow" – for your boss giving you a promotion.
• Title page trigger phrase.
• "There is a way to get what you want"
• Title page filling in the blanks.
• Who is the target audience for this presentation? Who, role, demographics, etc.
• "My target audience is ___"
• What is the number one payoff the target audience wants in the topic you are presenting?
• "My target audience really wants to ___" (insert the verb that describes what your audience wants to accomplish)
• What do you want your audience to do once they hear your pitch?
• "I want them to ___" (insert the action you want them to take)

Slide 2. Out Common Ground

Establish an authentic connection with your audience and the issues that concern them. Show them you know them for real. 

• Common ground. A statement expressing a shared understanding of the present situation.
• Introduce yourself by showing them you have real knowledge and empathy for your audience's reality, their objectives, and their hopes. 
• If you are an expert in the field of your audience: Share your knowledge humbling with no more than one sentence about your own expertise.
• If you are not an expert in the field of your audience: Be in front of it, and be clear you do not know everything but still have something that will be valuable to them.
• Positive priming.
• If your audience situation is good: "You are doing fantastically, I wish I could share your level of success"
• If the present situation is awful:
• Option 1. Use positive framing to introduce the difficulty in the best possible light.
• Option 2. Establish you are personally familiar with the awfulness of the situation and willing to face it with your audience.
• Examples
• "In our world of sales things are going very well"
• "As your colleague, I find the best part of our job is to... "
• "I've been only here for a couple of weeks but I can see how effective the approach is"
• "I know you have been suffering with the shift of our industry..."
• "Recent news has been great for any of us"
• Common ground trigger phrase.
• "We are in this together and we know these things are true"
• Common ground filling the blanks.
• What is the common ground we all share right now? 
• What do you and your audience share in work, in your life, or in your situation?
• "Our common ground is ___"
• What do you know about your audience that they don't know?
• "Something I know about my audience that they don't know I know is ___" 
• What is the goal, opportunity, or challenge they face that might not be obvious to you? or even to them?
• What is an experience you had you believe your audience has also had?
• "Something that I suspect we both experienced is ___"
• What is a memory experience that you believe you both share?
• Simple map of the situation you have in common.

Slide 3. The Common Problem

State the facts, the numbers that are so scary that one really wants to look at them.

• This is where you state that whatever the common ground is today, good or bad, things are about to get a lot worse.
• You can't meet a scary truth that isn't said, so say it.
• Open your audience's aspiration to do the right things even if it gets hard.
• Examples
• "You might or not might not already know this but our market is expected to contract by half over the coming year"
• "It's scary but let us just say it his turmoil isn't going away and it's going to get worse"
• Common problem trigger phrase.
• What wakes you up in the middle of the night?
• Common problem filling in the blanks.
• What is the big problem on the horizon that we simply can't deny any longer because is about to kick us in the face?
• "The big problem coming up is ___" (the common problem summarized in a single thought)
• Is there an emerging challenge coming right out of us that we have no clue how to solve?
• "We might not want to think about it now but we have to" (single sentence of truly menacing thread that you haven't yet seriously planned for.
• Show the cascading metrics charts or present a map of how the stinky stuff is about to hit the fan.

Slide 4. An Emotional Win

Paint a picture of what it will feel like when the audience solves their problem.

• Guide your audience as they visualize for themselves how great it will be to get to the other side without any worries about how you got there. 
• What will be the sensation when you pass through the darkness and back into the light?
• What will it feel like when we are on the other side of this problem? 
• What will the world look like when this problem is solved? 
• Don't worry about how it's going to happen, just focus on the feeling of when it finally is solved. 
• You're going for a pure emotional hook here. Reality can wait. 
• Examples
• "Imagine a world in which our product is so popular that customers can't wait for our call" is a fantastic hope hook for sales teams.
• When this is all over, picture how it will feel when you know you're finally completely safe and free. 
• You're reminding your audience why they're going through the pain of looking at the problem because just on the other side is the world that they've always dreamed of. 
• Fill in the blanks. 
• What does it feel like when this problem is solved once and for all? 
• When this is all over, summarize the feeling of living in a world without this problem. 
• What will it look like when you've reached the light at the end of the tunnel? 
• Show your tomorrow state map in which all the people and pieces connect simply and seamlessly. Or show the same measurement chart but with the numbers jumping off the chart.

Slide 5. The false hope

Admit that the hoped-for simple solution won't actually work at all. 

• It's told as two messages in tension with each other, the conflict between the oh-so-desirable easy path and the cold, hard reality that it won't work. 
• What are the things we think will solve this problem right now that really won't? 
• What are we doing now that we think will keep us out of trouble? But it won't. 
• What are we avoiding doing because we think avoidance is the safer path? 
• What are we doing now? 
• However well-intentioned, that just isn't working and might be about to blow up in our faces because it doesn't actually address the real problem. 
• What is the smack of the cold, wet towel of reality? 
• Examples
• "Well, we could just do nothing and let it work itself out, right? Nope, we know that won't cut it. Let everyone know that no action is not an option"
• "This time around, the safe approach isn't safe at all, because this time the problem can actually kill us" 
• This page exposes the misplaced trust we place in business-as-usual solutions and conventional wisdom, or flat-out denials that only make our problem worse. 
• Admitting to sobering reality isn't just cathartic, it's the only real way forward. 
• False hope, trigger phrase. 
• "What got us here won't get us there"
• False hope filling the blanks 
• What are the usual solutions we're relying on that won't actually work? 
• The business as a usual solution won't solve this problem. 
• What is it about this problem that guarantees that the easy old solutions are not going to work? 
• What makes this problem bigger, thornier, and more complex than usual, is that summary in a single sentence of what makes this problem unique.
• The usual solutions won't solve this problem, because why the salvation that people are depending on just plain won't work.
• Show your today's date map in total disarray and even more complex and snarled up than ever. 
• Or simply show your whole characters as even less happy than they were before. 

Slide 6. Fairly audacious reality, state the bold alternative.

The slightly crazy yet potentially viable solution that just might, with courage and commitment, actually work. 

• When faced square on, all problems are puzzles, and puzzles are fascinating. 
• Once your audience can see the coming problem for what it is, two things happen. 
• First, the fear drops away. 
• Second, all energy instantly transforms from no to yes. 
• Having established what won't work, your job now is to seize the moment and reveal what will. 
• Think big. Think bold. Think. Forget outside the box. 
• What if there is no box? This is the classic moment in which you and your audience reframe your thinking from We have a problem to you know what? This is the opportunity of a lifetime. 
• Now that we see how big the coming problem is, let's put our heads together and say enough is enough. 
• What do we really need to do to solve this once and for all? 
• Knowing we can't keep doing it the old way, what is the real alternative? 
• New, ancient, or perhaps never before tested that we're going to tackle now to get this thing done? 
• What is the craziest, most counterintuitive idea we can come up with that if we really think about it, might just be the real solution we need. 
• Examples 
• What if there were a way to actually increase the gas in your tank every time you drove? 
• What if we could replace all our paperwork with one simple online question? 
• What have we just stopped making shirts and shifted everything to better-selling shoes? 
• What have you got to lose? 
• Fairly audacious reality trigger phrase. Wait a second, what if we could? 
• Fairly audacious reality filling the blanks 
• What does your bold new reality look like? Instead of the old way, here's what we need to do instead. 
• Summarize the bold new path or solution in a single thought. 
• What is the name of this audacious solution? The name of this solution is. 
• Insert the name of your bold solution product offering concept. 
• What is it about this audacious solution that makes it unique compared to every other alternative? 
• What makes this solution unique is - to insert two or three features that make this solution unique. 
• Draw your today's map in the most complex way possible. 
• Cross out every connection in the line and replace them all with one big red arrow that skips every conventional step and connects the beginning directly to the end. Slide seven, we can do this for real.

Slide 7. Can do this for real. 

Walk through your bold alternative with a grounding sense of real possibility. Get into a few key details to show there's no real reason to fear them. 

• Knowing you can do it comes from trusted experience combined with a solid plan. 
• Give them an experience-based reason to believe that your audacious solution isn't that crazy after all and that it really can work, either from your own direct experience or from recognized and trusted resources who have done something similar before. 
• Show your high-level plan, five steps maximum for implementing your approach. 
• If possible, show that a similar plan has worked before, perhaps focusing on a key modification you've made to uniquely account for this opportunity. 
• Examples
• "If we approach this with the same rigor as last year's win, we can do it"
• When we break the whole thing into three phases, it is actually surprisingly straightforward. 
• Invites realistic assessment of your We Can Do It plan. 
• Don't hedge on crafting this page with verifiable experience or inspiring planning, because it is the page in which you convert enthusiasm into reality. 
• It is perhaps the most important in your whole show
• We can do this for a real trigger phrase. 
• We've done this before. 
• We can do this for real, filling the blanks 
• What reasons, rationale, and data can you give that this audacious solution will work? 
• Why do you know in your gut you, we, the team can do this? I know we can do this because summary of why your audience can take courage from your plan. 
• Your timeline showing the specific steps required to achieve this bold reality visually shifts the enthusiasm of gusto to the believability that is the foundation of real courage. 

Slide 8. Our call to action 

List the five things that need to get done first to make it happen. Take personal responsibility for two, and request help with the other three. 

• Reveal the first three to five actions that must take place to get things moving to your audience. 
• Take personal responsibility for owning at least two of them.
• Note the small steps your audience can realistically commit to right now to get going in the right direction. 
• Identify those things that they can move on first that require the easiest effort or generate momentum the fastest. 
• Within the overall road map plan, identify the handful of steps needed to reach the first major milestone or check-in point. 
• State them clearly one by one. 
• If you're approach requires a team, share the commitment as you encourage the choice to move. 
• Show your own commitment by taking ownership of at least two early steps and then giving a deadline by which you commit to completing them of the remaining steps. 
• Suggest ways to share the load of the various capabilities needed to get this started. 
• Suggest potential resources who might be best suited to take the lead. 
• Be clear that even at this early stage, this is a team effort and that everyone's reliance upon each other is a key part of what ensures early success. 
• Examples 
• "All you need to do to get started is download this app or the first steps are as easy as 123" 
• "We only need to do five things to make meaningful progress, and my team can take on two of them right away"
• Our call to action trigger phrase. 
• Here's all you need to do to get started. 
• Our call to action fill in the blanks 
• What is this new path we're committing to? 
• If we proceed on this new path, we're committing to include insert three to five big steps ahead, stated as large but well-defined chunks. 
• What are the steps we need to commit to in order to begin to reach the solution? 
• The first 3-5 things we would need to do are, insert next step action items, perhaps with proposed owners and dates.
• Zoom in on the first phase of your timeline and in simple bullet point form, show the next five steps to take. Perhaps indicate proposed ownership and suggested dates for each initial step. 

Slide 9. Early benefits

State at least two near-term measurable benefits that getting started now will trigger.

• Identify at least two early benefits that can be achieved from your fairly audacious reality in the near term. 
• They don't have to be giant, but they do have to be meaningful. And if they can ease the bigger steps that come later, even better. 
• Give a realistic timeline, explain why you believe these early rewards are possible, and make them as quantitative as you can. 
• Early benefits, even if small, make big commitments easier to make. 
• They help solidify early decisions, validate continued action, and justify initial expenses of time, money, and effort. 
• Look for typical pain points, financial, operational, and even emotional, and see if any can be relieved by taking thoughtful action soon. 
• On the upside, are early potential gains possible? 
• Does action now improve morale and positive team motivation? 
• Are there near-term incremental revenue or market growth opportunities presented in this new course of action? 
• On the bottom line, are there early savings possible by starting the journey now? 
• New efficiencies come into focus. 
• Or is there a new sense of security that emerges? 
• Early benefits trigger phrase. 
• Just by getting started, we already gained. 
• Early Benefits Fill in the blanks 
• What is an immediate reward for all of us for taking even one action now? 
• One early benefit we will see from taking this action now is inserting one measurable potential early win.
• What are we going to see right away that will prove this is the right way to go? 
• A near-term payoff that might happily surprise us is - insert one unexpected benefit that will begin to accrue right away, and that might help pay for the program later on down the line. 
• This may include a chart moving incrementally up initial cost savings and intermediate problem being solved, or an adjacent problem coming into focus. 

Slide 10. The long win. 

Close with an unexpected giant wind that could truly come to pass once the new solution becomes the new normal. 

• What is the truly glorious aspiration that will change reality for your audience? 
• What might we all learn along the way that will stay with us forever? 
• How will our work on this project change the future? 
• How is life going to be amazing and different once we've solved this problem and reached the goal on the other side? 
• What might be gained in the long term that we can't even anticipate right now? 
• Examples 
• The most amazing result will be the parts we can't even imagine yet.
• We have new markets, new audiences, and new products we discover along the way. 
• When we get this right, we won't just solve the problem that got us started. 
• We will reveal capabilities we never knew we had. 
• Makes the work more than worth the effort. 
• The long win is. 
• The long wind trigger phrase. 
• These opportunities we can't even imagine right now. 
• The long win. Fill in the blanks
• Why do we need to do this amazing thing? 
• Insert a sentence describing the long-term benefit of solving this problem now and why it will help us well into the future. 
• What additional unexpected payoff might we one day earn? 
• The amazing long-term payoff we might gain when we commit and take action is. 
• Summary of a potentially unexpected and gloriously aspirational win. 
• Write in one world-changing aspiration that you'd truly love to participate in making real. 
• Show your characters smiling not because they've fixed your map, but because they have opened up an entirely new world of possibilities on the far side. 

References

• DIGITAL ROAM INC (danroam.com)
• The Pop-up Pitch: The Two-Hour Creative Sprint to the Most Persuasive Presentation of Your Life(Amazon.com)