This Session:
Designed to hone contestants’ presentation skills for presentations to the HCC/Newspring Business Plan Competition judges and for presenting their plans to potential lenders and/or investors. Open only to contestants who submitted their written plans by the Apri 8th Deadline. Attendance is required for all finalist teams.
Past Sessions:
Sessions 1 and 2: Sections of the Business Plan: Jack Barry covered the content of a business plan (with the exception of the financial section). Special emphasis was given to the target market, the customer, product and business differentiation, structure, organization and financing. The discipline required to write a concise and focused business plan was discussed. The milestone chart was introduced. Jack shared his vast experience and skills, and inspired you to “Dare to be Great!”
Session 3: The Numbers: Robert Westheimer was all about the numbers: projected revenues and break-even, income statements, cash flows, balance sheets, investment capital needs and other key issues to include in your Business Plan.
Session 4: Marketing and Q&A: This session included a presentation by Melaroo Marketing and also featured an extended Q&A session to contestants’ and advisors’ specific questions. All present learned from other competing teams’ questions and answers as well. If contestants were meeting the milestone schedule, they had a draft of their business plan completed by the fourth session. Strategically timed to allow teams to move forward by leaps and bounds to strengthen and polish their written Business Plans before the April 8th due date.
Session 5: Presentation Skills: This session will help teams prepare to give an oral presentation of their plan. The focus will be on presentation skills, how to constructively answer questions, appropriate dress, preparation of visual aids and handout materials.
All Finalist Contestant Teams are required to attend. Other contestant teams that submited business plans by April 8th are also allowed to attend. Even if you didn’t make the finalists, you have a completed Business Plan and we want you to assist you in honing your presenations skills to begin seeking debt or equity investment. The goal of the Business Plan Competition is to foster new businesses from all of you who have moved through the competition. If you qualify to attend you should not miss this opportunity!