Yesterday was the second demo day of our accelerator industrix, i.e., the stage when participating startups have already completed part of the training, met the first experts, learned about the company, and adjusted their product to its needs. They go on stage to pitch and present the results of their work, seeking feedback from potential buyers of their goods and services within the company. Watching the pitches, I noted a number of things that probably need to be compiled into a document called "Presentation and Pitch Preparation Checklist" (I will do so soon). Therefore, this list does not claim to be complete, but contains only what I noticed while watching 10 hours of pitches — that's how long it takes to present 70 projects.

A general insight I would note is that not all projects build a CJM for the expert or investor, in general for the listener. After all, the expert begins interacting with the project even before demo day, reading the invitation and brief description of each project to decide which ones to join. There were projects that realized that the project description submitted with the application could be used for this purpose and asked to update it. During the pitch, the expert perceives both the presentation and video visually, even how the participant introduced themselves in the conference app. But the journey doesn't end there; there will be evaluation sheets, forwarding of presentations, and presentations will be uploaded to various systems that will be found and used many times later. The project needs to understand what people want at each stage and provide it in a convenient form. It is from this perspective that all the ideas below can be viewed.

File name, your name, project name
In the conference app, you can specify your name; it should be indicated as: First Name, Last Name, Project Name. Then name the project and the presentation file and indicate it on the first slide of the presentation. It should be remembered, and then the presentation quickly found. Many projects at this stage do not have a "Marketing name," but a name that is not embarrassing to put on a scientific paper. This needs to be fixed.

Background with the project's value proposition
A great mechanic demonstrated by one of the participants. He set the name and value proposition of his product as his background. Then, thanks to the camera being on, he ranked high in the user list and constantly appeared on the shared screen. Thus, all participants and experts remembered the project even if they did not listen to the actual presentation.

Do not rename the project during the accelerator
Some projects renamed themselves, some a bit earlier, some on the day of the accelerator program. This can confuse experts; you may receive incorrect evaluations, and those who watched the project on the first demo day and were interested may simply miss it and not come. Therefore, it is better not to rename throughout the entire accelerator program.

Unfamiliar system for calls?
Check in advance whether you know the app where the pitch will be held. Download, install, and test the connection capability a few days before. If the organizers themselves have not set up a test meeting, be sure to request one. Think about what to do if problems arise. For example, record a video pitch and upload it to a video hosting service, and ask to play it if your presentation cannot connect.

Use the chat to the fullest
Experts often ask questions that you don't have time to answer. Do it in the chat, and also try to arrange a call with them afterward, conduct an interview, or get a more detailed opinion on the applicability of the project in the company or the opportunities they see for the project. The chat is your additional time that can be used to get more communication.

Access
Check that access to everything you share is open. Linking to VK? Make sure you can be messaged. Leaving a phone number? Then answer calls from unknown numbers. Sent a link instead of a presentation? Check that you have link sharing enabled, etc.

Contacts
Just recently in a post I was glad that almost everyone provided contacts, but it turned out not to be the case. About 20% of projects have no contacts. This is very important -