评委揭秘创业大赛拿奖窍门

练习、练习，反复练习

    要想在演示时镇定自若，一气呵成，办法很简单，那就是反复练习。“它可以完全克服信心问题，”斯特称。“对材料做到滚瓜烂熟，闭着眼睛都能说，就能让你做出更有分量的演示。”

比赛不只是为了大奖

    得奖固然是好事，莱斯大赛的优胜团队有时候能捧走几十万美元的奖金。但拿奖不是参加创业大赛的唯一理由。“关键是推出一家公司，”InContext Solutions的首席执行官、前莱斯大学决赛入围者鲍勃•吉勒斯派称。“不是说得奖了拍张照片就完了。关键是要有一款可行的产品，打造一项业务。这不是得不得奖的问题。”

    那么，评委们有没有提到的一个得奖的关键因素？参赛者的阐述要清晰自己的想法，要让评委和潜在投资者了解并相信它是一个可行的创业理念。你可以大出风头，博得观众一笑。但如果讲不清要卖什么、怎么卖，那你只不过是站在台上的一个演员，而不是一个真正的创业团队。从今天的非正式演示环节看，进入决赛的团队仍有很多地方需要完善和提高。

    译者：老榆木

Practice, practice, practice

    The best way to cool your nerves and smooth the edges of any business pitch is practice, plain and simple. "It will totally replace all of the confidence issues you have," said Seet. "Being comfortable with your material that you can do it with your eyes closed, will come across as a much more powerful presentation."

It's not only about the big prize

    Winning is great, and at Rice, some teams go home with several hundred thousand dollars in tow. But landing a prize is not the only reason to enter a business plan competition. "The point is to launch a company," said Bob Gillespie, CEO of InContext Solutions and a former Rice finalist. "It's not to get your picture taken because you won a contest. The point is to have a viable product and grow a business. It's not to win."

    One key to taking home a prize that was not mentioned outright at the winners panel? You need to deliver a crystal clear message, the kind of pitch that judges and potential investors can not only understand but believe in as a viable business concept. You can put on a great show and get some laughs from your audience, but if you don't communicate what you are trying to sell and how you are going to sell it, you are just a player on a stage, not a business team. Judging from the performance at the practice-round presentations today, plenty of finalist teams have their work cut out for them.