The Uganda Website Projects competition 2024 will be a one day technology event that will happen on the 5th of July, 2024 at National ICT Innovation Hub. The National ICT Innovation HUB which is located in the town of Nakawa in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda has made a name for itself by being the home to many innovative and successful technology startups. Having hosted many technology events, it’s dubbed to be the number one preferred venue for technology events in Kampala.
The Uganda Website Projects Competition 2024 event is set to bring together various stakeholders in the technology space including global and local industry experts, global and local sponsors, and technology enthusiasts to mention but a few. By participating in this event as a competitor, organizer, adjudicator or sponsor, you contribute towards the continuous efforts of building an innovative, inclusive and supportive technology community in Uganda. On top of that you get to join a supportive community of mentors, experts and technology enthusiasts.
For a competitor especially, reveal your problem solving potential by pitching your innovative project to the present audience and the rest around the world. Now, you open the door to endless opportunities.
In Chapter 3 of this guide, I will share guidance, tips and tricks to help the competitor to successfully deliver a compelling pitching presentation and create a lasting impression on the audience and adjudicators at the Uganda Website Project Competition 2024 in Kampala – Uganda.
These 3 chapters are; How to Practice for a Killer Presentation, How to Deliver a Winning Presentation, and How to Handle Pitching Failure. I hope it helps you even beyond this particular competition.
1. Introduction
2. How to Practice for a Killer Presentation
- – Know Your Content Inside Out
- – Develop a Clear Structure
- – Rehearse Multiple Times
- – Practice in Front of an Audience
- – Use Feedback to Improve
- – Work on Your Delivery
- – Handle Q&A with Confidence
- – Manage Nerves and Stay Calm
3. How to Deliver a Winning Presentation
- – Start Strong
- – Engage Your Audience
- – Communicate Your Key Points Clearly
- – Use Visuals Effectively
- – Show Passion and Enthusiasm
- – Handle the Q&A Skillfully
- – Practice Good Body Language
- – Close with Impact
- – Manage Time Effectively
4. How to Handle Pitching Failure
- – Accept the Outcome Gracefully
- – Seek Constructive Feedback
- – Reflect on Your Presentation
- – Identify Areas for Improvement
- – Stay Positive and Motivated
- – Learn from the Winners
- – Revise and Refine Your Project
- – Plan Your Next Steps
5. Conclusion
Introduction
If you want to deliver a winning presentation for any competition including the Uganda Website Project Competition, it requires you to have a well-crafted pitch deck, thorough practice, and engaging delivery. But in any competition there is always a winner and other participants who don’t win the prize but are already winners by participation. So in case you’re not the prize winner what happens? The manner in which you handle pitching failure is vital. On top of this helping you deliver a powerful pitch presentation, it equally guides in managing failure constructively so that you can progress in future competitions.
A pitch is the document/slide you make to guide you and the audience during your pitching session. Thus, a compelling pitch deck forms the foundation for a smooth presentation. I encourage you to Keep It Stupid Simple (KISS) and limit the slides as usually few minutes are allocated. Don’t waste your time on complex designs because it’s not the design that the audience is looking for. They’re looking for confidence, conciseness and a clear message.
Note: The slides should only act as an assistant to give you pointers. That means, you shouldn’t stand on the stage and start reading for the audience. If you do that, it will indicate that you’re not prepared for the task at hand. To make it clear, you’re here to tell a story.
More guidance and details on which slides to include in the final pitch deck + template will be published after the call for projects closes on 20th July 2024
Chapter 2: How to Practice for a Killer Pitching Presentation
What next, now that you’ve created a compelling Pitch deck? As the adage goes, practice makes perfect. Set aside time to review and practice your presentation to ensure you deliver with confidence and clarity. As participant in pitching sessions and according to my experience here are some tips to help you prepare effectively:
Know Your Content Inside Out
- Familiarize yourself with your slides and learn the order in which your slides follow each other, learn the slide titles by heart and equally do the same for descriptions.
- Grasp the key aspects of each slide. To give yourself an opportunity to speak naturally without reading word-for-word, and impress the audience by how deeply you’re vested in your project.
Follow a Clear Structure
- Be ready to start with a hook to capture audience attention. You may start with a signature stunt or crack a joke or something, but make sure the audience doesn’t lose focus and utilize available time.
- Additionally, follow through the logical order of your pitch deck without skipping or moving back and forth. As you conclude, don’t forget to use your strong Call To Action.
Rehearse Multiple Times
- Haven’t you sung to yourself in the bedroom and most times in the bathroom? What if you tried the mirror and phone recording trick?
- Have multiple sessions of getting close to your mirror and turn on the voice recorder on your phone. Practice and refine, and repeat for as many times as possible until you’re proud of yourself.
Practice in Front of an Audience
- If you can access a few friends who can give you constructive feedback, it will be ideal to present to them and determine their reaction as well as get their feedback. To get as much constructive feedback as possible ask for specific feedback.
- Your feedback areas of focus might be clarity, engagement and presentation style. Again this shows you that you shouldn’t practice with any audience.
- The feedback you gather should help you adjust and enhance your effectiveness. Practicing the right thing will prepare you for a better presentation that you yourself will be proud of.
Work on Your Delivery
- The best presenters are those who know how to utilize their body language to their advantage. They use open gestures, maintain eye contact and don’t move frequently while on stage. They also learn to control their voice so that they can speak clearly, vary their tone and show confidence.
- They avoid using filler words. Instead of using phrases like “um”, “uh”, “hmm” etc they pause to maintain professionalism.
Handle Q&A with Confidence
- Pitching sessions can be overwhelming if you don’t come prepared for questions. Expect common questions from the audience and the judges and be ready to answer them. Additionally, try to be as direct and precise when responding to questions, it will prove how ready and composed you are.
- Q&A is something you can put in your personal practice sessions. Approach your responses by maintaining a positive attitude no matter how challenging the questions are.
- Always, be honest, if you don’t know the right answer don’t be afraid to respond with “I don’t know but I am happy to consider and get more insights”.
Manage Nerves and Stay Calm
- Almost everyone is nervous when they get to the stage. It’s understandable because you may have a lot of questions going on in your mind.
- Be encouraged that since you’ve been given the opportunity you deserve it. Practice visualizing yourself as a champion. The secret is warming up by taking deep breaths, before you begin to present.
Chapter 3: How to Deliver a Winning Presentation
- In this chapter, I emphasize early preparation to avoid last-minute surprises. I encourage you to believe in yourself and your solution as key aspects to inspire the audience.
- I also advise you to rehearse thoroughly and deliver with confidence using techniques like maintaining eye contact and natural body language.
- Submit your Pitch deck and necessary material
- I can’t stress this enough, the earlier you submit your material the easier it becomes. As it avoids last minute surprises and disappointments.
Trust and Impress yourself
- You’ve been chosen, and given the opportunity. Congratulations, it’s now time to be your first cheerleader and inspire us to join your fanbase.
- You’ve identified the problem, and went ahead to innovate the solution. Now, it’s time to impress yourself by presenting better than you’ve ever done before. If this is your first time, it’s the opportunity to create a lasting impression and make a firm setup towards future events.
Ask for help
- In technology something can mess up at the last minute. But don’t be afraid to ask before you start presenting.
Stick to plan
- Do you remember that you practiced your pitch? This is not the time to get distracted. Walk the talk step by step, clearly and concisely as possible.
- Show enthusiasm, put on a smile, pause where necessary, maintain eye contact and move naturally.
- When it comes to movement, if you’re to walk on stage be creative and don’t over do it. Use your hands to emphasize an important message.
Chapter 4: How to Handle Failure after the Uganda Website Project Competition 2024
Not being the prize winner is always disappointing because we all want to be champions. But let’s be realistic, we are all winners. We need to have the mindset of putting up a great competition to ensure that whoever goes away as the prize winner feels the stretch.
Accept the Outcome Gracefully
- Yes, you’ve not won the prize but that shouldn’t be the reason for frustration and punishing yourself.
- Accept the decision of the adjudicators and without frustration and encourage yourself to try again whenever an opportunity presents itself.
Seek Constructive Feedback
- My first time pitching, my team missed the opportunity to go to Europe which would have been a phenomenal platform to showcase our social enterprise and open the door to funding and governance opportunities.
- While pondering on the negative outcome, I swallowed my pride and decided to engage some of the judges in one-on-one conversations. I wanted to know their thoughts about our idea and why we made it to the competitive stage, not the final.
- Furthermore, I need to find out how they feel about our social enterprise from the investor perspective. Surprisingly, the feedback I got from one of them was more encouraging than disappointing.
- Now, my team and I are acting on this feedback and we have started to get more interest from people who want to invest or make us their product managers.
- When you approach the judges, ask for specific and detailed feedback as you listen actively.
Reflect on Your Presentation
- It’s important to request someone to record your presentation for the purposes of personal review. Review it minute by minute and with the intention of discovering areas of improvement and areas where you made yourself proud.
- Be keen to check how the audience was reacting to your presentation. Was the audience more engaged, did they appear to be confused or uninterested?
- What you find out during your reflection sessions, there is always room for improvement than for disappointment.
Identify Areas for Improvement
- Sometimes the Content and Structure go wrong, can go wrong, if you spend deliberate time looking for gaps or weaknesses in your pitch deck and presentation style it could help you improve.
Stay Positive and Motivated
- If people like Michael Jordan didn’t use failure as an opportunity to learn and grow, the books of history wouldn’t remember them as successful people. Most times than not the failures transform people into champions.
- The trick is that the loser uses failure as a learning opportunity and keeps a positive mindset and motivated attitude.
Learn from the Winners
- Notice the different things that made the winning pitches stand out and pick what insights to apply to your own presentations.
- In addition to that, create a network with winners and other competitors and continuously seek advice to learn from them and how they handle pressure and disappointments.
Revise and Refine Your Project
- Given all the feedback you’ve gathered, take a deliberate step to tweak your project, pitch deck and presentation skills where necessary.
- May you be encouraged that a journey of a thousand miles begins with an intentional step.
Plan Your Next Steps
- Today’s failure doesn’t guarantee failure tomorrow. Prepare to use this experience and lessons learnt to conquer at the next event.
- Continuously look for more competitions and opportunities to present your project.
Conclusion
The Uganda Websites Project Competition is an ideal opportunity to validate your solution and it will take thorough preparation in order to excel at the event.
Be engaging and handle feedback and any form of failure constructively. Consider that once given the opportunity to showcase you’re already a winner.
Create a compelling pitch deck, practice effectively, and ensure to support others and learn from each experience. This will enhance your chances of success and turn setbacks into opportunities for growth. After the competition stay positive, continuously refine your project, and continually pursue excellence.
Be sure to submit your project before 6pm, 20th June 2024! Dont miss!