Mirren Training - BIG Interactive - Pitch Presentation/Deck Writing

What has been your role in the new business efforts of the agency?
Matt Minkin, CEO	part time head of biz dev
Laura Heath; Associate Account Executive	I do the competitive reviews for pitches, brainstorm feature and strategy ideas, and work as the project manager for ensuring the proposal reaches the client on time.
Mat Mejia, Creative Director	Working closely with the Account Executives to formulate and execute creative strategy.
Orris Long Manager, Business Development	Prospecting, generating leads, developing new relationships w/ K key decision makers, developing and presenting new business presentations, general capabilities presentation development and presentation, manage RFP/RFI responses from start to finish, work with CEO and other executives in the company to help determine a strategy to help grow the agency.
Gillian Gutierrez, VP Managing Director	I have both lead and participated in new business efforts. By lead I mean drive the entire process from client communication, strategy defintion, pitch materials, presentations, etc. As a participant I may collaborate on strategies, process, etc. In the last year I have led fewer efforts than previous to that. It is mostly led by Chris Sturgeon these days.
What is your background, in terms of agencies, accounts, and client-side experience?
Matt Minkin, CEO	no client side experience. i've heald exec management roles at digital agencies for 12 years.
Laura Heath; Associate Account Executive	I've worked as a consultant for FX Networks as an affiliate program manager. I started as a Account Coordinator here at BIG working on SONY, Busch Entertainment Corp, and Anheuser Busch. I was recently promoted to AAE.
Mat Mejia, Creative Director	Over the past eight years I have held Art Director / Sr. Art Director titles for US Interactive, DNA Studio and Big Spaceship in which I've lead online campaigns for such clients as Nissan, Anheuser-Busch, Toyota, Coca-Cola, Bacardi, Cingular Wireless, Sony Pictures, Guess Jeans, NASA and the US Navy. As the Creative Director of Big Interactive, I bring to the table ten plus years of experience in the online arena and am currently heading up projects for Anheuser-Busch, Honda, and Clearwire.
Orris Long Manager, Business Development	Interned at an entertainment marketing agency the last year of college. Worked for nearly two years at a boutique traditional agency working in business development, then moved to BIG Interactive over a year ago in business development.
Gillian Gutierrez, VP Managing Director	I've been with BIG for over 4 years. I started as the Director of Account Management, and moved into the MD after my first year. Prior to that I worked with Zentropy Partners for seven years in Account Management. Clients I've worked with include GM, Honda, Suzuki, Fox, FX, Sony, Warner Bros, WE TV, BBC America, Teleflora, Clearwire, Ingenio, Broadcom, Anhuesuer-Busch, Busch Gardens.
What format do you primarily use to present the content of your pitches?
Matt Minkin, CEO	PowerPoint
Laura Heath; Associate Account Executive
Mat Mejia, Creative Director
Orris Long Manager, Business Development	PowerPoint
Gillian Gutierrez, VP Managing Director	PowerPoint
What do you believe are the strongest elements of your current pitch decks?
Matt Minkin, CEO	Well designed and visual. Professional and high production value. Energy and enthusiam
Laura Heath; Associate Account Executive	The creative elements and the ideas
Mat Mejia, Creative Director	case studies
Orris Long Manager, Business Development	Visual aesthetic. Charts, design, everything is very detailed, looks great. I also believe that the content presented within the deck is strong.
Gillian Gutierrez, VP Managing Director	The printed document that we deliver is a beautifully designed print-piece. There is always a very positive reaction to it. It demonstrates a lot of care and committment and makes a very good first impression.
What do you believe most holds the agency back with its current pitch decks?
Matt Minkin, CEO	Our pitch decks are like so many others. Too many words, not enough substance at times, see the same stuff from deck to deck pop up.
Laura Heath; Associate Account Executive	The length of the copy - we need to be more succinct. Also our ideas aren't always the most creative. Rather than making something already out there better, we should be coming up with brand new stuff.
Mat Mejia, Creative Director	lack of experiential work in portfolio
Orris Long Manager, Business Development	Too much is trying to be said within the deck, within one presentation. Often, I think that we assume that the audience is on our level, in terms of sophistication of technology, when they aren't. We may lose people. The presentation is often disjunctive or at least feels disjunctive to me. It lacks that final layer of one cohesive story told from a single voice. This is a result, often of not having much time or being under the gun to finish. Finally, the presentation never feel finished, and because of that, I feel we are always working up until the final minutes on our presentations.
Gillian Gutierrez, VP Managing Director	Our core pitch strenghth (print piece) has become a core issue. Too much care is given to the printed document itself and not enough to what is actually in the document. We also spend a lot of time on creative, without enough consideration for the strategy. (Some in the agency would disagree with this passionately.) We've come to run pitches in a very specific way and I believe strongly that is does not work. The right people are not engaged, too much emphasis on creative and not enough on solutions and strategy, the formula is always the same (even the text is very repeditive from one pitch to another). We also do a very poor job of establishing relationships with the decision-makers. Rarely do we have access to the right people.
On a scale of 1-10, how well does the logic of your decks set up the creative idea/concept/program with an irrefutable logic trail?
Matt Minkin, CEO	5
Laura Heath; Associate Account Executive	7
Mat Mejia, Creative Director	8
Orris Long Manager, Business Development	9
Gillian Gutierrez, VP Managing Director	4
On a scale of 1-10, how well do you orient your presentation around a new and unexpected strategic insight vs. a predictable strategic insight:
Matt Minkin, CEO	2
Laura Heath; Associate Account Executive	4
Mat Mejia, Creative Director	8
Orris Long Manager, Business Development	4
Gillian Gutierrez, VP Managing Director	3
On a scale of 1-10, how well do you orient your presentation around a new and unexpected creative/tactical idea:
Matt Minkin, CEO	7
Laura Heath; Associate Account Executive	6
Mat Mejia, Creative Director	8
Orris Long Manager, Business Development	6
Gillian Gutierrez, VP Managing Director	5
On a scale of 1-10, how well do you demonstrate the business impact of your recommendation?
Matt Minkin, CEO	2
Laura Heath; Associate Account Executive	6
Mat Mejia, Creative Director	8
Orris Long Manager, Business Development	3
Gillian Gutierrez, VP Managing Director	2
On a scale of 1-10, how much do your decks rely more on visuals to "tell the pitch story" vs. text oriented pages?
Matt Minkin, CEO	4
Laura Heath; Associate Account Executive	3
Mat Mejia, Creative Director	8
Orris Long Manager, Business Development	3
Gillian Gutierrez, VP Managing Director	7
When you consider your pitch team, what do you believe to be your biggest presentation strengths?
Matt Minkin, CEO	Outgoing, passionate, sense of humor, professional, knowledgeable
Laura Heath; Associate Account Executive	My ability to communicate ideas clearly and think from the perspective of the consumer we are trying to win over.
Mat Mejia, Creative Director	account executive
Orris Long Manager, Business Development	Passion, hard-working, energy, and absolutely sound production thinking.
Gillian Gutierrez, VP Managing Director	Chris Sturgeon is a great story teller and does a great job of relaxing the room. Our presentations are usually nicely designed. Recently we've added much more imagery and less text, which is nice.
When you consider your pitch team, what do you believe to be the weakest elements of your presentation skills?
Matt Minkin, CEO	our presentations are focused almost entirely on the creative idea/tactics. our insight on their business or customer is usually week. in the past we've talked too much about us.
Laura Heath; Associate Account Executive	Lack of Practice - I get nervous if I haven't presented in awhile. I also get more nervous presenting content that I don't fully understand. I also don't really do the presentations - I just hep put them together on the backend.
Mat Mejia, Creative Director	account executive (depending on which one is presenting)
Orris Long Manager, Business Development	Very fragmented. Each person presents, ultimately by themselves. Any one of us could be taken out, and plopped in another team's presentation.
Gillian Gutierrez, VP Managing Director	I do not believe any others on the team are comfortable or good in pitch scenarios. Kelly Chu (VP technology) can be a good person to "Chime-in" with solutions and good discussion, but really cannot present at all. Mat Mejia (Creative Director) is terrifed of pitch situations, rarely attends. Matt Minkin has a tendency to run over and read from the screen (but thinks he is a great presenter). I love to present, but have no formal training. So sometimes I do ok and othertimes not so good. I am not a story teller like Sturgeon (would love to be), and can sometimes feel intimidated (small/ young woman versus older/senior level men ... shhh don't tell anyone!). Presentations are ALWAYS too long.
On a scale of 1-10, how strong is your team chemistry during a presentation?
Matt Minkin, CEO	6
Mat Mejia, Creative Director	7
Orris Long Manager, Business Development	7
On a scale of 1-10, how well are your team presentations rehearsed?
Matt Minkin, CEO	2
Mat Mejia, Creative Director	7
Orris Long Manager, Business Development	3
Gillian Gutierrez, VP Managing Director	3
On a scale of 1-10, how well do you rehearse handling questions from the prospect?
Matt Minkin, CEO	3
Mat Mejia, Creative Director	7
Orris Long Manager, Business Development	2
Gillian Gutierrez, VP Managing Director	3
How much interaction (dialogue) with the prospect do you typically have during the presentation?
Matt Minkin, CEO	Some
Mat Mejia, Creative Director	Very Interactive (50/50)
Orris Long Manager, Business Development	A Little
Gillian Gutierrez, VP Managing Director	Some
How often do your presentations end on time?
Matt Minkin, CEO	80%
Mat Mejia, Creative Director	80%
Orris Long Manager, Business Development	40%
Gillian Gutierrez, VP Managing Director	80%
Personally, what do you consider to be your presentation strengths?
Laura Heath; Associate Account Executive	n/a
Mat Mejia, Creative Director	creative, case studies
Orris Long Manager, Business Development	Confidence. Natural, and that I am more colloquial, I feel.
Gillian Gutierrez, VP Managing Director	Friendly, professional, knowledgeable about the material, can think on my feet, provide solid answers to questions, can project, not afraid to present (like it in fact)
Personally, what do you find most difficult about presenting?
Laura Heath; Associate Account Executive	Again I only really handle the development of the presenation material
Mat Mejia, Creative Director	for me, presenting in general. I'm not a sales person nor do I want to be.
Orris Long Manager, Business Development	Maintaining eye contact. Touching on all of the points I want to talk about, while staying on-time. I have a tendency to dwell to much on a given thought or statement, ramble.
Gillian Gutierrez, VP Managing Director	Sometimes I find the first few minutes (before the show begins) uncomfortable. I feel it is my responsiblity to "warm/lighten" the room. But more times than not, I am presented with a much older group of men. I am very confident in my abilities to deliver solutions and great service, but I also recognize I am a 4 ft 11 young woman with a big title. I am immediately met with scepticism, that I have to work hard to overcome. If I've had enough sleep and time to prepare, then this is not an issue. But if I've only slept a few hours and edited up until the last minute, my confidence is not quite the same. Rarely do we prepare as a team. There is either no time or team members wont practice. Many on our team do not believe they need to practice. Many feel uncomfortable "acting" in front of our group. I agree that it is difficult to do, but it is so important at the same time. Would like to "act" a little more - move the room.
Any final thoughts for us as we prepare to lead you through the Pitch Presentation Skills/Deck Writing Program?
Laura Heath; Associate Account Executive	I want to learn how to get ideas across quickly and brillantly as well as ensuring that extra information is cut out that isn't necessary or repetitive.
Mat Mejia, Creative Director	not at this time
Orris Long Manager, Business Development	I believe that overall, what we need is a clear identifiable process for presentations. If we had a regiment that we followed for each pitch, I think it would allow for much more polish, practice, and flow. We are worried too much about what we are saying, vs. how we say it, which is good, but has its problems.
Gillian Gutierrez, VP Managing Director	Clearly from my responses I am not confident or happy with our pitch or presentation process. Over a year ago the process felt much more collaborative and team-oriented. Frankly I feel that it has been taken over by one person and they have come to dictate how it works, whose involved, what gets presented, etc. They are very sensitive to critiques and are very dramatic about the whole process. Unfortunately we have not addressed this issue as directly as we should and now it is out of control, in my opinion. I think that we have great talent here at BIG Interactive. And most are extremely open to learning new ways of doing things. Looking forward to the training!