I finally presented the investment proposal to the class. At the beginning I was a little nervous because the terms I was going to discuss to persuade the audience that Cummins was the best company to invest in where a little complicated. I wasn't sure that my knowledge was going to be enough as to convince my client that he was looking at the perfect choice to invest in.
As soon as I introduced the presentation my nerves went away. It was a great feeling because I actually felt that the presentation depended in my attitude and the way I delivered the information at that moment. It was a great experience presenting in a formal environment because I was selling an idea, so it pressured me to be sure about what I was saying. The entire purpose was to convince Corey Topf, my client, that investing $ 3,000 in our diversified portfolio was the best choice.
As a group, we focused on having four different companies from different industries. Gonzalo focused on alternative energy, Carolina in a company we admire, Stefan in a social responsible company, and I focused on the best place to work. The final options we had were really solid, and the information we shared to our client proved that investing with our brokerage was the best choice.
As soon as I introduced the presentation my nerves went away. It was a great feeling because I actually felt that the presentation depended in my attitude and the way I delivered the information at that moment. It was a great experience presenting in a formal environment because I was selling an idea, so it pressured me to be sure about what I was saying. The entire purpose was to convince Corey Topf, my client, that investing $ 3,000 in our diversified portfolio was the best choice.
As a group, we focused on having four different companies from different industries. Gonzalo focused on alternative energy, Carolina in a company we admire, Stefan in a social responsible company, and I focused on the best place to work. The final options we had were really solid, and the information we shared to our client proved that investing with our brokerage was the best choice.
At the end I was satisfied with my performance. During my part of the presentation, being CUMMINS INC, I think that I did cover all the points of information given, and the connections I made were purposeful. In fact, since I had practice in my house I knew what I had to say and I remembered the exact information that was being displayed in the keynote. One error that impacted the presentation significantly was referring to our client in third person. Instead of saying "you" or "Corey" we said "our client" when he was in front of us. The most important word in the world for you is your name, and that's why our presentation lost purpose when we did't refer to him as Corey or even when we didn't do connections in relation to what he wanted. Even though I was happy with performance there where many things that I did good and that I could have done better, such as:
What I did well:
What I could improve on:
This unit was extremely complicated at first, but I learned that when you research by yourself you learn much more than when someone gives a Power Point lesson about the topic for 1 hour. Because we had the freedom to decide what company we wanted to research about I was interested the entire time. When something was unclear I automatically researched it to understand every little detail about my chosen company.
I do believe that this project was vital, not only to understand the basics of finance, stocks, and investing, but also practice a formal presentation to sell an idea. It was challenging to have an exciting and engaging tone because I was so used to giving normal presentations about a topic to inform others, not to sell an idea. Definitely there were many things I could have done better, but it is the first time I do this type of proposals, and it has been a great experience to actually understand how the business world works.
What I did well:
- good and concise information
- confident introduction, not overdone, and professional
- highlighting why my company was the best place to work at
- noticeable that I was knowledgable about my topic
- media was engaging with appropriate effects
- making connections with quotes and not just reading them
What I could improve on:
- I need to talk in relation to my client using his name or "you" instead of "our client wanted to invest in...". Never use third person when you refer to someone in front of you.
- I focused on the company and not on why my client was going to like it. For instance, I gave information about employees instead of persuading my client as to why he would love the company
- intext all graphs for more credibility
- not include too much text on slides
- try to avoid making a talk, act more as a presenter
- try to avoid reading from the powerpoint
- eye contact
This unit was extremely complicated at first, but I learned that when you research by yourself you learn much more than when someone gives a Power Point lesson about the topic for 1 hour. Because we had the freedom to decide what company we wanted to research about I was interested the entire time. When something was unclear I automatically researched it to understand every little detail about my chosen company.
I do believe that this project was vital, not only to understand the basics of finance, stocks, and investing, but also practice a formal presentation to sell an idea. It was challenging to have an exciting and engaging tone because I was so used to giving normal presentations about a topic to inform others, not to sell an idea. Definitely there were many things I could have done better, but it is the first time I do this type of proposals, and it has been a great experience to actually understand how the business world works.
Above you can see the entire keynote presentation. I was in charge of the introduction which was until slide 5. My actual investment proposal was CUMMINS INC; slide 22 to 30.