1300 kms, 12 hours journey, 14 hours prep, 30 attendees, all for 1 hour. These are the important thing numbers behind my workshop “Beyond Pitch Practice: Why Founder Narratives Matter” at Venture Café Berlin… | Vijay Shankar Balakrishnan, PhD.

1300 kms, 12 hours journey, 14 hours prep, 30 attendees, all for 1 hour.

These are the important thing numbers behind my workshop “Beyond Pitch Practice: Why Founder Narratives Matter” at Venture Café Berlin yesterday.

A day earlier than, I used to be a bit nervous. As if the universe’s blessing, I bought a shock alternative to relax, due to Carlo Loiudice.

His humorous & actually down-to-earth walk-&-talk in his walk-the-talk workshop on public talking simply put me comfy.

I’ve given workshops & spoken in public fora, however this was totally different. Except for a couple of faces, largely an unknown crowd, first time presenting as a enterprise proprietor to different enterprise homeowners (present & future ones).

I began as I deliberate to… With a “me, me, me” – however not the sort you might’ve assumed. I discussed the DEI containers that I ticked & the identical type of founders I assist.

Two folks after the workshop advised me that my “me, me, me” opening pulled the gang in direction of me. That was reassuring, however what actually moved me was when folks requested,

“Should we pull the chairs to the front?”

For a second, I felt, “Oh no! Parts of the presentation are barely legible on the screen, that’s why!”

But once I noticed nobody on their cellphone & only one particular person filming, the 1300 km journey & 14 hrs of rehearsal did not matter.

What mattered was the 30 individuals who had been thirsty to be taught:

-> What was a story & narrative positioning?
-> Why founder narratives matter?
-> How can they take possession of their narrative & make their imaginative and prescient seen utilizing storytelling?

Yesterday was the primary time I offered in public, my three frameworks:

-> Five senses of storytelling
-> Six senses of startup storytelling
-> Seven levers of speedy resonance

I used to be advised the session was intense & layered, however the particular person filming meant folks did not wish to miss the enter.

Then I broke the room into 5 teams for audience-specific pitching follow.

They bought busy, actively scoring the worksheet I gave, frantically discussing the frameworks, & making sense of why their narratives matter.

I bought so many variations of post-session “Thank you, it was very insightful” – in-person, by way of LinkedIn DM, & by way of the Tally suggestions kind.

It was overwhelmingly constructive, BUT ALSO constructive. I discovered quite a bit about easy methods to refine my frameworks & workshop.

I thank Venture Café Berlin‘s Ewa Emilia Geresz for the nice and cozy intro, Milosz Lindner & Patrycja Z. for inviting me; Bennett B. for taking part in a beautiful “assistant”; Sujata B. & Nandhini Ponnusamy for cheerleading; Carlo Loiudice for memorable suggestions; & very inquisitive attendees, incl. Danielle Finch, Chiara Paola Ratti, Emily B., Ingo Brenckmann, Abhi Nair, Marc-Alexander Nagel & others. Can’t wait to satisfy y’all once more, CIC Berlin or elsewhere.

Thank you, everybody, who was current, helped, & noticed worth in what I delivered to the room and to your minds.

Please be at liberty to remark in your takeaways & constructive suggestions. Or questions. Let’s join with & for tales!