As students prep for their 3 minute Fish Tank presentations on March 26 (be sure to join us), they are working on putting their pitches together and honing skills on actually presenting the content to their audience. Andrea Giovando is a partner at Bond Architects, Inc. They concentrate on municipal endeavors such as parks, schools, cities and religious facilities with a minimum job typically starting at around $3M. With this line of work, so much of acquiring work heavily relies on strong communication of vision and ideas through presentation. She spent time with students as they prep for their competition at the end of this month. Here are some key takeaways she provided in her experienced in working with clients over many years.
- Show something that will set you and your business apart from the competition.
- Find ways to connect with the audience and judges. Understand who your target market is, but still speak to those in the room and help bring that person to life.
- For presentation style - try to tell the story with more pictures and less words. Bullet points and visuals can help tell the story to your audience.
- Promote your personal branding with ensuring that your logo is on each slide all the way through the presentation.
- Building an ongoing relationship with your client from before the sale, making the sale and after the sale can always help drive future business and referrals. Helping make your name and brand top of mind will benefit you in the long run. Networking is always key.

Andrea is also a huge fan of Gateway CEO and has been a mentor for a number of years. With her strong career growth at Bond Architects and her side hustle mobile boutique business, she always brings a wealth of knowledge to her mentee and is willing to share insights with so many of the students. Thank you so much for spending the morning with students taking this deep dive into presenting!