First of all, it is my business. My background is theatre, and I’ve worked for twenty years with actors, entrepreneurs and executives to optimize opportunities in front of audiences. Event organizers, including those behind BizSpark and SeedCamp, also understand the importance of good preparation and ask me to work with teams of start-ups before their final investor pitch at the end of the day.

Second, I have it from a top source: I work with Inma Martinez, a well-known advisor of tech companies and a specialist in mobile. After serving as a judge for a series of business plan contests, Inma articulated her frustration with this problem. “There are plenty of great ideas out there that don’t get heard simply because the CEO is not naturally a good speaker,” she told me. What’s more, there are plenty of content experts in the industry but not so many who have spent equal time working with digital media and with professional performers.

The uncomfortable truth is that getting investment –particularly in today’s climate- requires more than a great idea; it demands a brilliant performance. This is hard stuff, even though we all think we should be able to communicate effectively in public.

Unfortunately, it’s not that easy.

First, there’s fear. Studies have show that in the U.S., people are more frightened of public speaking than they are of death. In the U.K., death comes in at is number three – after spiders (number 1) and (you guessed it) – public speaking.

Second, we all share innate programming – and limitations – in how we pay attention. Surveys have demonstrated that human beings absorb only 7 percent of communication verbally. That means entrepreneurs must transmit a whopping 93 percent of information to investors in the way they speak, move, and engage their audience wordlessly. In other words, in the investment procurement game, performance is ultimately more important than what you say.

So how likely is it that an amateur can become a great presenter?

The surprising answer is very likely indeed. 95 percent of great performance is preparation and practice. Only 5 percent is innate talent and charm. Because people are creatures of habit, once we start behaving in a particular way, it’s very hard to stop. That’s hard work. Put another way, you have to change your mindset AND the way you execute what you know in order to change for the better.

Here’s the good news: the odds are in your favor that you can create new habits and you’ll become at least an above-average presenter. No matter where you are now on the learning curve, you can get where you want to be with practice and the right feedback.

Here are some tips that can help anyone improve as a presenter.

Tip 1. Practice learning new behavior. And don’t wait until the last minute.

Improving performance requires practice in front of a variety of audiences who can offer knowledgeable feedback over time. In my 20-year career, all presentations improve – sometimes tremendously – in the course of a typical coaching session. (A one-time coaching session can last anywhere between 15 to 60 minutes, depending on the length of the presentation.)

Tip 2. Once you’ve been coached, don’t stop practicing.

Your journey can’t end with one session, so make practice part of your regular routine. Without dedicated persistence, you will more than likely revert to old behavior as time passes. New habits must be learned over time, so take refresher courses. There’s no other way to integrate what you learn into what you already know.

Take it from Emma Gilding, President of In:Site at DAS Omnicom, a large communications holding company based in New York. Emma’s job is to conduct and advise cultural behavior for internal and external stake-holders. I caught up with Emma to find out more about how she handles high-pressure situations for her company. Among her other responsibilities, Emma looks at the level of excellence in presentations for at least one pitch per month by the agency’s cross-disciplinary team. This includes everyone from account executives to creatives.

Emma has developed a rigorous schedule that delivers results. For three consecutive weeks Emma builds up confidence in her presenters by asking them to pitch in front of their own teams. On the fourth week, she turns up the pressure and asks them to pitch in front a variety of audiences, ranging from people unfamiliar with the subject area to those who are downright hostile.

The tough love pays off. Emma’s strategy is to take her team out of their natural environment (where they can preach to the converted) and gives them an uncomfortable but necessary reality-check. To this end, Emma purposely chooses audiences who will be a hard sell. As she put it: “I want the team-members who present to be aware that the context will change, and that they’re performing, and what that means. Performers must be aware of how they’re perceived by total strangers – body, voice, the whole lot.”

Tip 3. Engage the audience. Use your body effectively.

At BizSpark, SeedCamp and other high-profile events, start-ups come to me with a host of common ailments. Among these: nervous movement, lack of eye contact and incessant mumbling almost a complete inability to be heard. Finally, perhaps most common of all, many entrepreneurs turn either sideways or their backs to the audiences and talk (literally) to their slides rather than to investors. The reason? Even when these start-ups know their material by heart, they are afraid of forgetting what they need to say.

Clearly, you can’t capture an audience (let alone impress them) if people can’t see your face or hear you properly. Worst of all, both are the surest indications that you are afraid. No one gives money to the timid. You’ll never impress anyone if you don’t seem entirely confident in the value of what you have to say.

Sound familiar? For more on how to combat this, see Tip 1.

However, beware of going too far in the other direction. The biggest turn-off for Emma is smugness, particularly from “the younger crowd.” As she put it to me: “It’s important to know that you’re not entitled to win just because you put the work in.” Your attitude comes across in your performance, and we all know there’s nothing more obnoxious than someone who‘s too cocky.

Tip 4. Engage the audience – Emotionally.

The winning pitch – either before a crowd or behind closed doors — is one that inspires. As James Caan, an investor from Dragon’s Den, told us at BizSpark, he invested in and made hundreds of thousands of pounds on a woman whose pitch impressed him even though her idea didn’t. In other words, she made him feel what she knew to be true even though Caan didn’t believe her words.

The trick is to know what role you’re playing and understand your audience. Emma told me that often people appear as caricatures of themselves when they don’t focus on the right goal. Her advice: “First, always know that you’re playing a character in every presentation. Then keep in mind what that character wants passionately – and why it’s worthwhile. It will come across.”

Keep in mind that inspiration occurs at the meeting point of emotional and intellectual insight. This means in order to close a deal, you have to make people feel great about what you’re saying no matter how much they already believe you intellectually.

Don’t kid yourself that your ideas, no matter how brilliant, can hook a listener if you don’t present them with emotion in mind. No one remembers all the information offered by a favorite teacher, but we all remember the thrill it gave us. If people walk away from your presentation feeling inspired, it won’t matter that they can’t remember every detail of your content. You’ve won their heart, minds and – hopefully – financial backing if you’ve done the job right.

The bottom line: In business, you’re always on stage. Pitches, presentations, and even conversations are all part of self-marketing. If you don’t create enough personal impact, there’s another entrepreneur right behind you ready to take advantage of your lost opportunity.

Annette Kramer began her career in the New York theatre and has been coaching actors for over 20 years. When she moved into the business world, Annette continued helping performers – this time executives and managers – improve their presentations and enhance their personal brand. After eight years working at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Annette has moved to London where she is currently building a performance advisory practice for Stradbroke Advisors in London. For more performance tips and advice, check out her blog.

When I first met Inma Martinez at Mobile 2.0 Europe I was struck by the depth of her knowledge and the strength of her determination to speak her mind. I made the decision to work with her at some level. A few in-person meetings in London (where she is based) and many Skype chats later we are proud to take the wraps off Mobile Groove, a monthly podcast series here at MSearchGroove that will provide short, digestible and insightful commentary on what’s hot in news, investments and developments impacting the mobile space at all levels.

Mobile Groove will air on the last Friday of every month and consist of three thought-provoking segments: The Big Picture, a wrap of the month’s news and views; Street Groove, an informed discussion of the companies and technologies sure to rock the mobile space; and The Radar, a roundup of talk on the street and what is highest on investors’ radars.

OUTRAGEOUS & INSIGHTFUL

The first in the series kicks of with a look at the the rise and fall of ad-funded MVNO Blyk, the controversy surrounding voice-to-text provider Spinvox and an in-depth look at the key platform players (Apple, Google and Microsoft) – specifically the news via Taiwan handset makers that Microsoft plans to adopt a dual platform strategy to promote its Windows Mobile OS (operating system) and, thus, take aim at both Android- and iPhone-based platforms.

Inma, who stands out as an über-connected advisor to venture capital firms, also gives us the inside track a new fund by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs that may spell relief for European startups and smart people with brilliant ideas.

We joined forces to provide industry commentary and insights on the top market news in the mobile industry. But it doesn’t mean you can’t get involved. We welcome your ideas, suggestions and elevator pitches. DM us on Twitter(@mobilegroove)or email us at mobilegroove@msearchgroove.com.

Listen to the podcast here. [22:25]

A ROUND OF THANKS

And finally, thanks (again!) to Inma, for the energy and excellent ideas. Thanks to Annette Kramer, a Stradbroke Partner and presentation coach, for her kind offer to do the intro and outro to our podcast series; and to Alfred DeRose, Brian Avery and the team of professionals at Tego Interactive, a company helping to build businesses – including mine – through converged Web and mobile solutions. The company has been instrumental in creating some new features and functionality (including a mobile site) for MSearchGroove, with more soon to come, so please check back regularly.

And a special thanks to RealWire, an MSG partner and supporter whose global news release distribution service (specializing in the online media and mobile) consistently delivers reach, audience and exceptional analytics. MSG uses RealWire for all press releases, and I recommend you do the same.

For now our podcast will be accessible via the MSearchGroove web site home page. In September Mobile Groove will also be available for download via a dedicated iTunes channel.

In the meantime, I encourage you to listen in to Tom, who offers entrepreneurs valuable advice and the inside track on the mobile companies and concepts highest on his radar. Some good news in these challenging economic times: There is plenty of money and opportunity, but it’s up to entrepreneurs to structure their good ideas so VCs get it. What pitches are getting the most traction? The Apple App Store and similar schemes from Google (Android), RIM at one end of the spectrum, and Qualcomm and Amdocs at the other (check next week for an MSG exclusive on Amdocs app store strategy), have – as Tom put it – “changed the entrepreneurial landscape.” Open systems, open storefronts and open operators. Now all we need is the apps.

Listen to the podcast. [10:34]

CREDIT CRUNCH: Not in this market. As Tom put it: “The credit crisis has not hit venture capitalists yet. We don’t have a window that people can pull up to and say give us our money back please. We have very low liquidity expectations in general. So, on the whole, venture capitalists have not run out of money. The bars are high and it’s difficult, but my gosh, my advice to entrepreneurs is keep working on your idea until it does appeal to the money, or don’t use the money to do it.”

MOBILE SOCIAL NETWORKS: Great opportunity but a big risk. The trick: Deciding what is going to be viral and picking services that have the necessary ‘cool’ factor. His advice: “I think that there are [openings] to take advantage of successful mobile social networking opportunities. I think there’s a chance to co-market once they’ve succeeded. There are some very cool things that large groups of interconnected people can do together, and there are some tremendous opportunities to help them do it.” (An example he offers is Ontela, a company he’s invested in that is getting serious traction with an offer that unlocks the photos users save on their phones by allowing them to automatically save them to their email, a “My Pictures” folder on their PC, and a range of online Web photo albums. The offer is a boost to mobile operators and Web-based image services because it gives them a center spot in the exchange, with an offer to deliver people’s picture where they want them.) As Tom sums it up: “One click, take the picture, and it’s gone. And that’s pretty cool. That opportunity wouldn’t exist if there weren’t large groups of mobile social networks [and members].”

DEAL MAKING: Between three finds Tom has “10 to 20 ideas that are moving along towards what I think could be very large opportunities.” In fact, one of them is an enablement tool for mobile social networking. It would also enable a brand to have a personal relationship with consumers – a hint that 2009 may indeed be the year of engagement.

If this is indeed the year of engagement and two-way conversations between brands and people on their mobile phones, then we’ll surely need some guidelines to make sure it’s a dialogue built on trust. Good timing as this is also the year Every Single One Of Us, a global effort aggregating knowledge, and authorizing best practice and methodologies that ensure optimal mobile advertising user experience, moves a huge step forward with a research project to identify growth opportunities in the emerging mobile advertising marketplace, and thus help ensure content is delivered in accordance with the 3Ps: Permission (people will decide what brand messages they interact with); Privacy (people will decide where there data is collected and how it is used); and Preference (people will decide what content they find relevant).

Another big opportunity is measurement. Everyone – particularly mobile advertising companies -  needs good analytics, and Tom tells me the demand for companies that can deliver has never been greater.

Disclaimer: MSG is closely alligned with Every Single One Of Us.

A browse through Tom’s bio, and it’s clear he’s not one to follow the crowd of lemming investors who rush to the next new thing, only to drop it when the cool factor has gone cold. To the contrary, Tom is convinced early-stage startups can pay-off big if investors stick with them for the long-term. To identify the do’s and don’ts for startups in a downturn, he started off talking through the business basics, such as the best exit strategies and the opportunities for “kitchen-table startups” – as he calls them – and app developers. Tom’s answers are insightful and entertaining – all the more reason to listen in.

But the main attraction is Tom’s take on what mobile advertising really needs: Engagement. In his view, it’s all about providing and managing a one-to-one conversation between brands and people, and he’s looking for companies that “get” it. As he puts it: “There are a few agencies that appear to get it, but they und up getting slotted as a mobile agency…What you want to be is a creative advertiser [agency] that uses mobile.” Since there are so few on the horizon, the time may be right to start one yourself.

Listen to the podcast here. [19:16]

I’m smiling to myself as I write this post, since Tom’s outspoken views on engagement echo the principles of Every Single One Of Us, a venture set up by colleague and co-collaborator Jonathan MacDonald to “unite a cross-section of mobile operators, mobile companies and big-name brands to educate the market and encourage discussions about emerging business models, industry issues, and areas of growth that will help companies, stakeholders and shareholders engage with potential consumers and ultimately drive mobile advertising revenues and positive results.” Every Single One Of Us is gaining serious traction, counting over 100 supporters (aptly called Collaborators), including the CEOs of large brands and advertising agencies, mobile influencers, and citizen activists. (Disclosure: I am also a Collaborator.) In the few weeks since the launch meeting, Every Single One Of Us has achieved some exciting milestones (and formalized its relationship with MSG), developments which I am documenting in a press release as we speak for distribution next week. All good, as Jonathan would say..

Among the interview highlights:

M&A: It’s THE exit strategy. “But along the way, you should build the company as if you are absolutely going to be ready to go public.” It’s important if you want to structure your company properly, “but you can’t have a specific company as your M&A target; as you acquire a target. If you ever do that, you’ve narrowed the universe of potential buyers so extremely that I don’t think your odds for success are very high.”

GROWTH: Tom recalls the milestones he’s seen in mobile, including the expectation that mobile would reach over one million (yes million) subscribers by 2000. The fact that we are well past this shows that mobile is and continues to be the highest-growth sector there is – even in a downturn. “Anyone who’s been participating in mobile for the last 15 years and hasn’t experienced unbelievable growth has had their head under a log.”

APP OPPORTUNITIES: Thanks to iPhone and a new interest in openness among mobile operators “there’s suddenly an opportunity for entrepreneurs that have been using mobile phones in a very widespread way.” Who is likely to benefit and make a lot of money in the process? “They’re kitchen table start-ups that can make individual developers quite a bit of money, as long as they don’t sell most of their company to venture capitalists with very high expectations.”

SPONSORED APPS: Thanks to the iPhone there is a new market for what Tom calls “sponsored apps” that allow people to interact with brands in a personal way. “There are a lot of opportunities to develop these sponsored apps…and I have been investing in companies that would provide the sponsored apps, the one-to-many communications capability.”

MOBILE ADVERTISING & ENGAGEMENT: Cross-media is the key here. As Tom puts it: “I’m very interested in a number of opportunities that involve the heterogeneous mix of talents and services that’ll aim at using mobile in quite comprehensive personalization campaigns, as opposed to looking at platform plays where mobile is all that the platform looks at. I think it has to be a combination.” To be clear mobile advertising is not about technology. It’s about “individual engagement between a consumer and the brands they will grow to love as opposed to this notion of targeting.” Is this a business model or a warm-and-fuzzy concept? Tom has no illusions. Big ideas can be “baloney” but this is an idea whose time has come. Engagement is the “ultimate goal” of most brand advertisers. “If you told any large brand that you were going to offer them the opportunity to have a cost-effective personal engagement with their consumers; they would all say ‘tell me more’.”

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE: Tom and I enjoy a meeting of the minds near the end of the podcast when we debate engagement, and question whether we might have to start a company that “gets” it. But it’s more than fun; it’s a blueprint for change – if you’re game to transforming how you do business.

Check back for Part 2 next week, when Tom is back with valuable advice for entrepreneurs, and his pick of top trends for 2009.

How viable is mobile advertising in an economic slowdown? How will the current economy impact businesses that derive revenues from mobile advertising? Can mobile advertising count on VC funding?

These were just a few of the key questions that thought leaders, startups, investors, mobile carriers, device manufacturers, and mobile application developers debated during Mobile 2.0 in San Francisco.

The mobile conference – organized by the Mobile 2.0 Organizing Committee ( Daniel Appelquist, Senior Technology Strategist at Vodafone Group; Gregory Gorman, Principal at Tertius Advisory Services; Mike Rowehl, Scalability Architect at Skyfire; Peter Vesterbacka, Founder Some Bazaar and Mobile Monday and Rudy De Waele, Co-founder dotopen / mTrends) in partnership with AMF Ventures – brought together a stellar line-up of professionals and practitioners in a frank (translated: no-hype) one-day discussion of the topics and trends that matter.

The most dominant theme: The economy. Or more specifically: How companies can survive in the global downturn that is already impacting businesses at every level.

Overall, attendees were upbeat about the outlook for mobile advertising. But this was more than a hunch.

New numbers from mobile social networking company Limbo and GfK Technology, a market research firm, underlined the increasing importance (and reach) of mobile advertising in the U.S. market. A recent study from these firms found that 40 percent of mobile phone users in the U.S., about 100 million people, recalled seeing an advertisement on their phone during 3Q08 (about two-thirds of the ads were text messages; the other one-third were display ads). It was the first time mobile advertising awareness in the U.S. reached such a level during a single quarter, and it represents a sure sign that mobile advertising is getting the attention of brands/advertisers despite the economic downturn.

More evidence that advertising is indeed delivering positive results came from Brian Cowley, president and CEO of AdInfuse; Jason Spero, vice president of marketing at AdMob; and Ragnar Kruse, CEO and founder of Smaato.

Each reported that they are seeing continued and strong interest in mobile advertising, and each backed this up with some interesting observations. Jason, for example, told us that AdMob has not seen a drop in mobile advertising budgets among its partners. To the contrary, companies are asking for more ad placement and increasing their budget with AdMob. This view was echoed by Brian at AdInfuse, who said his company has never seen more interest in advertising by top brands than it is seeing today.

A driver is the consumer expectation that content must be and will remain free of charge – subsidized by advertising. Granted, there are many examples of companies making money on content and apps – such as Apple, which has built a lucrative business by selling applications via its App Store, and Google, which follows the same blueprint with its new Android Market. However, executives from GetJar and MySpace asserted at the conference that in most contexts, the most scalable and sustainable business model is just giving away mobile apps for free.

Don’t count on distribution via carrier decks,  because it is hard to get in the door with operators and it does not guarantee a worthwhile income. This was the view of Ilja Laurs, the founder of GetJar. His company, widely considered to be the world’s largest mobile applications portal, has harnessed mobile advertising to fund the successful distribution of free apps on behalf of its developer partners.

Consumers are also not willing to pay to join or interact in mobile social networks. Brandon Lucas, senior director of mobile business development at MySpace, pointed out that consumers’ unwillingness to pay a monthly fee for mobile MySpace services has pushed his company to phase out its premium-based mobile services. The focus is now on moving to a pure ad-funded model.

For many mobile companies, mobile advertising works. But will it pay? This was the question that made for a lively discussion during the VC panel. Their view: Companies that are not dominant in their sectors may find it hard to succeed with an advertising model, and those that are trying to get off the ground with this approach are likely to face an uphill battle.

Tim Chang, a partner at Norwest Venture Partners; Peter Barry, head of venture capital and startups for Vodafone Group; and Rick Segal, a partner at JLA Ventures and Blackberry Partners Fund, agreed that VC firms are not dazzled by mobile app and services startups that depend on ads for revenue. The reason: A startup has to reach a lot of eyeballs, and the market is chock-full of companies that have bet their bottom lines on this approach.

In a nutshell, only a few of these mobile newcomers can hope to survive – and that isn’t a risk many VCs are willing to take.

What excites VCs? Companies that provide the infrastructure and middleware to deliver mobile advertising or reduce the costs associated with it are hot properties now. AdMob, which recently pulled in $15.7 million in its third round of funding, was cited as an example of a desirable mobile advertising investment.

Mobile advertising experts at the event also expressed strong interest in companies that collect and wield customer data (all the better if they do it in new and innovative ways). This new focus makes business sense if we consider the underlying logic: The more data an application can generate about users, the more advertising it will attract and, ultimately, funding. It’s a virtuous cycle. Likewise, companies that can develop infrastructure and techniques that will bring in more metadata and metrics via mobile applications are also high on the radar.