Today is the final day of the Fast Pitch competition in Nashville. This event started with Pitch Camp which was a one day seminar on how to effectively pitch your idea.  It was a great day that had two very dynamic speakers.  The first was Dr. Jeff Stamp of  University of North Dakota who pitched the idea of Baked Lay's to Lays Potato Chip company.  He spoke mostly of refining an idea to a 60 pitch that can be done simply and understandably.  If a 6th grader sitting at the back of the room can't repeat what your idea is at the end of your pitch you need to refine it more. The second was Scott Schwertly of Ethos3.com and the newly launched Slide Magnet.com.  He put on a dynamic presentation on how to present in Powerpoint without standard background, lists, or clipart.  To see some of his Powerpoint presentations check out his Ethos3 site.  They are very good. [caption id="attachment_2527" align="alignleft" width="210" caption="That is me in the back left corner with the green shirt."][/caption] The second part of the event was the Open Pitch where small businesses and entrepreneurs could "try out" their pitch and get critiqued on it.  The top ideas and pitches get their day in the sun in front of local and national businessmen, venture capitalists, and angel investors today, March 31st at 5:30 pm central time at Belmont University. Can't attend, or are not in the Nashville area, no problem.  The event will be streamed live on the Fast Pitch Blog. This is a great event and one that any small business or start-up should pay attention to.  There is a lot of great information and I think everyone can get something out of what they see.  Hope to see you there!