Use Lego to get JV Partners!

Over the last several weeks I’ve been speaking to potential JV partners. I’ve listened to CD’s, read books, talked to both newbie and successful real estate investors, and they all have different ways of approaching JV partners about investing in real estate together.

At work I’ve also been learning more about making presentations. It’s something I’m interested in because I enjoy public speaking, and I’ve done quite a bit of it with DeMolay. (I was the Provincial Master Councilor of Alberta) Working at a tech company (Search, SEO, SEM, Web 2.0, etc) I get to see, and work with, some of the best presenters in the world. When Nancy Duarte, the designer of Al Gore’s "Inconvient Truth" presentation, put on a webinar, I sent the email around the office and a half-dozen of us chilled out in the board room and watched. She’s also got a great looking book coming out called Slide: Ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations.

She makes a great point that presentations are moving to be more interactive, and we need to grow beyond the projector. She mentions a remarkable presentation given on an iPhone. (At 4:00 in clip 6; and I really want an iPhone)

Think outside the box about your ability to communicate your ideas. For real estate investors, think about how you share your thoughts with those who have the potential to be joint venture partners. Whipping the laptop onto the table isn’t necessarily the best way to do it. Using the default Excel chart formatting isn’t it either. Communicating to your team is the most important thing you’ll do, so make it remarkable (I’ve included some resources below).

So, I’m including a remarkable presentation about Lego. How do you use Lego to get JV partners? Make your story as entertaining as this presentation, because right now I really want to go play with some Lego!

Presentation Resources:

• Slideshare: A great place to share your presentations, see others, and generally expand your brain. You can see my presentations and I’ll be creating resources for real estate investors you can download (see my legal page for the rules).
• VizThink: People trying to help others think visually. Great resources, webinars and such. They’re doing some redesign and launching new bits of their site. Their blog is quite good too.
• PresentationZen: Garr’s great blog, and he’s got a book by the same name (Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery). I’m pretty sure we’re buying the book at work, so I’ll let you know what I think when it shows up.