“Tell What Differentiates You from Others”, Easier Said than Done? (Revised)

Recent and not-so-recent keynote speaker presenters including WuXi Apptech CEO remind me to always differentiate from others, focus on key messages, and keep practicing to achieve best results.

One day in September 2013, I was sitting at a conference in Shanghai waiting for the keynote speaker. A tall, bold, and sturdy man in his 50s stepped onto the podium. ?He gave the talk discussing his startup and the need for differentiation.

He was Ge Li, the chairman, founder, and CEO of WuXi Apptec.

Mr. Li is among the first batch of pioneers who returned to China from the U.S. and set up his contract research service organizatoni (CRO) company.

In 2000, starting a new drug development company was still not intended for fainted hearts. Many sea turtles still chose to work at a multinational drug maker with a high-paying position over starting their shops.

Biting time and waiting for the right moment, many see turtles did not start biotech ventures until five or ten years later.

Like other startups, WuXi had a humble start. Founded on its strength in chemistry and expanded gradually to other services needed for international drug makers to conduct clinical trials in China, WuXi came up to compete with much larger players. ?WuXi, like BeiGene established ten years later in 2010, celebrated every milestone along the way, including opening of the first certified laboratory.

“Tell what differentiates you from others”?is one key message the founder shared with the audience. Two decades later, the company would become one of the largest contract development, and manufacturing organizations in the world and found itself caught in the crossfires of increasing US-China competition, named in the US Congress’s Biosecure Act as one of the companies restricted from doing business with Uncle Sam.

Biosecure Act aside, the differentiation advice shared by the Wuxi founder still bodes well for the Chinese biotech sector. Only when you tell what differentiates you from others can investors see the value, especially in the current enviornment.

Fast moving forward to the present. Over the weekend I was sitting at a biotech conference, this time in Boston. ?#BioSpark, a non-profit professional organization, and organizer of its inaugural conferences in MIT's Kendall Square, ?invited distinguished styles from different background ?to discuss key topics. One is professor and another researchers, and the third one is a computer scientist.

They each offer the different content with powerful and differentiated methods of presenting. Prof. Feng Guoping of MIT presented one study after another study, using mouse models to predicate the outcomes of an intervention method. Prof. Gordon Freeman of Dana Farber, Harvard University emphasized immunology cancer development’s limitations (less than 40% overall and lower for certain cancer types) and discovery process of new targets and methods to enhance the efficacy.

MIT’s computer science professor Manolis Kellis used vivid and appealing images, one after another to showcase the promise and power of artificial intelligence in biotech and new drug discovery.

Differentiation can never be taken for granted.

A lot of times when we present to an audience, we sometimes forget what the audience’s interests, and forget to align our presentations with their interests, instead, we want to spill out all what we want to share. That has deterred and diluted the effectiveness of the key messages you wanted to leave with the audiences.?

For one, you need to emphasize to the audience what differentiates you from others, what differentiates your services from competitors, ?and what value you can bring to them, so your audience can relate and resonate.

As a presenter, you need to build rapport with your audience, first and foremost, and then you need to earn the audience’s trust. That requires you to have a clear, reinforced message that is also easy to remember.

Presentation is all about messaging. And a good presenter needs to craft messages to make it concise, well-organized and flowing like a breeze.

You need to prepare and prioritized what contents to emphasize first, and choose a sequence of the key topics and support evidences to make it flow naturally, effortlessly.

Although it sounds complicated, it’s actually simple.?

To make a powerful and successful presentation, you as the presenter must have a clear edge over others, that’s why the audience is interested in listening to you, because they believe you have unique values to offer.

You need to be confident, having a clear plan and execute the plan meticulously. That way, people can easily see, feel and appreciate the differences between you and your competitors, and can identify with you. You can stand out to shine.?

Wuxi’s founder Ge Li has not appeared publicly for many years, but his advice of telling the story explaining why you nedifferent from others remain ture.

Would you also have questions about making an appealing presentation? Do you want to have a professional communicator to help you craft your messages? Do you feel the need to prioritize what messages putting first and others latter?

Would you like to craft your messages to make them powerful, memorable and easier to remember for later dealmaking negotiations?

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Here is the previous insight:

Biosecure Act and US-China Innovation