Next Thursday I will have 20 minutes to present bitcoin to 150 businessmen/women

[cypherdoc]

I find the best way to introduce it to new businesses is as a new payment network.

The Bitcoin network is one that provides secure transactions anywhere in the world with (virtually) no chargeback risk. It is revolutionary because it allows anyone to create an application, wallet or tool within the network. That will in turn work with anything else in the Bitcoin network without any restriction. It uses digital tokens called Bitcoins which can't be counterfeited and get their value from their scarcity.

Another big advantage is the built in identity protection. When you are making payments through traditional payment networks the act of making payment exposes you to the risk of fraud. If I was to display my credit card number it would most certainly be compromised and my identity could be stolen. Bitcoin addresses are secured with banking level security (don't bother explaining SHA-256 unless they ask) so they can be displayed with zero risk of being compromised.

Why should they care about some digital token payment network they might wonder? The best part is they don't have to because companies such as WalletBit provide seamless integration into their business. We for example provide automatic risk free conversion to local currency for as low as 2.75%. It doesn't cost them anything to get started and they don't need any special equipment (think credit card machines, etc).

That is at least the general approach I take.

Beware, WalletBit will also take a 0.89% fee for a simple deposit of BTC in a wallet hosted on their server !

I would NOT recommend doing business with them


.

yes, and they contributed to jacking up my attempted pre-order of batch #2 for an Avalon b/c of a site malfunction after getting up at the crack of dawn.  seriously pissed me off.

[flix]

If you had 20 minutes to present bitcoin to a room full of professional businesspersons, what would your MAIN POINT be?  In otherwords, what would unify your entire talk?

Make the first 5 minutes a live demonstration. Show, don't tell!

(Practice it beforehand to make sure it's smooth)

"Monkey see, monkey do" is one of the most powerful forces in marketing.

Also, use analogy. 99% of them will know how to use e-mail. 100% of them will know how to use cash. Probably 99% of them will not know how cash or e-mail actually work. So use familiar concepts to explain the unfamiliar idea of bitcoin.

Do not talk politics.

[bittenbob]

Beware, WalletBit will also take a 0.89% fee for a simple deposit of BTC in a wallet hosted on their server !

yes, and they contributed to jacking up my attempted pre-order of batch #2 for an Avalon b/c of a site malfunction after getting up at the crack of dawn.  seriously pissed me off.

Dum(b)as
BitPay charges 0.99%. I don't see anyone complaining about that...

cypherdoc
The Avalon pre-orders from Saturday can be completed and you can preserve your place in the order queue but Avalon has decided its only fair if you pay the same as everyone else paid at the time. This has nothing to do with WalletBit but I do agree its fair. Refunds have been offered to anyone who doesn't want to pay the same as everyone else and you can have an equal chance to compete for orders once they open again. If you don't like it, then you need help beyond what anyone here can offer.

[glub0x]

i read half the topic and i'd like to add 2 cent.
YOU are responsible for YOUR money and what you do with it.
This is a key point to understand what happened in the btc history and what is going to happen again.
Bitcoins can be both impossible AND very easy to steal, depending on how you keep it.
it is fascinating (because you are virtually killing the banks) and very freaky.
except for cash, this was not true before.

And i like the idea of showing not explaining.

[justusranvier]

BitPay charges 0.99%. I don't see anyone complaining about that...

The mere act of depositing bitcoins into a hosted wallet sounds a lot more like the service Blockchain.info provides for free than it sounds like the service of acting as a payment intermediary (calculating exchange rates, sending payment pages to the customer, notifying the web site when the payment is confirmed) which BitPay charges 0.99%.

[bittenbob]

BitPay charges 0.99%. I don't see anyone complaining about that...

The mere act of depositing bitcoins into a hosted wallet sounds a lot more like the service Blockchain.info provides for free than it sounds like the service of acting as a payment intermediary (calculating exchange rates, sending payment pages to the customer, notifying the web site when the payment is confirmed) which BitPay charges 0.99%.

WalletBit does all those things and more. The functionality is the same between personal and business accounts at WalletBit. This means everyone access to all of our features. This includes bank deposits in 42 currencies, a mobile wallet (WalletBit Mobile) and much more. We don't charge any fees for withdrawal unless you want to cash out to your bank. At a combined 2.75% we are the most affordable place to turn Bitcoins into cash worldwide.

[cypherdoc]

Beware, WalletBit will also take a 0.89% fee for a simple deposit of BTC in a wallet hosted on their server !

yes, and they contributed to jacking up my attempted pre-order of batch #2 for an Avalon b/c of a site malfunction after getting up at the crack of dawn.  seriously pissed me off.

Dum(b)as
BitPay charges 0.99%. I don't see anyone complaining about that...

cypherdoc
The Avalon pre-orders from Saturday can be completed and you can preserve your place in the order queue but Avalon has decided its only fair if you pay the same as everyone else paid at the time. This has nothing to do with WalletBit but I do agree its fair. Refunds have been offered to anyone who doesn't want to pay the same as everyone else and you can have an equal chance to compete for orders once they open again. If you don't like it, then you need help beyond what anyone here can offer.

i don't understand what this means.  i'm happy to pay the $1500 per Avalon if i only could.  but most ppl were getting charged $15 that morning.  some decided to consider it a deposit but most like me were confused and decided not to pay an incorrect amount for fear of losing it into a black hole which given how the order process was so screwed up is not an unreasonable action.

are you saying my order is still in the queue and available for me to reserve with a full payment?

[bittenbob]

Beware, WalletBit will also take a 0.89% fee for a simple deposit of BTC in a wallet hosted on their server !

yes, and they contributed to jacking up my attempted pre-order of batch #2 for an Avalon b/c of a site malfunction after getting up at the crack of dawn.  seriously pissed me off.

Dum(b)as
BitPay charges 0.99%. I don't see anyone complaining about that...

cypherdoc
The Avalon pre-orders from Saturday can be completed and you can preserve your place in the order queue but Avalon has decided its only fair if you pay the same as everyone else paid at the time. This has nothing to do with WalletBit but I do agree its fair. Refunds have been offered to anyone who doesn't want to pay the same as everyone else and you can have an equal chance to compete for orders once they open again. If you don't like it, then you need help beyond what anyone here can offer.

i don't understand what this means.  i'm happy to pay the $1500 per Avalon if i only could.  but most ppl were getting charged $15 that morning.  some decided to consider it a deposit but most like me were confused and decided not to pay an incorrect amount for fear of losing it into a black hole which given how the order process was so screwed up is not an unreasonable action.

are you saying my order is still in the queue and available for me to reserve with a full payment?

If there was a partial payment, there is an option to complete your order and still maintain your place in the queue. If there was no payment then you have to wait for orders to open again.

[yoyoceramic]

blablahbla

Thank you for your advice.

Mark

[yoyoceramic]

Hi Everyone,

Well the presentation was very well received, and I ran out of time to take all of the Q/A.  One user above suggested I try a live demo, which I did.  It went off without a hitch, everyone was very impressed.

Thanks again for your great advice.  I incorporated much of it into my talk.  If you watch the video and have any suggestions or critique, I'd be grateful to hear it.  Also, I am a video editing neanderthal, sorry for the weird aspect ratio.

Here is the general outline of my talk:
I. Overview of how money is created
II. Bitcoin: A digital alternative to the monetary system
III. Overview of how Bitcoin works
IV. Live Demonstration of a Bitcoin merchant transaction
V. Q/A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klKGVDmJWa0

[notig]

cool! I'll check it out

[knight22]

How many poeple was attending?

[chriswilmer]

Hi Everyone,

Well the presentation was very well received, and I ran out of time to take all of the Q/A.  One user above suggested I try a live demo, which I did.  It went off without a hitch, everyone was very impressed.

Thanks again for your great advice.  I incorporated much of it into my talk.  If you watch the video and have any suggestions or critique, I'd be grateful to hear it.  Also, I am a video editing neanderthal, sorry for the weird aspect ratio.

Here is the general outline of my talk:
I. Overview of how money is created
II. Bitcoin: A digital alternative to the monetary system
III. Overview of how Bitcoin works
IV. Live Demonstration of a Bitcoin merchant transaction
V. Q/A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klKGVDmJWa0

REALLY AWESOME PRESENTATION!!!!

Way to go. I love it!

[EndTheFed321]

Indeed 

[whitenight639]

Well done that was a good presentation!

I actually came across it by accident searching for bitcoin in youtube it was the 3rd result!

[yoyoceramic]

Hey, thanks for the positive remarks everyone.  It' was a lot of fun to do.  I also appreciate the comments made by gweedo, I wish I would have been slower to think through some of the answers I made.  Accuracy when talking about bitcoin is paramount.  I made another error when talking about the money supply where I understated how much M3 was in existence in the 1960's.   It was the Valentine's day program for the Rotary Club, so everyone had their spouses there too.  I'd say over 200 people were present.  My main goal was to have the audience feel the force of how Bitcoin allows us to opt out of a quickly deteriorating monetary environment and show its feasibility as a currency.

[beckspace]

I'm stunned! Great presentation!

[Anon136]

Hi Everyone,

Well the presentation was very well received, and I ran out of time to take all of the Q/A.  One user above suggested I try a live demo, which I did.  It went off without a hitch, everyone was very impressed.

Thanks again for your great advice.  I incorporated much of it into my talk.  If you watch the video and have any suggestions or critique, I'd be grateful to hear it.  Also, I am a video editing neanderthal, sorry for the weird aspect ratio.

Here is the general outline of my talk:
I. Overview of how money is created
II. Bitcoin: A digital alternative to the monetary system
III. Overview of how Bitcoin works
IV. Live Demonstration of a Bitcoin merchant transaction
V. Q/A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klKGVDmJWa0

i could tell you were nervous but i you shouldn't be, it was really good.

[VogueBlackheart]

Also you spent a lot of time on how banking works today, which was good, but for only a 20min presentation I think you should have dived more in depth on bitcoin from the beginning. I just say that cause they looked like older folks and they probably are very familiar with the USD and how it operates.

I think it was good to set the context by starting with our ridiculous money system. The audience clearly reacted positively to the Fed jokes at the beginning. The refresher course on how dollars are created was punchy, succinct, and reminiscient of Mike Maloney's presentation to the Russian bankers in 2010.

Don't underestimate the complacency of older generations, either. They definitely can use a reminder as to where their dollars come from.  : P

Overall, great presentation! If every bright young fellow (though isn't it dismaying that every major figure in the Bitcoin space seems to be male?) gives one of these presentations to a community, we'll have accomplished the Bitcoin Revolution within a decade!

[bbit]

Wish you the best on this!