John Martinis reveals that the Nobel system uses specialized symposiums not just to assess a scientific field's importance, but also to vet potential laureates. These events allow the committee to evaluate candidates' presentation skills and suitability as public representatives for science, acting as an informal screening process.

To capture a client's attention, ask for permission to skip the standard agency background and strategy slides. Dive straight into the creative concepts, which is what they are most eager to see and discuss, and read the rest later.

While the initial RFI pool can be large, the final presentation stage should be limited to just three agencies, with four as an absolute maximum. This ensures the client team can remain engaged, properly differentiate the proposals, and avoid decision fatigue.

Move beyond slide decks to gauge a founder's true passion and product quality. By installing and using a product live during a pitch, investors can ask deep, contextual questions and observe the founder's unscripted responses, revealing a level of genuineness a presentation cannot.

In arenas like Jeopardy, contestants play for the first time on a national stage without a chance to practice in that environment. This high-pressure debut encourages risk-averse mimicry of established strategies, stifling the experimentation and innovation common in fields where performers can develop over time.

Many large agencies are not truly consumer-centric. Their business model incentivizes focusing on winning industry awards (like Cannes Lions), pleasing internal stakeholders, and navigating corporate politics. This creates a fundamental disconnect from where consumer attention actually is, leading to ineffective marketing spend.

In a high-stakes, strictly-timed presentation, every second is critical. Positive audience reactions like laughter or applause consume valuable time. The counterintuitive but necessary tactic is to continue speaking over these reactions, sacrificing the traditional 'pause for effect' to ensure the full message is delivered before being cut off.

To get leadership buy-in for a new media project, use a two-step pitch. First, show a best-in-class example from another company to paint a clear vision of the desired outcome. Second, explicitly anchor your project to a core strategic narrative or go-to-market message for that quarter.

AngelSoft's Cannes Lion-winning Super Bowl ad stemmed from a clear, strategic objective: "make the mascot Angel iconic." This ambitious brand-level goal, rather than a tactical one like "go to the Super Bowl," unlocked breakthrough creative that also delivered on business metrics.