HATCH SUMMIT
Speaker Preparation
Sylvia Earle speaking to a HATCH audience seated close to a low stage, a whale on the screen behind her.
The legendary Sylvia Earle, surrounded by 100 new friends
You may be presenting · Here is how to get ready

Pack a punch.
With your heart.

You'll have a few minutes in front of a hundred people who can move what you're working on. This page is how to spend them.

01

The shape of it

Talks at the HATCH Summit are short on purpose. There are more powerful stories in this room than there is stage time, so we trade length for voices — more ideas surfaced, more people heard.

Your talk is one chapter in a 60–90 minute block of collaborative storytelling. It isn't the movie. It's the trailer: a taste of your work, and a lure for the people who will find you afterward and go deeper.

What happens in front of the room is an introduction to your ethos, your passion, your mission. Slides are not mandatory.

02

The HATCH storytelling ethos

  • Show us the real you

    Speak from the heart, not the head. Make us laugh. Make us cry. A company history or a sales pitch is not a personal story. Tell yours the way only you can.

  • Make it relevant

    Why does this particular room of changemakers need to hear it?

  • Make it new

    Something you haven't presented before. Not the keynote you already have.

  • Make it human

    The failures alongside the wins. Vulnerability is the currency here.

  • Make it future

    Name something you want to chase next — the thing you'd start tomorrow with the right people beside you.

  • Say how

    How are you HATCHing a better world? What experience shaped the work, and where is it pushing you now?

  • Leave them something to do

    Close with a call to action. What would change how this room thinks — or what they do on Monday?

  • Use good judgment

    Tell your truth, and use discretion with personal or sensitive material. There will be students and their chaperones in the audience, and we want them comfortable here too.

A speaker in a wheelchair addresses a HATCH audience, presenting slides titled World Enabled: Forging a More Inclusive Urban Future.
The stage is built for the story only you can tell.
03

Stage & tech specs

A speaker on the HATCH stage smiles as most of the audience raises their hands in response.
End with the ask. A room this good will answer it.
Length
Yarrow and team will be in touch regarding specific length
Slides
Optional — 15 maximumAdvanced by wireless remote. Yours to click.
Mic
Your choice of wireless lavalier or handheld
Lectern
NoneTell us now if that's a dealbreaker.
Clock
HATCH will help you keep timeCountdown at the foot of the stage, plus a one-minute warning so you can land your key takeaway. We'll tell you when time is up — it's how we protect every other speaker in the block.
Deck vibe
No corporate decksMultimedia that carries the story is welcome. Leave the bullet points behind.
Dress
CasualLeave the suit and tie at home.
Be flexible

We'll send your slot as we get closer — and it will move. Running order shifts right up to the day. Come ready to go on early, late, or in a different order than you were told.

04

Examples of powerful 5-minute talks

Nine of them, all landed.