Have you ever been influenced by a really good sales pitch? Most people I know have a story about how a salesperson made an offer they couldn't refuse. For instance, you walk into a store without planning to buy anything, but before you can say "credit limit" you're racking up Visa charges like there's no tomorrow. Top-notch sales people have a knack for getting potential customers to do whatever they want, whether it's spend money, change long distance service providers, or get installation judges to give them the highest score.
Every time you take your car through the installation judging lanes at a car stereo contest, you're giving the judges a sales pitch. No, you're not trying to sell them the local newspaper, but your installation presentation is a sales pitch just the same. Instead of getting the judges to spend their money, you need to convince them that your install is the best one they've ever seen.
Many competitors overlook the importance of the installation presentation. I've seen it time and time again at contests, where the competitor will stand next to his car, pointing at different parts and mumbling something about how it was put together. If a salesperson at a store did this, you would walk out every time without spending a cent. Selling the judges is absolutely critical if you expect to do well in car audio contest, so you need to look at the install presentation as a chance to show off your hard work. Let's go over some of the elements that make up a really great presentation so we can make yours better.
The first and most important part of any good presentation is the content. This seems pretty obvious, but a lot of competitors tend to talk about the wrong things when showing the judges their systems. The typical installation presentation is only five minutes (sometimes ten at larger shows) so it is important to get your point across in a short period of time. I see a lot of competitors that waste their time talking about things that don't help their score, like equipment specs or wiring layout. The judges don't need to know that your CD player has 50 watts per channel, because they aren't judging you on that. They want to know that your system is installed properly, safely, and creatively, so you're better off telling the judges how solidly your head unit is mounted in the dash or how nicely the trim matches the rest of the interior. Focus on the things that make your system special, like your custom steel amp rack or your super-solid subwoofer enclosure. You have to convince the judges that your system was designed the way it is for a reason. Read the installation judging rules carefully, and you will see what the judges are looking for. Make sure to focus on these points during your presentation so you can maximize your score.