You need to prepare at least 2 things:
First: understand your audience, who are you pitching to, what are they expecting? What is your legitimacy for pitching today?
Two: take the time to, at least, prepare 3 elements:
- A hook
- An understandable message
- An impactful call to action conclusion
1. What is your hook? A hook is like a gentle slap in the face. It should be striking. It should stop the person in front of you from watching his/her phone or computer. It should be the element that makes your audience listen and eager to learn more. It could be a question, a quote, a short story (pathos is powerful), a striking fact or figure.
Ex 1: 1.5 million people die from tuberculosis every year.
Ex 2: Imagine a world where… (say something positive)
If you need to introduce yourself, think about giving your name just after the hook to avoid the sentence like: « Hello, my name is XYZ, and I’m here to tell you… or I am here to talk about… » which could be impactless.
2. An understandable message: it needs to be short and easy to understand. Your pitch should be understandable by a 10 year old or a very old grandma that does not relate to your business, no matter how technical your subject is. Structure your sentence like this: subject, verb, complement. Your message can be repeated multiple times. In a way, it’s like an advertising slogan. It’s the core essence of what you want to say and what your audience should remember.
3. The call to action conclusion: never finish by saying « I’m done, do you have questions ? » or using the conditional « I hope you are convinced ». Those sentences are not conclusions. Instead, use the present tense or the imperative and say « us » rather than « me » or « you ». « Let’s work together on »…. « Invest in my project to solve … ».
Check my 1 minute videos on « how to pitch » for more tips 😉https://www.youtube.com/@dianegaillard6359