5 Tips For The Perfect Pitch
Pitches can be scary things. It doesn't matter what you're pitching, be it a new product for investors or a design you're showing to a new client. Worrying about your pitch can be its downfall and it's honestly fairly easy to make that good impression, so here’s 5 Simple Tips to help you out.Don’t Write A Script
It can be fairly tempting to write down everything you want to say onto a powerpoint or into a sheet of paper in front of you. This is possibly the worst decision you can make. For a start, if your audience sees a mile of text coming up on each slide of your powerpoint, they're immediately going to switch off and start looking at the door hoping they can get home to play Elden Ring.
The same issue comes up if you have a full blown speech hidden on the podium or in your hand. The temptation to read it out means you're disengaging from the audience, again, leading them to get bored and start scrolling through TikTok and Instagram.
The easiest way to fix both problems is simply to use bullet points on both the presentation and on the sheet in front of you. Don’t be afraid to improvise a bit and have a rough understanding of what you are going to say.Engage The Crowd
Leading on from the last point, you don’t want to quietly sit in the corner holding your notes, hoping no one has noticed you. You want to be the centre of attention, making eye contact with various members in your audience. It may also help to move about a little, leaving people to feel more relaxed as walking backwards and forwards as you talk gives you a more relaxed demeanour.
Also try to drop in a few jokes, use people in the audiences as reference points, ask them questions and overall just have them be involved with the presentation. If they find themselves involved with your presentation there is a good chance they're going to feel invested in whatever your pitching.Visualization
Looking back to the first Tip of not filling a Presentation with miles of text, you can still get your point across on the screen projector. Taking simple or perhaps more complex visuals such as Mood Boards, Infographics or Doodles acting out simple scenes, can reinforce what you're saying from a Visual Standpoint.
Visuals make up a majority of the information we obtain as Human Beings, so making use of them for your Pitch could be pivotal. Visuals can apply to any scenario as well, showing off blueprints, prototypes, yearly projections. The limit is really your imagination.Dress To Impress
For this one I don’t mean turn up in a 3-piece-suit. Dress to match what you're pitching and the environment you are pitching in. If you're at the top of the Pearson Spectre Litt Building pitching a new service to get their internet speeds up, probably wear a suit. If you're presenting a prototype for a new camera at Google, maybe something more casual.
The aim is simply to get the people watching your presentation on side, matching the style of the pitch and also matching the room. This one can be trickier but take simple ques, ask around, see what other people did in similar situations.End On A Question
You want to end your pitch on a question. Why? That's easy, you want the presentation to carry on once you're finished, have people ask you questions and discuss what they saw once you're out of the room. You may even swing a handshake then and there.
This is basically an extension of keeping people engaged but it's an important one. Keeping you in the minds of those you pitch too for hours or weeks after you presented your ideas, product or service.