Pitching and Presenting

•You, Your Audience, Your Pitch

Michael Ellenby@michaelellenby

ABOUT TODAY

You

Your Audience

Your Pitch

WHY LEARN HOW TO PITCH?

A core skill. If you cannot pitch, you cannot sell

“Selling is the transfer of enthusiasm about your product from you to your audience”

You have to be selling all the time – customers, investors, employees

WHAT MAKES A GREAT PITCH?

• Passion • Commitment• Enthusiasm • Confidence • Knowledgeable • Professional • Articulate• Relevant • Call to Action

“You want people to believe you, and believe in you, so they will respond to your ask.”

YOU

Know yourself• Do you enjoy pitching?• Are you good at it?• How do you know?

Are you the best person to pitch?

93% of communication is non-verbal• Prof Mehrabian, 1971 “Silent Messages”

People remember how you made them feel• Body language, vocal variety, tone, eye contact,

movement. Don’t read notes, don’t hide behind podium

How do you want your audience to feel?

• Subjects were asked to listen to a recording of a woman's voice saying the word "maybe" three different ways to convey liking, neutrality, and disliking. They were also shown photos of the woman's face conveying the same three emotions. They were then asked to guess the emotions heard in the recorded voice, seen in the photos, and both together. The result? The subjects correctly identified the emotions 50 percent more often from the photos than from the voice.

• In the second study, subjects were asked to listen to nine recorded words, three meant to convey liking (honey, dear, thanks), three to convey neutrality (maybe, really, oh), and three to convey disliking (don't, brute, terrible). Each word was pronounced three different ways. When asked to guess the emotions being conveyed, it turned out that the subjects were more influenced by the tone of voice than by the words themselves.

BODY LANGUAGE

Shoulders back and down

Warm your voice up, breathe, stretch

Stand grounded

No caffeine!!!

BEING NERVOUS

Driven by your ego

Worrying about your reputation, what people think of you

BEING NERVOUS

Vision - Mission - Your “Why”

Actions

Reputation

Nervousness is just a form of energy

Use it to serve you, to present with passion, commitment and enthusiasm

YOUR AUDIENCE

Know the audience• Who are they? Why are they there?• Tailor your pitch to the audience

Investor pitch is very different to marketing pitch

• If it’s a small group, do your homework!• Tailor your Ask • Understand what they are looking for

Treat your audience respectfully & professionally

Be a good audience member as well

Note: investors watch your behavior very carefully. They are investing in you and your team, not your business plan. You are always on stage.

YOUR AUDIENCE

WIIFM

YOUR PITCH

“You want people to believe you, and believe in you, so they will respond to your ask”

When building your presentation, start with the end goal in mind

Know what you are talking about

Always have your 30 sec elevator pitch ready

YOUR PITCH

Start with your “Why”• Build a personal story - people buy from other people

• Build an emotional connection

• Build a compelling story arc

Then “How”, then “What”• Youtube “The Golden Circle”

Practice, practice, practice and then practice some more

BASIC PITCH STRUCTURE

Tell the audience what you are going to tell them

Tell them• 3 main points (each with 3 sub-points)

Tell them what you just told them

Never read your slides!

ON THE DAY

Be early, be prepared, start on time, end on time• Disaster will strike, have a fallback scenario

It’s all about the audience - WIIFM

Know your objective

WHAT MAKES A GREAT PITCH?

• Passion • Commitment• Enthusiasm • Confidence • Knowledgeable • Professional • Articulate• Relevant • Call to Action

“You want people to believe you, and believe in you, so they will respond to your ask.”

SUMMARY You • 97% of communication is non-verbal, shoulders down & back

• Don’t worry about your reputation, focus on Vision - Mission - “Why”

• Use nervous energy to serve you, and speak from the heart

Your audience• Know your audience! WIIFM

• Tailor the Ask to suit

• You are always on stage

Your pitch• Start with your “Why”, build a compelling story arc, and build a connection

• It’s never about you

• Practice, practice, practice and then practice some more. Never read your slides!

michael@restofyourlife.com