What is the worst question you can receive after your pitch? (real-life example)
“I’m sorry but could you please explain to me what your product is?” (this comes from an international pitch competition)
If you get this question, the jury did not understand you. If the jury does not understand you, your message does not go through. If your message does not go through, you do not achieve your goal. You don’t want that.
Yesterday (24 April, 2024), I delivered an online session for startuppers within the Go & Grow Masterclasses as part of the V4-Ukraine Talent Fusion Program. My purpose was to provide three tools that help to avoid such uncomfortable situations, and to ace any pitch competition.
The three tools for powerful pitching:
✅ Foundations
✅ Structure
✅ Rhetorical devices
If you focus on these steps, you will be understood, and you will likely receive much less uncomfortable questions at the Q&A. 😊
✅ Foundations
Before you start writing your speech or creating your slides, there are essential steps you should take.
First, identify the purpose of your pitch. What is it specifically that you want to achieve? Write this down in a simple sentence.
Next, identify your main message. This is the most important thought of your pitch. If you had only one sentence to achieve your purpose, what would it be? Write this down as well. This will help you keep on track while you prepare your speech.
Next, analyze your audience. What is their demographic background? What do they know? What do they need? Do they have a technical background in your field? Answering these questions will help you find the right approach to your pitch.
Finally, gather supporting materials. Make sure your content works on all three channels of persuasion: ethos – credibility of the speaker, pathos – emotional appeal, logos – logical appeal.
✅ Structure
After the foundation, it’s time to work on structure: opening, body, closing.
During the session, we talked about why I suggest working on the body first and only then moving on to the opening and closing.
We also discussed the essentials of an impactful opening: grabbing attention, revealing the topic, establishing credibility and goodwill, and previewing the body of the speech.
✅ Rhetorical devices – the power of analogy
Once you have your structure, it’s time to decorate your content. It’s time to be memorable.
Rhetorical devices help you to do that. A simple tool is simile. A simile is a rhetorical device where you compare two things. You can use it e.g., to compare something complex to something simple, thereby explaining the complex concept to your audience.
One real-life example is from a speech where the speaker compared the benefits of joining a professional network to hunting in a pack.
To sum it up:
To ace a pitch competition:
Build strong foundations. Create your structure. Decorate with rhetorical devices.
What do you think is the key to a powerful pitch?
If you’d like to work with me on a speech, contact me here.
