Presenting / Pitching
All right!
We’ve gotten to presenting / pitching.
When you have your IP complete, you are going to have to think about how to present it.
“Am I going to wrap it up in tinfoil for Dad? Yeah!”
“Am I going to put a ribbon around it for Mom? Maybe.”
“Should I type it up? I just wrote it now. Ooh. Hunt and peck!!!”
If we think about how we are as kids, giving presents to our fam, it loosens up our anxieties about how we are going to present to grownups like ourselves.
“Am I going to make a deck out of this? What sort of slide design should I have? This one? No… maybe that one… hrm…”
“Am I going to email them direct? Or should I just cc them?”
“Should I send it by airmail or FedEx?””
Pitching is a similar thing, just more focused on giving it to people live.
“How much time should I make this talk? Elevator pitches are too short.”
“Should I dress in this or that? This is too bright. That’s too dark.”
“Should I eat before I go or just skip breakfast?”
More than we are terrified of the deal we bring by talking to people trying to get their “yes,” is all of the decisions you have to make before it.
“Should I go partying with my friends when I’m giving my pitch tomorrow? I feel like I shouldn’t go.”
“I skipped my baby’s recital, and I am just so strung up right now… I should have gone, even though I’d have to catch the next train…”
“I told him the only way he can make his talk is if we had fast food! We had fast food! It was fast! No healthy, no healthy! My son! A health nut! Go fast!”
One way you can think about presenting or “pitching” as we call it in the business world, is to wear the fancy clothes often.
“I know, I know. I kind of overdressed. But…hey, we look so snazzy now! Selfie! Cheeeese!”
“Hey! How do I look. I know. The color is like…neon-bright? I’m gonna blind all of the guys in my interview with this HOT PINK!!! Wow. I might blind myself too.”
“Does this — Oh dang it. I hate it when I get caught in the door. Can someone unlock the door for me? Hello? Anyone? Anybody?”
The more you wear your fancy clothes, the more comfortable you will be when you are talking to people you don’t know in those clothes.
Practice your speech.
Have a 2 minute speech, a 5 minute speech, and a 10 minute speech.
Practice with your sister and have her pretend to look super unimpressed or bored or very interested, so you can practice each speech to get the feel for what happens when literally, just like your sister pretended to you the weekend before, the people in front of you are attentive at 2 minutes, and looking bored by 5.
What do you do? You don’t go to the 10 minutes speech. Things have gone awkward and unfavorable towards you.
So what do you do? You finish it off at the 5 minute speech, and you thank everyone for their time and comfort yourself with the fact that you didn’t have to agonize for another 5 minutes with them.
In summary, wear the clothes and talk the talk that you would have when presenting. Practice different length speeches so you can adjust seamlessly with what happens in real life.
You don’t have to worry about telling people more, because if someone genuinely wants to know more, you will just beam and talk passion, passion, passion!
Don’t worry about this until you get there. If you take 10 years to make your IP, you don’t have to worry about presenting until then!
Love,
Sarah
Sarah Clarity Studios 