You can prepare like a pro, structure your pitch to the fullest and come up with fantastic slogans, but if your personal motivation and spirit won’t shine through in your words, your message won’t get delivered. In this edition of Pitch tricks, David Beckett explains why it is important to talk from your heart instead of your head, in order to boost up your own energy and that of the people around you. People who talk about their passion are attractive, positive and inspiring.
Doing it wrong
Did you ever listen to a presentation in which you heard a lot of good things, but none of them really stood out and everything was told on a same level? The problem here is that you probably couldn’t see that the pitcher was particularly involved himself. Pitchers usually follow some kind of pattern but what they sometimes lack is the knack to make you feel why they bother themselves. They don’t tell their audience why they are so caught up with a certain problem, solution or idea.
Give a shit!
As most peopke in your audience see so many pitches, you need to stand out. A great way of doing so is by showing personality. What happens when things go wrong is that when people tell about their ideas, they fail to bring the energy that comes from personal stimulus. They become disconnected with the ‘ I have a fantastic idea!’-feeling they had at the start. The way you tell your information is therefore really important. Try to make people care. Take them by the hand, inspire them!
‘It sounds cheesy but I really do care if people get what I say. That is because I think it can help people for the rest for their lives. I think about it really carefully. What a lot of people do, they tell their story. They explain and run through their story, but they don’t really pitch. They don’t make their audience feel what they are driven by, why they are doing it’.
Tips n’ tricks
A way to make yourself aware about your intrinsic motivation is to go one step back and think by yourself: Why am I doing this? Why do I think my idea is important to other people? Why do I actually care whether people need what I offer? Why should this be a success in the future? It sounds like a 1+1 but you have to know that for yourself in order to deliver your message.
Another tip from David is to feel it. ‘One thing I ask when I open my workshops is “Did you ever have an idea and nobody listened?” I have had that feeling myself and it is a terrible feeling’. When David prepares his pitch he tries to look back into a situation in where he felt that feeling of being unheard. ‘ I hate it when people don’t listen, It drives me nuts!’ He tries to connect with that moment because he wants to get back into that emotion. Through that emotion he finds inspiration and strength in his pitches. The moment of your pitch is a moment of being listened to. People want to listen to you when you pitch the best idea you ever had. So step up and take that stage!
