“The art of communication is the language of leadership" - James Hughes
Pitching is only about selling an idea. It does not matter if you are not an entrepreneur or if your clients are not investors. Knowing how to pitch is essential in our life, regardless of the role we play. Knowing how to do a good pitching means to learn how to influence people to follow your ideas.
This is why we are going to provide you with some quick tips-to-follow in order for you to ace the best pitch ever:
1) First impression is the key to success
Did you know that it takes about 7 seconds to make the first impression?
This means that when delivering a pitch it is important to really focus on the starting. For this reason, never start by presenting yourself in a boring and systematic way but rather try to use a quote, to tell a story or a fact, to show a video or a figure. The aim here is to always grab the audience's attention and to let them engage with what you are going to tell them. Bear in mind that what people tend to remember at the end of any speech is indeed the story/video/quote/fact...
2) Go straight to the point and keep it short
It is always a matter of attention. Don’t use boring and obvious preambles just get to the core of your speech from the beginning. You can use the multilevel structure recommended by Scott Berkun: in 5 seconds you explain the idea, in 30 seconds you describe the plan in order to achieve the idea and in 5 minutes you provide details and clarify the proposal.
3) Work on your presentation
Make sure that your presentation is simple and clear to anyone. For this reason you may want to practise a bit asking a friend or a family member to be your fake audience. Don’t make too many slides and try not only to give only the numbers but rather to explain what is behind them. Moreover, try to answer imaginary questions like: what have you (your business) done recently? What are your (your business) achievements and how you intend to pursue your goal with this idea?
4) Build a Q&A session
Last, but not least, make room for questions. They can either be during or at the end of the pitch but always remember to answer them. At the end, a pitch is like a conversation. If you don’t have an answer don’t try to figure one out on the spot. Be authentic and ask for a contact you can use once you have looked into it.
PS: Don’t forget to always make eye contact while speaking and to pause between sentences.
Now you are certainly ready to create your own pitch and if you liked our blog post don’t forget to share it with your network and on social media.
The mission of the Womenpreneur-initiative
Womenpreneur has launched several initiatives and projects, which aim to boost women’s participation and engagement in entrepreneurship and tech, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2019, we started the first edition of the Womenpreneur tour. The project aimed to map and visit the female talents in technology, innovation and entrepreneurship in the MENA region in order to facilitate investment in women and girls, in the form of capital, resources, mentorship and advocacy.
Afterwards, in 2020 the Womenpreneur-initiative launched a survey in the region in order to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on female business and develop programs to answer the need of female entrepreneurs.
Finally, we inaugurated the first accelerator program in Brussels during COVID-19: the Generation W program, which aimed to support women during and after the COVID-19 crisis. If you wish to learn more about it, read our blog post and visit the webpage of the program.
Support our initiatives in the MENA region!
In 2021, the Womenpreneur-initiative will launch a new project to support female entrepreneurs in the MENA region and boost their participation in economics and tech. Subscribe to our newsletter to make sure you don’t miss our updates and visit our webpage and social media to discover more about our programs.
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