“When will I finally know that I’m doing well in giving a pitch?” my client, Andrea, asked me.
“That’s an experience that relates to what’s real in you, what’s real in the material and a Real Connection with your audience,” I said.
We’ll use the C.A.N. process:
C – call out what’s real in you
A – act in Effective Rehearsals
N – nurture connection
- Call out what’s real in you
As the Spoken Word Strategist and a Pitch Coach, I help my clients connect with the words that sound real and confident coming out of the person’s mouth.
My background as a trained feature film director, actor and screenwriter helps me hear the real moments in a performance. It’s a unique, personal blend in the client’s words and performance that do NOT feel forced or like “acting.”
Let’s look at this distinction:
The Excellent Approach: Act It Until You Become It
Versus
The Garbage Approach: Fake It Until You Make It
When I help a client refine his or her pitch, I listen carefully to the client’s rough draft ideas, words and performance.
When a moment in the pitch works, I say, “Yes! Did you hear that? Keep that!”
Other times, I’ll guide the client to try other approaches.
By the way, as the client expresses his or her best moments, the person is taking action (“acting”).
The best pitch a client can make is like hidden treasure. My client and I go on a prospecting hunt. We come up with gems.
I call this Act It Until You Become It, because we’re having the client express the self and the material with compelling truthful moments. This has nothing to do with faking anything.
- Act in Effective Rehearsals
We continue with our conversation about Act It Until You Become It.
My training with mentors in acting helped me realize that many great moments in film acting arise out of something that is true and real. Remember, a professional actor focuses on Acting not lukewarm “pretending” or “fake it until you make it.”
The actor finds something true in the character, the moment and the writing.
As a feature film director, my job is to guide the actor to that moment.
My clients (and attendees of my workshop “Pitch With Extreme Confidence” – August 16, 2017. CLICK HERE to register for FREE EVENT) learn to rehearse extraordinary methods to handle the fearful moments of giving a speech. What do you do if your mind goes blank? What do you do when an investor gives you a disruptive, tough question? It is through the Effective Rehearsal of techniques that we develop a higher level of confidence in ourselves. I guide the workshop attendees to use methods that create Extreme Confidence.
Extreme Confidence is when you KNOW that you know how to adapt to anything.
Here is an important distinction:
Ordinary Rehearsal: Rehearsing to the mirror or to family members who are jaded about the material.
Versus
Effective Rehearsals: Work with a coach. Work with test audiences. Practice appropriate things each day for a brief time (it can be as little as 9 minutes a day).
I’ve made vital pitches/speeches that have literally changed my life. And my clients and audiences have reaped the benefits: Learning my techniques that create a Real Connection with any audience.
- Nurture connection
How do audience members connect with YOU and your material? Through emotion—then logic.
Connect with them from the start.
Someone who says, “Hi. I’m Joe Smitghy. I’m with XY Company and we make 1-2-3 Widgets” creates three bad things:
- The person has wasted the opening fifteen seconds of the pitch
- The person looks like an amateur
- The audience fidgets because they’re dreading having to become embarrassed for a poor presenter
Instead, you can start with a story, a question, or “Imagine …”
Go for connection from the first moment of your pitch.
In my speech “The Savvy CEO: Master of Media Appearances,” I note that just a touch of appropriate vulnerability can win an audience to your side, too.
Connection is key!
In summary, we have covered material about:
- What’s Real in you
- What’s Real in the material
- A Real Connection with the audience
This is accomplished with:
C – call out what’s real in you
A – act in Effective Rehearsals
N – nurture connection
Warmly,
Tom
Tom Marcoux
Spoken Word Strategist
Pitch Coach
CEO/Speaker/Executive Coach
This material is on my mind because I have now opened a special opportunity. When you CLICK HERE, you can go to my questionnaire-webpage and apply for a free consultation with me (limited number available) titled: “Increase Your Pitch Power for Funding – Strategy Session.”
Here are Your BENEFITS of such a free consultation.
- Gain Clarity and Peace of Mind about Pitching so You Gain the Funding you really want
- Discover the essential building blocks for having the Pitch that FUNDS your business or project
- Determine the #1 thing stopping you from having the Successful PITCH you want
- Identify the most powerful actions that will move you toward giving your Pitch with Total Confidence
- Complete the consultation with the excitement of knowing EXACTLY what to do next to create the Pitch for Funding that Gets You Great Results
I invite you to apply.
Let’s see if we might get the chance to work together … as a free opportunity to you.
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“I know my material, but my friends say that I just don’t look confident when I’m giving a pitch,” my client, Abigail, said.
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