{"id":2891,"date":"2019-08-20T16:43:02","date_gmt":"2019-08-20T15:43:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.knowledgeetal.com\/?p=2891"},"modified":"2019-08-22T11:31:04","modified_gmt":"2019-08-22T10:31:04","slug":"when-60-seconds-seems-like-an-eternity-making-a-memorable-networking-pitch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.knowledgeetal.com\/?p=2891","title":{"rendered":"“When 60 seconds seems like an eternity”: making a memorable networking pitch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today I had the opportunity to help the business community where I live. Eastbourne Chamber of Commerce<\/a> (the largest town chamber in the South East) invited me to give a talk on how to make an effective 60 second pitch \/ presentation at a networking event.<\/p>\n

\"\"Unbeknown to the 32 delegates who’d assembled at Bill’s it was to be a journey beyond their comfort zones. I decided to make it an experiential session rather than the usual 10 minute ‘show and tell’ after breakfast.<\/p>\n

Here’s the agenda I worked to:<\/p>\n

We began by getting everyone to mingle and meet people they’d not previously talked to.\u00a0 I encouraged them to talk to each other about what they most enjoyed about their job: people open up when they are positive!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By the time they sat down (each one with someone new) conversational juices were flowing.<\/p>\n

At this point I asked them to consider how they might respond to this question “who are you and what do you do?”<\/em> Many say, “I am …. the owner \/ CEO of …. and I employ … people and I’ve been in the town for over 20 years.”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

I noted that it’s not about what you are called more about what you do!<\/strong><\/p>\n

“A Quivering Mess”<\/h2>\n

Here we talked about what we hated about standing up and telling people about our businesses.\u00a0 Words and phrases that emerged during the ‘call out’ were: Fear; too quiet; can’t hear; can’t speak; content; not being heard.\u00a0 We rounded this off with an eloquent description from Samantha Akehurst\u00a0<\/a>(“Sam from Audi not Aldi”) of how she used to feel giving a 60 second address.<\/p>\n

Creating an impression<\/h2>\n

And so to the reason we were all there. I asked the Chamber members to put themselves “In the shoes” of the people who’d be listening to them. To focus on:<\/p>\n