One of the pains of preparing a pitch presentation, say ranging from 1 to 5 minutes, is how to get started. If it is a competition, it makes this piece I’m going to share even more beneficial. It’s something that produces the blockbuster movies you love to see. It is called a script. When I entered for the 3-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition—a pitch of my research—I didn’t initially think of drafting a script. I imagined the words would flow freely and fluently. But I was struggling to get started with my preparation. When I presented to a friend, I stumbled over some words and the message wasn’t very coherent. Of course, a key thing when preparing a pitch presentation is getting to know your audience and the overall goal of your presentation. But all of these can be articulated into a script. A script would help to set the stage of your presentation – what you would say and how.
Prepare like an actor who'll take the stage
Think of yourself as an actor; a character who is going to stand before an audience to communicate an idea. The audience will lend you their attention and you have only 3 minutes to make an impression. I was reading about movie acting, and learnt how actors hardly get the chance to change a word from their script. That script had been carefully thought through and drafted by a screenwriter. Every word in it had already been crafted with an overall picture of the movie. A slight modification could alter a lot. One word/action could cue in the next action or could connect to something that would occur later. But then the actors perform so naturally that you can hardly tell they lifted the words from a text. We can employ similar tactic when preparing a pitch presentation.
Don't cram the script
After my presentation at the university 3MT competition, I had a chat with one of the judges during the coffee break. He believed I had crammed everything I said on the stage. I told him that I didn’t, and he stared at me in disbelief. I had practised until the script came alive and became second nature. Drafting a script does not mean having to cram it word for word. Infact, before I started scribbling it down, I had made a mindmap of the key ideas I wanted to convey in the 3 minutes. This helped to give me more clarity and flow during the script writing. How you would gauge if you crammed the script is when you always get stuck after missing a word or phrase. That is to say, you go completely blank or you take extra pauses to recollect what next to say. Also, if you’re unable to improvise or substitute a word that doesn’t immediately come to your memory then it could have been a cramming exercise.
Finally...
Like an actor, the script is one of the essentials to prepare a pitch presentation that is focused and leaves a stronger impression on your audience. Define the goal of your presentation, sketch out the key ideas you want to convey and fleshen it out with a script. In future posts, I would share more insights on the benefits of using a script and how to draft one.
Have you ever drafted a script to prepare a pitch presentation, how did that work for you? What do you find challenging about drafting/using one for preparing? I would really like to hear your experiences or thoughts in the comment section below.
Thank you Maryleen. This is a nice read
Thank you, Dayo for the nice words and for taking the time to read
How effortlessly I found myself here. I’ve been waiting for this piece and I’m grateful you took out time to share this vital information. MLeen, I’m wondering if it is possible to have the steps/preparation process for an epoch presentation on YouTube or in video form. Cheers.
Yet again another good piece with lots of useful tips.
I am definitely adapting some of this into my work.
Thank you for all you do.
Thank you Joe. I’m glad the writeup speaks to you and one that you would find useful for your own tasks.
Thanks Nyzy for anticipating, reading and also sharing the post. I’m glad you found it useful.
How did you know what I’ve been thinking? I’ve had it in mind to do a video of this, it’s all beautifully laid out in my head but I’m yet to get it started. Making a video takes much more time commitment, and making out the time for it has been the challenge. But it sure is one of the projects I plan to get done in the near future. I know it’s going to be fun and I’m more excited by how much help it’ll for persons like you :). Thanks for reassuring me of the need for this.