Three Creative Strategies To Emote Your Pitch Or Presentation

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It’s not always easy to find ‘actionable intelligence’ about your client or competition although there are simple rules to systematically understand it provided you invest enough into strategy and research. But a small company or an individual employee lacking these resources can use the Steve Jobs’ techniques for emoting and personalizing your pitch or presentation.

Steve Jobs’ presentations were noted for being clear, simple and interesting. They were also understated and dramatic. Steve Jobs also believed that a great piece of technology is created when art and science intersect. I believe the same should be true about every pitch or presentation.

Ask yourself ‘What’s your story?’ ‘Does it have the potential to emote/move the client?’ There are many ways of narrating and unraveling your BIG IDEA. Below are three famous ones-

Build Up Then Reveal Strategy

Try the ‘build up expectation and reveal the idea’ a strategy the Bard uses by giving away the plot in order to create curiosity in Macbeth. Shakespeare reveals his fate through the witches in the beginning of the play with chilling effect - ‘Fair is foul and foul is fair’ and then by telling Macbeth ‘Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none’ thus keeping the audience hooked to how the play actually unfolds to reveal Macbeth’s tragic end.

                                                                                    

Points Of View Strategy

Cover of Citizen Kane (Two-Disc Special Edition)

You could use the ‘points of view’ strategy as brilliantly exemplified by Orson Welles in the movie ‘Citizen Kane’ where depending on who they are and how they have known him, the audience gets a different story of Citizen Kane.

Scenario Visualization Strategy

Cover of Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens’ brilliantly portrays to Ebenezer Scrooge in his novel ‘Christmas Carol’ the true spirit of Christmas using the dramatic ‘scenario visualization’ strategy by picturing Scrooge’s life through the ghosts of ‘Christmas Past’, ‘Christmas Present’ and ‘Christmas Future’.

All in all, presentation is the art of pitching a story to a client who in turn gets persuaded enough to back your product, idea or service. As long as you have established trust through your conviction and sold your story as ONE BIG IDEA that appeals to the audience at some level, you have got their attention.