Preparing for the Pitch

for

This program will help you prepare and deliver an effective pitch on November 7th. You will also build skills that will help you in future pitches and a broad range of other communication situations.

You will strengthen your ability to:

Present with a compelling and convincing style
Project presence and confidence
Answer questions and engage your audience

Experienced coaches from McAlinden Associates — who regularly work around the world with leaders from a wide range of industries — will conduct this highly interactive and practice-intensive program.

Your first two sessions are half-days focused on skill building. You will be in a small practice group with two colleagues to ensure you have a very personalized experience. We don’t think there is one right way for everyone to communicate to all listeners. Instead, we will help you strengthen your skills while remaining true to your own personality.
Your third session will be a full-day on November 4th to practice the November 7th pitch

The rest of this page explains how to prepare for the program and provides an overview of the sessions.

Choose material

We do not practice with theoretical case studies, so it is important that you bring in your own real meeting material for practice, and bring any slides or notes you may have.

We know that your material for the November 7th pitch will not be ready before the skill building sessions, so it is fine to practice with any real meeting or presentation you have done recently or one that is coming up.

Do not script yourself or over-prepare. You can bring work-in-progress. You will use your computer to prepare content during the program and adjust it based on feedback.

Here are a few recommendations to help you pick good material for practice:

Ideally it should get across a point of view or a recommendation, rather than simply inform.
You will present up to ten-minutes of content. If the actual material is longer, you can condense it before the program or during the preparation period.
You have the option to use four or five slides. You can bring draft slides / work-in-progress.
You will be asked to try different approaches to the messages and structure of the content.

What are your goals?

If you would like to use a self-evaluation to think about your skills before answering these questions, click here. Many people also seek input from a few colleagues whose opinions they value.

Name

First Name

Last Name

Role

What would you like to improve about the way you prepare for in-person and remote meetings and presentations?

What would you like to improve about the way you conduct in-person and remote meetings and presentations?

Which types of interactions are most difficult for you?

What three skill areas would you like to improve during the program?

Tell us about the material you are bringing to practice — what is the topic and why is it important for you to practice?

Basic requirements above and session descriptions below

Overview of the sessions

Session 1

Opening

Discuss the challenging communication situations you face and link the agenda to them.

Set goals

You set personal goals within our intellectual, emotional, and physical communication skills framework.

Increase presence

You practice telling a brief story — expanding your use of eye contact, voice and body language — to increase your presence, confidence and impact. We record your story. Together, we begin the process of giving and receiving feedback.

Deliver compelling messages

You use our preparation tools to work on the meeting or presentation you plan to practice. You analyze your listeners and then create an outline with a clear opening, compelling messages, and an action-oriented close.

Then you deliver a concise version of your material to confirm you can engage your audience with compelling messages.

One-to-one coaching

You review the recording of your practice privately with the coach.

Session 2

Deliver an engaging presentation, including interaction with audience

You practice presenting the material you prepared during the first session in up to 10 minutes, with visuals if they are part of your presentation, and interaction. You receive feedback and try different approaches on the spot.

One-to-one coaching

You review the recording of your practice privately with the coach.

Session 3

Practice the pitch

On November 4th, we will spend the whole day together practicing the November 7th pitch, including presenting your material, answering questions, and engaging the audience.

Questions?

Email us goals@mcalinden.com or call us +1 212 986 4950

About us

Visit our main website McAlinden Associates