Overall, my pitch went really well and feel confident with my idea. I just want to take a moment and consider each part of my pitch to see what I can learn from it.
I got good feedback on the way I presented, and felt confident when giving it. I know myself I can speak really fast when presented which I don’t think changed here, but I had purposfully over ran in practice so my real pitch was ok in terms of length.
A weird thing I noticed was I was standing on a squeaky part of the floor which made me move around more. I think swaying or gesticulating can work well, but I think I was too conscious of it. I think in future I should just take a second before starting to be happy with where I’m stood.
I also felt I was able to talk easily without referring to my notes too often. I find there’s a sweet spot when practising a presentation where you’ve rehearsed enough to not constantly be looking at notes, but not overly practices to the point where you’re obsessed with getting each word right. I’ve done the latter before, and actually found I look at my notes more that way as I’m trying to get things exactly right. I think now I’ve found my best way to rehearse is a couple of days before, and not for too long. This way, you’re not trying to get things too right, and the days between let’s the word develop in your mind.
I got really good feedback on the slide design, particularly my diagrams. I had been concerned they were getting into too much detail for the pitch, but the feedback I received proved otherwise. This way of explaining ideas is something I’ll keep in mind for future as I found it work great here.
Besides those, everyone seemed to like my initial branding, which was good. I want to explore branding more down the line, but this has proved to be a good starting point.
I was really pleased with my feedback surrounding the concept/project. I got a lot of support for the idea in general, with a lot of suggestions about where to take it. Some of these I had already considered in my mind, so it was great to hear others with a similar direction. I think at this stage in the process, it’s good for me to have a fairly solid idea, but with a lot to explore throughout the project. This should keep the project open and without limiting myself to focussing on a single outcome already.
With my pitch successful, the first step to get through project going was to start some desk research.