Pitching Your Project to Others

• Create a 5-10-minute summary of you and your project.
  • Who are you?
    • How long have you been a Girl Scout?
    • What have you enjoyed most about being in Girl Scouts?
    • What is your connection to your project (share as a story)?
  • Root Cause
    • What is your root cause?
    • How did you identify your root cause?
    • What will solving your root cause do?
  • What steps are you planning on taking to accomplish your goal?
    • Who will you be working with?
    • What activities will you be doing?
• After you create your presentation, trim your description to a 1-3 sentence summary
  • Focus on your root cause and what will you do to solve it.
  • This can be your opportunity to connect with someone to have a deeper discussion.
  • This can also be used to find team members to support your project.
• After you have your 1-3 sentence summary distill it down to 6-10 words.
  • This is meant to be spoken so does not need to grammatically correct.
  • This is intended to be your response when you are having a brief encounter with someone.
  • Think of this as a hook to snag their attention.

• Practice in front of family or friends multiple times and be open to feedback
• Pitching your project
  • People are going to support you, not your project.  Be personable, honest, enthusiastic, and have a plan.  
  • Know your audience – do you know who is going to be in the room when you pitch?
    • Research the organization
      • What connection does your project have with the organization
      • Have they done what you are asking before?
    • Research the individuals that are going to be in the room
      • Do they have kids that you may have met in school through sports or other activities?
      • Keep it short.  People will appreciate a short 5-minute pitch rather than a longer presentation.  Leave them time to ask questions and engage instead of just talking at them.
      • Don’t plan a PowerPoint unless it is specifically asked for.  YOU should be the focus of the presentation.
      • Make sure to have an ask as part of your pitch.  Like the email, one asks with specific expectations.
        • When the answer is yes, ask if there are additional opportunities.
        • When the answer is no, ask if there is someone they may be able to recommend that may be interested.
      • Create a handout for your audience.
        • Unless there is an image you need to share, keep your handout until the end so the audience is focused on you during your presentation, not your papers.
        • Keep the handout short and sweet – preferably one page, no more than two.
        • Follow up after the pitch – make it a thank you
          • If you are partnering, clarify what was agreed to.
          • If you aren’t partnering, ask for reconsideration and any potential contacts.

Next week: Business meeting etiquette