How to prep for the spotlight: Game-changing strategies for stress-free pitches

Being a founder requires you to step into the spotlight to present unique ideas and solutions. While presenting on its own is stressful to some, investor pitches can feel particularly daunting. No matter your audience, here are 3 key tips for preparing your presentation.

#1 Boost your confidence

Confidence engenders trust, so the greater confidence you have, the more trust you will establish with your audience. But what is confidence, exactly?

Psychologist Nick Wignall breaks down confidence into two distinct elements: managing insecurity, and self-efficacy (belief in your own ability to perform). Note that both elements are changeable, meaning confidence isn’t something you’re just born with; you can actively grow it through adjusting these two levers.

Managing insecurity: There’s a common misconception that “confident” people don’t have insecurities. This is false. They simply know how to manage them productively so they don’t get in the way of performance. How do you manage them? In short, acknowledge your hard emotions instead of avoiding them. Befriend your fear. Don’t fear your fear. There’s an adage that “what you resist, persists” and this is especially true for emotions. What you’ll find is that by accepting and acknowledging the fear (or hard emotion) it will often soften. Take time before your presentation to do this. What are you most insecure about? Acknowledge it, and have a productive strategy for managing it. This can include exercise, journaling, a mindfulness practice, or talking to a friend. Before the presentation, use compassionate self-talk to quiet any critical inner voices, and lean into deep breaths to soften stress.

Self-efficacy: Build the belief in your ability to perform. Since actions change beliefs, focus on practice. It goes without saying, but practice your pitch. Hone in on the aspects you feel most shaky about, and take the time to iron them out. Other than practicing the pitch, this can look like tightening up metrics, your story, or any areas you feel could be stronger.

#2 Tell a story

Before books, humans learned through oral storytelling. Sharing your pitch through the lens of a story will help you connect with your audience and keep their attention. This means sharing the story of the problem you’re solving, and how your project is offering a unique solution. Make it personal. Lean into your personal “why” to resonate emotionally with your audience. Use specific case studies of how your project impacted people. Since we are all human, we can relate at that level.

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou

Sure, the metrics and figures are important. But staying connected to your humanity will make those metrics and figures attractive to your audience.

#3 Warm up your body

Actors, athletes, and musicians all warm up before performing. So can you.

Research shows that 70-90% of communication is nonverbal. That means bringing awareness to all the non-verbal forms of communication – body language, facial expressions, eye contact, smiling, hand gestures, tone of voice – is worthwhile. Warming up the physical body greatly helps with this. This can look like gentle shaking, stretching, vocalizing to warm up the voice, or simply becoming aware of your posture.

Mindfulness tools, such as mindful movement (e.g. qi gong) or meditation can be very supportive for this. The added benefit of mindfulness practices is that they drop awareness from the (often overactive) mind into the body, automatically balancing any nervous system dysregulation from nervousness or stress.