A few days ago I went to an event with She Leads Africa to pitch on Virtual Summits.
I was so excited for the opportunity to win $500 in Facebook Advertising Credits
Now of course you may be saying – “Osayi, you can easily make $500” and you would be right, but who can resist having an increased advertising budget.
Anyway so I went to the pitch and I was sooooo excited…I had already spent the money in my mind (lol).
But guess what happened…I didn’t win… I know…such a bummer
But I learned so much, and I want to share a few things that I learned.
- First thing I learned is that if you want your pitch to be memorable then make sure you tell a story. I don’t know how I missed this. I was so busy memorizing the statistics and being excited about all the things we were planning that I forgot to tell personal stories about all the amazing things that have been going on around the Virtual Summits.
- Second thing is even when you lose the main thing you went there to gain, you can still gain many other things – I was able to connect with some other amazing ladies, who were interested in us collaborating together and accomplishing some amazing things together…so you better watch out for us
- Third thing is that no matter what is going on, it is still possible to give your best – that morning I had to take my daughter to the pediatrician because she wasn’t feeling well, and then ran back to the event, but no one would have guessed that I had been running up and down the whole morning – because I smiled, strutted and gave my best.
- Fourthly, You cannot underestimate exposure – Someone reached out to me from Zimbabwe…so who knows what will happen with that. These are exciting times.
- Finally – when you’re a winner, you’re always a winner – See I didn’t get this opportunity, but because I know that I’m destined to win, I took it as a learning experience and not as a devastating blow. Now of course no one likes to lose…especially if you’ve already spent all the money in your mind (lol), but whether you get the result you want or not, if you’re a winner, you’re still a winner.
One of my favorite books on pitching is “Made to Stick” by Chip and Dan Heath
If I had re-read that book before the event, I probably would have won!
The first thing they say is START WITH A STORY…yeah you see what I mean…
So don’t make the mistake I made – Get the book.
What other things would you add? What have you learned from experiences like these?