How to Deliver the Big Pitch

Rule #2 Focus on the message.

Five hours and four scripts later, and even Tetteroo, a former marathoner, is weary from rewriting. At last count, the pitch is running two minutes over. The key messages aren't popping. There's too much techie jargon, and there are too many limp sound bites.

But the more the pitch team knuckles into the script, the less progress it makes. "You can't say it all in six minutes," says Komjathy, sensing that Tetteroo's presentation is getting tight. "So don't. Focus on two or three key messages. Make e them simpland convincing. How do you do that? Give us evidence to back up your message."

Komjathy's point hits home. In a rewrite of script number three, Tetteroo adds that the software does in weeks what it had once taken years and millions of dollars to accomplish. "Exactly," says Komjathy. After another draft, Tetteroo casually explains that just as the microchip has made PCs possible, so the Internet and intranets have made the business-data portal a reality. "Okay, now I get it!" says Komjathy.

Unfortunately, the endless parade of scripts -- and Tetteroo's near-verbatim recitations of them -- aren't helping Tetteroo make the material "his own." Komjathy pulls the plug on the laptops and goes to a flip chart. In 10 minutes, she reorganizes Tetteroo's message from top to bottom, using colored markers to draw rectangular boxes that she calls "message containers."

The "opening" box represents Tetteroo's drum-playing solo (which he insisted on, despite Komjathy's concerns). Within a "subject" box are the phrases that he'll use to announce the "InfoRay business solution." Three "agenda" boxes contain the "what I'm going to tell you" message. The "body" boxes beneath each agenda item make up the "I'm telling you" part. Then comes the "summary" ("what I just told you") and, finally, the "conclusion" ("what I want you to do").

Komjathy's outline isn't fancy, but the visual script does the trick for Tetteroo. He tries a fifth and final run-through, and it's a keeper. His pitch is as clear, compelling, and comprehensive as it can be under such time-crunched circumstances.

"We've made progress," says Komjathy. "I like this. This feels good," says Tetteroo. Now the tough part: stage presence.

Rule #3 Know thyself.

"What feedback have you received after speaking to large audiences?" asks Komjathy. She wants Tetteroo to think seriously about his physical skills. What is his body or his voice saying? More important, how do others perceive him? According to research conducted by psychologist Albert Mehrabian, 55% of what audiences remember relates to what they see, 38% relates to the way the information is presented, and just 7% relates to what a speaker actually says.

"People say that I'm energetic and passionate," says Tetteroo. But right now, as he's about to champion the InfoRay revolution, he's neither. His mistake is a common one: He's rehearsing the pitch as if it were a rehearsal. "Do it as if it counts, or else you're just wasting time," coaches Komjathy.

She shows Tetteroo a video of his most recent performance, and he begins to understand what she sees. "You're scanning the room," she says. "You need to make direct eye contact. Great speakers don't address crowds; they talk to individuals. Deliver a complete thought to one person in the audience," she suggests. "Then pause, glance at the script, grab the next thought, and share it with a new person in another part of the room. The pitch should play out as a series of one-on-one conversations."

Back to the videotape: Tetteroo's hands are floundering around his hips. "If I had clogs and a hat, I'd be the perfect Dutch farmer," he moans. He's also shifting his weight from side to side -- which makes him seem unsure of himself.

"Use your voice," pleads Komjathy. "Raise it, lower it, slow it down, speed it up. And try more pauses. A well-timed pause lets a point sink in far better than any adjective."

Komjathy tells Tetteroo to try another run-through, this time sitting down. Everything about the pitch changes. Once he's freed from worrying about where to put his hands and how he should move, his face relaxes, his eyes brighten, his voice becomes animated, and even his language becomes more vivid.

"You're no longer a guy making a presentation," cheers Komjathy. "You're a guy talking about a really hip product."

Rule #4 Be nervous on the day of the presentation (that means that you're ready).

Day one of Demo '99, and 20-plus contenders have already presented. The theatrically backlit stage looks like something from a Rolling Stones tour. Easily 100 feet long, the setup includes a talk-show-like lounge area for host Chris Shipley and Godzilla-size video screens that loom at each end.