Our coach and voice trainer Maria-Christina Spießberger believes that being in accordance with yourself and your surroundings is key to both personal and professional success. This credo serves as a great compass for anyone who’s pitching their startup idea. Pitching is not merely convincing the listeners about the greatness of your idea and story; it goes beyond the words and sentences spoken. While verbal communication is essential, that's not where it ends. Paying attention to your voice, language, body, emotions, as well as energy is crucial.
Maria-Christina shared some valuable insights in our Startup Academy for delivering an authentic and strong pitch that holds the power to captivate and stay with the audience.
"Instead of the content, people tend to remember how you made them feel." -Maria-Christina Spießberger
How you present yourself matters
We've probably all heard the phrase "First impressions are everything." This is true as people form their impression based on the way you speak and use your body. Your awareness of others and the way you relate to them combine the persona you project outside. In her module, Maria-Christina has created a 3-step frame, a set of questions to answer and guide you before stepping in front of the audience:
Why. Why do you do what you do? What's the purpose?
How. How are you doing it? How do you reach that goal?
What. What is it you are doing?
Pay attention to your body language
Non-verbal communication, such as gestures, posture, facial expression and other mannerisms communicate about your willingness for making a genuine connection to the audience. There is a strong connection between your body and emotions – emotions and body language go hand-in-hand.
Maria-Christina shared two tips that are worth trying:
Warm up your body before the pitch. Self-tapping is a great way to make your body come alive as well as release unwanted tension.
Standing straight and moving from your core are effective methods to use if you want to reach out to people and create an authentic connection with them.
Become aware of your voice and breath
The way you speak holds a significant amount of subtle emotional sub-text underneath. Vocal nuances, melody, tempo, pronunciation – they all matter. Few practical things Maria-Christina encourages to try:
Do some mouth gymnastics and tongue twisters before your pitch – this helps improve your articulation;
Take pauses in your speech. This way, you give the audience time to think of what they just heard. It can also put weight on what was just said and provide the time to breathe;
Connecting with your breath, especially before giving a pitch, works as a great way to calm down and focus. Controlled breath opens the way to full vocal sound, which, in turn, helps in delivering a pitch that is confident.
And don’t forget: Good things take time. Spread yourself some patience on the journey of becoming a confident, gripping and conscious pitcher. Don't forget to practice and ask for feedback!
Find out more about Maria-Christina’s work and connect with her:
· Podcast D’ACCORD MIT DIR on Spotify & Apple Podcast (In German)