Perpetual Pitch

This is not a post about singing.

While the pitch, or highness or lowness, of your voice, is a key element in how you're perceived, it's not a post about that either. Nor is it about the talents of Curt Schilling. This is a post about another kind of pitch.

When we think about public speaking, we talk about "elevator pitches" and "interview pitches" and "VC pitches". One of the key points about an elevator pitch is that you're always ready to begin it, whatever the situation--that you're always on your toes, ready to begin to promote your product, or your company, or yourself.

But that's not quite right. While it's critical to be prepared for formal speaking situations, and to imagine rehearsed pitches, you should not be waiting at the metaphorical starting block, ready to launch your pitch at a moment's notice.

That's because you're always pitching. Sometimes you do it more formally or more deliberately than others-sometimes you're giving an actual speech, or you're in a conversation about the subject you would promote. Being prepared for these events is absolutely vital. But it's just as important to be ever conscious of how you present yourself and how you communicate, to speak intentionally, mindfully, and reflectively, even when you're not "making a speech."

Maybe you never stand up in front of a group, so you don't think public speaking applies to you. I have news: anytime you're speaking with another person in the room, you're engaging in public speech. The clarity of your communication, the character you present to others, the emotions you evoke in your explanations--all these things matter, whether you're speaking informally to a friend or formally to a thousand people. The size of the speech is different--I would never project my voice or use expansive gestures if I were speaking intimately to a single person--but the presence of a style, and the need for a conscious, careful approach, is the same.

Let's take an example. Consider an interview. You're speaking before one, two, maybe three people. You're almost never standing, and while you might have imagined the possible answers to questions in advance, you're almost never asked to give a prepared speech from notes. Yet you're speaking with a persuasive goal in mind. You want to convey both a character (I'm a fabulous coworker!) and a message (I've got the skills you need!) in order to inspire a specific action from your auditors (Hire me!). If that's not public speaking--if that's not speaking that requires attention and awareness and skill--I don't know what is.

An interview may be a one-on-one conversation, but it's a formal event. What about professional informal conversation? Networking is based on informal speech. Can you present an interesting character and message in an informal conversation--not through launching into a rehearsed pitch, but by deftly tossing the conversational ball back and forth? Can you be charming, without being too pushy? When you express an arguable point of view, can you do so in a non-confrontational, but persuasive and well-organized manner? Do you know how to express to others with voice and body that you're interested in what they have to say? We've all heard that networking is an ongoing process, and that it's vital to our careers. The key to effective networking is the ability to communicate your best self with skill and care in unrehearsed, unpredictable situations.

Even non-professional, informal situations involve conscious speaking. Suppose you had to break some bad news to a friend. In order to be as gentle as possible, you'd want to be conscious of your body position and tone of voice, adjusting them so you clearly communicated, "I'm here for you, I care about you, I'm so sorry this happened." You're not making a "pitch" for a company or for yourself as a colleague, but you're still intentionally communicating a message (the bad news) portrayed in the best way possible (with gentleness and clarity) and in a way that conveys your personality as it affects the situation (sympathetic and caring--we hope!)

We all want to reveal our personalities to others and communicate ideas to them. Otherwise, we wouldn't talk to anybody. Often, we want to inspire action--whether it's asking our spouse to take out the trash or asking an investor to give us millions of dollars. You're always presenting yourself, and you're always communicating an idea. In order to reveal your best self, and in order to communicate your ideas most clearly, you can learn skills to improve speech, voice, gesture, diction, and other crucial elements of public speaking. We'll talk about those skills more here in the next few posts. The key now is to remember: communication is perpetual. Public speaking is not an event; it's a way of life.