How to pitch like a human, not AI

Learn how to make your pitches compelling, professional and human.

Join Alan Elston for a 30-minute workshop on what actually makes pitches work.

You'll take away three tools you can use in your next pitch, and a structure your audience can feel. Remember, in an AI-driven world, being human is your superpower.

Topics covered in this session

• Practical techniques for structure, storytelling and delivery that you can apply to your very next pitch or presentation

• The power of empathy and stories

• A pitch structure that works

About the speaker

Alan is the creator of Pitch Hero. He helps execs, founders, bid teams and agencies win high-stakes pitches and investor deals through keynote story, demo choreography and speaker coaching.

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Transcript

Lightly edited for clarity.

Beth: Hello, everyone and welcome to today's Lunch and Learn. My name is Beth and I'll be your host today.

For those of you attending a Lunch and Learn for the first time, Enterprise Nation is a vibrant community platform for start-ups and small businesses. I'm pleased to introduce Alan Elston, who is the founder of Pitch Hero. In this session, Alan will explain how to make your pitches compelling, professional and human.

If you have any questions throughout the webinar, please post them in the chat and we'll do our best to answer them at the end of the session. Today's webinar will be recorded and we will send a follow-up email with the recording and further resources later today. So over to you, Alan.

Alan: Thank you. Being human in an AI world is now the superpower you have as an individual.

No matter what stage of business or life you're at, pitching is a critical ingredient. As AI continues to grow and influence every part of our lives, being human is what helps us win.

Beth introduced the session as being about compelling, professional and human pitches and that is exactly what we're going to focus on today.

I don't think there are many parts of our lives now that aren't affected by AI. It has become the common default. Some people are resisting it, but I imagine most of you are embracing it.

In the business I'm in, I write scripts, create content and run pitching programmes. AI could easily make someone like me redundant. But what it's actually done is create an enormous amount of opportunity. I love AI. I'm very pro AI and I see a lot of good coming from it.

The challenge is that AI can now do almost everything for us. It can create avatars, scripts, production and video that would once have cost a fortune. Now it's available to almost anyone. So how do we differentiate ourselves? By being human. Really human. By creating empathy, connecting with other people and building trust.

We now live in a world where information itself has less value. What matters is how we communicate that information. And we do that by being human.

A little about me. I've spent over 25 years working with pitch teams, some of them on bids worth up to a billion pounds. Others were much smaller. I've worked with major blue-chip companies, hosted conferences and events, written scripts, run presentation programmes and done all sorts of work in the same core area, which is helping people communicate well.

In my mid-40s, I had something of an epiphany and decided it was time to go to drama school. Partly because I'd always wanted to do it and never had and partly because after 15 years in the commercial world, I wanted to get better at what I did.

I have to be honest, drama school was one of the hardest things I've ever done. It pushed me to the absolute limit. Harder than the first MA I did. But it taught me so much about communication. I blended that with my corporate career and experience and that's where Pitch Hero came from. It's quite an eclectic mix.

As we move through this changing world, I want us to think about pitching. The word alone can fill people with horror. In business, the stakes can be very high. I worked with a team going in for a billion-pound renewal and they genuinely felt that the future of the organisation rested on that pitch.

Most of the time, a pitch can win the business. It can be the extra 10% that gets you over the line, because the people listening are making decisions not just on information, but on whether they feel connected to you.

The reality is that we pitch all the time. We've been pitching all our lives. We do it in everyday conversations, even down to asking for a specific kind of coffee from a barista.

If we go right back to childhood, we were pitching for an extra 10 minutes before bed, for an ice cream or to persuade our parents to buy us that shiny new bike. We learn to pitch very early in life.

The naughtier the child, the more they have to pitch. I say that because I was often in front of the headmaster for one trivial thing or another and I had to learn how to tell my story, stay calm and put my case across with just enough emotion.

The point is this. The gap between the pitching we do every day and a business pitch is much smaller than people think.

Let me ask you a question. When somebody is pitching to you, what is it that makes you trust them? I'd like you to hold that thought, because we're going to come back to it later.

So let's think about our audience. This is often a step people miss. I know when I work with pitch teams, I spend a lot of time asking who they are actually going to speak to.

If it's a formal bid, you'll usually know who is going to be in the room. It might be the CEO, procurement, technical people, operations, finance. Whoever it is, you need to think about who they are, what drives them, what matters to them and what doesn't.

The conversation you have with a CEO may be very different from the one you have with someone in procurement, because they look at the world differently.

Then you need to ask, why are they there? What do they want from this conversation? What are you looking to achieve and how do those two things come together?

And finally, how much time do you have? We've got 30 minutes today and we'll keep to 30 minutes because keeping to time matters.

I have a colleague I can say to, "This needs to be done in 15 minutes", and he says yes, no problem. Then with five minutes to go, he's nowhere near finished. He just has no sense of time. When you pitch, you must know how long things take and run to time.

Once you've got all that, you work backwards and think about structure.

There are two reasons we structure a pitch. One is for the audience and one is for you.

For the audience, a pitch should be like a pop song. Pop songs follow a format. There's an opening, a verse, a chorus, another verse, the chorus again, the big bit near the end and then it closes out.

We know what to expect from that. And when we know what to expect, we become comfortable. When we're comfortable, we're much more open to the ideas being put in front of us.

If a speaker is nervous or something feels disjointed, the audience becomes nervous too. And once that happens, they stop listening to what you're saying.

I once went to an event where the keynote speaker, a very accomplished businesswoman, came out with a microphone clipped near a brooch on her jacket. The microphone kept rubbing against it. I have absolutely no idea what she talked about because all I could hear was the scratching noise.

We owe it to our audience to remove distractions and give them structure. For you, structure gives you a starting point. It gives you boxes to fill in. It helps you build a clear, cohesive message.

So here is a structure I want you to think about. There's nothing rigid about it. Think of it as a toolbox.

A powerful opener matters because you want people to lean in, not switch off. But the key areas I want to focus on today are these: key message, why, benefit and evidence.

The key message is this. If you had one sentence to explain your idea, your solution or your proposition, what would it be?

I sometimes play a game with people where I ask them to pitch in 60 seconds, then 30, then 15, then seven. It forces the message down to what really matters. That's your key message.

Then there's the why. Why are you telling me this? Why is it relevant to me? Your audience won't always make that connection themselves, so you need to make it for them.

Then the benefit. The benefit has to be specific to the audience. There is no point trying to sell designer shoes to someone who lives in the outback and never wears them. The benefit has to fit the person you're speaking to. And if there are several people in the room with different priorities, then you need to show the benefits from each perspective.

Finally, the evidence. This is where stories come in and stories are what differentiate us from AI. The evidence is the story that makes the point real.

That might be an example from a previous client. It might be a scenario that helps the audience picture their own future. It might be a completely unexpected story, like the one I just told about the microphone and the brooch. But the point is always the same. Stories create empathy. They help the audience picture themselves in the situation.

A quick tip. Always try to paint a picture of the future. If you use our product, imagine where you'll be in three months or five years. Help them visualise it.

You may choose to include a credibility section too. That can go early if you need to establish your credentials quickly or later if the audience already knows you. Just keep it relevant.

Telling a local company that you operate in 65 countries might sound impressive, but it may not matter to them. What might matter is that you have an office in their town. So always think about relevance.

Now let's talk about confidence. People often say, "If only I were more confident". As if confidence is something you can order online and have delivered the next day.

Confidence is built. Some people may look naturally confident, but usually they've just had more practice.

Think back to those naughty children I mentioned earlier. They were always having to justify themselves. They got practice. Confidence comes from doing, not waiting.

That photo of me jumping off a ledge into water is one of the scariest things I've ever done. It was about 35 feet up and I got to the edge and just froze. No matter how much I wanted to do it, my subconscious said no.

I made that jump in my head 100 times before I actually did it. In the end, I threw myself off the edge because I'd already told the instructor I was going to do it. And as soon as I realised I was still alive, I went back and did it again.

That's how confidence works. You start small. You pitch in low-stakes situations. You get up and say a few words. You do the toast. You make the informal pitch. Confidence grows from practice and preparation.

The more you say something out loud, the better it gets. In drama school, they talk about getting it on its feet. You can sit with a script and read it, but once you stand up and say it aloud, everything changes. You start to discover what works and what doesn't.

So if you want to build confidence, say it out loud. Walk around the office and practice it. Try it. Test it. That's how certainty develops.

Another thing to know is that you will go through what I call the creative dip.

At the start, you think, "Yes, brilliant, I've got a pitch in three weeks." Then you begin the work and suddenly it feels terrible. You think, "I can't do this. This is a disaster. It's not going to work." That dip is normal. It is part of the process.

I heard a TED Talk recently about performance levels and it said there are three states. There's the "I'm doing fine" state, the "I'm on fire" state and the "this is awful" state. And all three are part of the process.

The dip is where mastery is built. So when you're in it, don't panic. Step away, make a cup of tea, take a walk and come back to it later. The creativity is still happening underneath.

And don't leave it until the last minute, like I used to do with university assignments. If you've got three weeks, start now and build it gradually. If you've got three hours, start now and use every minute well.

The most important thing in any pitch, presentation or conversation is this: how did you make people feel? That matters in business just as much as it does in life.

We often make emotional decisions and then justify them with logic. Do I like this person? Do I trust them? Can I work with them? Do they understand me? Do they care? This is where your humanity matters most.

I went to an event once where a man called Jeremy Gilley stood up to speak about a charity. Everyone in the room immediately thought, "He's going to ask us for money."

And then he said, "I don't want your money. What I want is your attention." The whole room relaxed. Suddenly we were open to what he had to say. He understood how to make people feel.

Before we move to questions, I want to introduce you to a new product we're developing called PitchReady.

Like Jeremy Gilley, I'm not interested in your money. This is completely free. What we want is your attention and your feedback.

PitchReady is an AI tool on our website, pitchhero.co. You can upload a PDF pitch deck and it will score it and give you recommendations. You can also upload a voice or video file and it will give feedback on your performance.

It's in the early stages of development, so things may fall over. It won't be perfect. But we'd love you to try it and help us shape it.

So as we wrap up, remember this: your pitch is your superpower in an AI-driven world.

Keep it simple. Use structure. Build confidence through practice. And above all, be compelling, professional and human. Thank you.

Beth: Thanks very much for that, Alan. That was great. We loved that photo of you jumping off the cliff. Jack said in the comments, "Feel the fear and do it anyway", which I loved.

We don't have long, so I'll ask you a couple of questions if that's alright. How can presenters sound more human and less rehearsed?

Alan: In acting, people spend hours learning lines and working on process. I wouldn't recommend memorising everything word for word because that's a lot to ask, but I would say know it extremely well.

Then, when you're ready, throw the script away. That's the agonising moment. But once you've practiced enough, you'll be amazed how much is already in you.

As long as you know where you're going and what the point is, the script has already done its job.

Beth: We've had lots of thank yous in the chat. People have really enjoyed this. One more question. What would you say is the biggest mistake people make when pitching?

Alan: I think the biggest mistake is that they lose their humanity.

Funny, warm, charming people stand up in front of a room and suddenly become cold and robotic because they think that's what professionalism looks like. Actually, the thing that connects you is your warmth and your personality.

The other big mistake is that people try to say too much. They make things too complicated. Simplicity really is the key.

Beth: Brilliant. Thank you. Someone in the chat has asked where they can test the tool and I've just posted the link to your website, so they can find it there.

Alan: Yes, just go to pitchhero.co. Please do try it and let us know what you think. Even if the feedback is brutal, we want it, because that's how we improve.

Beth: Absolutely. All feedback is good feedback.

Thank you so much to everyone who joined us today and thank you, Alan, for a brilliant presentation. I've put Alan's details in the chat if you'd like to connect with him, along with the link to his website.

This session was recorded and we'll share it later today in a follow-up email. Thanks again, everyone and enjoy the rest of your day.

Alan: Thank you. Bye-bye.

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