Pitch Sabbath – rehearsal meet-up proposal

[Maxkaz]

Hello, everyone!

I`ve been on this forum for some few months and it really helps me shape my vision. I`m reading posts, sometimes responding and even joined Inventors meet-up, which is mindblowing.

But there is a thing here which I feel is missing and I want to correct this. At some point in life every entrepreneur need to take some stage, be it in front of investors or on some conference, and make a public speech. It might be a pitch. It might be some expert talk about technology or something like this. And there is a piece of common knowledge that public speaking is listed among some worst fears of many individuals, somewhere between zombies and plane crush. So getting some experience and self-confidence can be very helpful here.

So what can I offer to overcome this? I propose to make a rehearsal group here on this forum. We can meet periodically on Saturdays (that is the only day I can do something like this) for some of us to make a speech with or without slides and for others to ask questions and give feedback. That is usually fun, very helpful and builds a strong community once the train gains some momentum.

Who am I to propose such a thing?​

For almost 10 years by now I am a public speaker. When I lived in Russia I was earning money this way speaking to live audiences (not online) up to 1000 people. My topic was and still is Science in all it`s forms. Now I live in Israel, so my public talks shrunk to weekly 10 minute radio broadcast and occasional small live event.

I also was running a public speaking school based on non-profit back in Russia and prepared several dozens science students to speak publicly and some of them even ended up making big channels or international communities.

There are downsides also though. I can think of 2 main ones. First, although my English is considered almost fluent, I`ve done not a lot of talks in English. Second, I am not that experienced in business pitching. My area is popular science and I can easily pinpoint parts of the speech not clear enough, but the convincing part is what I am going to learn beside you.

How will it be organized?​

If I get enough likes/responces under this post to consider idea a good one, I will organize a Google form where everyone will be able to sign to do a speech. At first it will be a free-for-all model, but after some time I will put some restrains to who can take part as a speaker. I want to avoid two types of situations: people coming with very unprepared ideas/keynotes (for this I will add a 1-on-1 prescreen) and people coming only to talk themselves and not giving any feedback (for this issue i will at some point track attendance). But it is a longshot and at first anyone would be welcome in a chronological order.

The rehearsal itself will have some rules. As we are testing various formats, the speaker would have to state their desired timeframe for the speech. The speech itself won`t be interrupted by listeners and would be recorded for future analysis by the speaker and those not in attendance. I will upload the speeches to a non-public YouTube channel and post links after meetings. Timespan will be X+20% (meaning that a speech stated to be 25 minutes can run for up to 30 minutes before organizer can interrupt it). Listeners will write down their questions/feedback and we will state them one after another after the speaker has finished.

One speech can be delivered several times during several meet-ups until perfected. Also if there is an event a person needs to hastily prepare for – we can move the queue a bit to accommodate them.

Finally, as we are all etrepreneurs here and full of golden and apparently “easily” stollen ideas, I need to state this right away. No NDAs are allowed. You can talk about tech, you can talk about your idea and company, but we can`t guarantee that all of that will stay indoors, therefore plan your speech accordingly.

What do you think people? Would you like to join such a meet-up on Saturdays as a listener/speaker? Write your comment or hit a like below.

 

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