Last Updated on 22 June 2012

New ideas often make people uncomfortable. Many new projects and ideas need a champion to gain acceptance from others. Being able to pitch ideas is an invaluable business (and life) tool.

A terrific guide to effective building and successful pitching of ideas is the book Life’s a Pitch: How to be Businesslike with Your Emotional Life and Emotional With Your Business Life by Stephen Bayley & Roger Mavity.

I’ll be providing a full review in a future post… but wanted to provide this helpful checklist to help you better pitch your ideas.

Basic Disciplines of a Good Pitch

  • Find a calm space to think in [for preparation].
  • Remember that people’s emotions count for more than logic
    [appeal to the heart as well as the head].
  • Think through your proposition before you spell it out.
  • Articulate it in the simplest way.
  • Don’t go for an unattainable perfect solution, go for what works.
  • Focus on what it means to them, not what it means to you.