{"id":581,"date":"2012-11-21T17:14:52","date_gmt":"2012-11-22T01:14:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/valeriesong\/?p=581"},"modified":"2012-12-20T17:39:26","modified_gmt":"2012-12-21T01:39:26","slug":"onfeelingnervous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/valeriesong\/2012\/11\/21\/onfeelingnervous\/","title":{"rendered":"So You Know How To Pitch… It’s just a shame that you’re too nervous."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

I cringed as I typed the title of this blog post.<\/p>\n

“Oh, Valerie, Valerie, Valerie,” I think. “You could have done so much better.”<\/p>\n

Two months ago, I posted about how to pitch it to win it<\/a>. I have since then made the JDC West Entrepreneurship team, where every week we create a new business given a 2-page industry summary and make a pitch deck to go along with it. My team is amazing, the coaches even more so, and I could not feel more… timid with the sheer amount of “awesome<\/strong>” surrounding me.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I realized that I could write something that read well on paper, invent a relevant story, but I couldn’t deliver<\/strong><\/em>. Every time I opened my mouth, I got nervous, stumbled on my words, and talked way too fast for anyone to process. I blame it on the time my voice cracked during a solo in a middle school concert. BRUTAL<\/strong><\/em>. I still get nervous looking at the picture of the mic up there.<\/p>\n

Knowing my personality, I couldn’t just sit back and watch myself be mediocre at something for the rest of my life. So, I had motivation. Intention. Now I just need the conviction.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have now decided to set goals for myself to improve my speaking ability in two weeks time\u00a0(December 5) through intense practice:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

BABY STEPS: GO BACK TO THE BASICS<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

RELAX<\/strong>: address the audience, pause, smile, \u00a0“transform nervous energy into enthusiasm<\/a>”<\/p>\n

CONTROL<\/strong>: count to three before starting, control\u00a0breathing and loudness of voice, and do NOT trail off.<\/p>\n

PACE<\/strong>: manage the rhythm and speed of speech, rate of changing slides<\/p>\n

ENUNCIATE<\/strong>: open your mouth wider, relax your tongue with tongue twisters\/exercises, talk slower and louder than you think, practice pauses, inflections, vocal dynamics<\/p>\n

EXPRESS<\/strong>: Check facial expressions, body movements.<\/p>\n

SING<\/strong>: support from your diaphragm, assume a persona,\u00a0nestle into the moment, forget the audience, and lose yourself in what comes out of your mouth<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

BE WILE E. COYOTE: SKILLS TO USE<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

MESSAGE<\/strong>: Wile E. Coyote always has one message that he conveys in each Bugs Bunny episode – “Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Wile E. Coyote, super<\/strong>genius<\/strong>.” Effective, simple, and easy to remember. This is the one thing you must get across\u00a0if all else fails.<\/p>\n

OUTLINE:<\/strong> Create a solid, transferable, easy-to-remember methodology. Structure will help with efficiency and confidence. What are the pivotal points you need to get across?<\/p>\n

MANIPULATE<\/strong>: the atmosphere and the audience’s attention<\/p>\n

CONFIDENCE<\/strong>:\u00a0emanate an irrefutable charisma, but not come across as cocky<\/p>\n

CONQUER<\/strong>: stop being afraid. You can do it.<\/p>\n

CONVICTION<\/strong>: you have to believe in yourself before others will believe in you<\/p>\n

FINISH: <\/strong>Close with a BANG!<\/p>\n

HOMEWORK: PRACTICE MAKES GREATNESS<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

WATCH<\/strong>: people who are good at speaking and notice what they do (pronunciation, speed)<\/p>\n

DO:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Practice speaking. Read story books to kids, see how engaged they are. Read spoken word poetry.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER…<\/strong><\/p>\n

The team and audience are all rooting for you. They want you to do well. They want you to rock<\/strong> it. It all starts with a smile and a song.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I cringed as I typed the title of this blog post. “Oh, Valerie, Valerie, Valerie,” I think. “You could have done so much better.” Two months ago, I posted about how to pitch it to win it. I have since then made the JDC West Entrepreneurship team, where every week we create a new business […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3111,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[275,3180],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-insight","category-tips-and-tricks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/valeriesong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/valeriesong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/valeriesong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/valeriesong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/valeriesong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=581"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/valeriesong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":593,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/valeriesong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581\/revisions\/593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/valeriesong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/valeriesong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/valeriesong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}