Emilia Vieni, W14: Pitching

I googled "pitching an idea" and got these sources which I feel provide me with some good points for me to keep in mind when presenting my podcast pitch.

1) http://hbr.org/2003/09/how-to-pitch-a-brilliant-idea/ar/1
 This article does not give advice on the content your pitch should have, but instead talks about how one's character is judged when pitching to a large business. I think sometimes people forget that your character actually comes a long way when you are in front of a new group of people, and the way you speak and talk about your idea can be the winning move if you plan on selling it. "Catchers" are the ones who judge whether you have the most valuable trait needed to be successful with your ideas-creativity (which decides whether or not your idea should be used). If you read the article in its entirety, it explains the types of creative individuals that usually come through successfully when in front of a catcher.

2) http://www.forbes.com/sites/carminegallo/2012/07/17/how-to-pitch-anything-in-15-seconds/
Provides me with a good point-if you can't grab your audience's attention with your pitch within 15 seconds, it is probably not interesting enough and will not go anywhere. It is important to just state your facts, and make sure they have good details to back them up and prove that your idea is worthy and credible. Too much talk=too much fluff.

3) http://www.inc.com/thebuildnetwork/3-ways-to-pitch-your-idea.html
This was my favourite article out of the three that I looked at. As the title suggests, it shows you different ways that you can pitch your idea to an audience, or to judge its credibility: The one-word pitch, the subject line pitch, and the question pitch. These simple pitching ideas can allow you to organize your information and to understand the direction you wish to go with your idea. The one-word pitch is just that-reduce an original 50 word idea to one simple word that would describe it. By doing this, you can come up with the word that comes to mind when you think of your idea, which can help you decide whether or not it is truly credible. If it can't be described with one word it is probably too complicated. The question pitch is when you have a strong argument. Starting it off with a question, whether rhetorical or not, can be essential in convincing your audience or your argument. Finally the subject-line pitch. If you can think of an interesting subject-line for your idea, then it will probably intrigue your audience's curiosity.

From the information I've gathered, I believe I need to make sure my topic is broken down even more so that I can make it more concise and appealing. My topic "the colonization of mars" may be a little too complicated as a one-word pitch and should perhaps be broken into various sub-categories.

Gallo, C. 2012. How to Pitch Anything in 15 Seconds [video]. [online] Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/carminegallo/2012/07/17/how-to-pitch-anything-in-15-seconds/  [Accessed Jan.25/14]

Elsbach, D. Kimberly. 2003. How to Pitch a Brilliant Idea [online] Available at: http://hbr.org/2003/09/how-to-pitch-a-brilliant-idea/ar/1 [Accessed Jan.25/14]

The Build Networks Staff. 2013.Three Ways to Pitch Your Idea [online] Available at:http://www.inc.com/thebuildnetwork/3-ways-to-pitch-your-idea.html [Accessed Jan.25/14]