Pitch Anything

The two parts of the attention cocktail are novelty and tension, which in a pitch work together in a feedback loop for about 20 minutes until—no matter what you do or how hard you try—they get out of balance and then stop working altogether.

It is only when your attention is focused deliberately on the thing that is changing that you can finally “see” it. Once you know this fact about how your audience’s mind works, you realize that you cannot just show audience members two possible states and hope that the difference captures their attention. You need to show them the movement from on

In clear and concise terms, tell the audience exactly what you will be delivering to them, when it will be delivered, and how.

Technology forces.

The target’s brain does not love abstract concepts—every abstract concept has to be kicked up to the neocortex to be worked on, slowly and painstakingly.

“How similar is your idea to something I already know about or to a problem I have already solved?”

To give a norepinephrine kick and create tension, take something away.

As I mentioned before, no situation has real meaning until you frame it. Frames are mental structures that shape the way we see the world and put relationships in context.

It’s called the time-constraint pattern. This is what you say, exactly, to let the target know he isn’t trapped in the typical hour-long-meeting: “Guys, let’s get started. I’ve only got about 20 minutes to give you the big idea, which will leave us some time to talk it over before I have to get out of here.”

This is a subtle framing technique known as prizing. What you do is reframe everything your audience does and says as if they are trying to win you over.