A pitch contest is not really about squeezing as much company information as possible into a short speaking slot. It is about creating a stronger, more useful and more memorable impression than everyone else in the room. When I was unexpectedly added to a Chamber of Commerce pitch contest in Japan, I approached the ten-minute presentation as a genuine competition: control attention, give the audience value, demonstrate expertise and leave them with something worth keeping.
What is the best speaking position in a pitch contest?
If you can influence the speaking order, go first or last rather than getting buried in the middle. Going first lets you establish the benchmark everyone else must follow; going last gives you the final impression immediately before judging or voting.
In my Chamber of Commerce pitch contest in Japan, I landed in the middle of the batting order, which was not my preference. The first speaker has the opportunity to blitz the room and own the opening impression. The last speaker has recency working in their favour because their message is freshest when the audience makes a decision. Of course, you may not control the order, but if organisers give you a choice, treat that choice strategically rather than casually.
Mini-summary: If you have a choice, take first or last. If you do not, make your opening strong enough that the audience forgets where you appeared in the order.
How should you use slides in a ten-minute business pitch?
In a short pitch, slides should create immediate visual impact rather than force the audience to read. Ten minutes disappears quickly, so every second spent decoding dense text is time taken away from you and your message.
Several contestants used conventional slide decks filled with lines of text. One represented a people business, yet there were no people in the slides. I would have shown customers enjoying the service, happy families and behind-the-scenes images of how the service is delivered. Those visuals would help the audience identify with the business immediately. If your slides are merely your speaking notes projected on a screen, they are competing with you for attention. In my own pitch, I used no PowerPoint at all, so the audience had nowhere else to look.
Mini-summary: Use powerful, relevant visuals or consider using no slides. Never make the audience choose between reading your screen and listening to you.
How can content marketing make a business pitch more persuasive?
Give the audience a useful sample of your expertise instead of spending the pitch telling them how wonderful your company is. Content marketing builds credibility because people experience some of your value before they are ever asked to buy.
Before my presentation, I gave everyone a wallet-sized card called "6 Impact Points For Persuasive Power". The principle is the same whether your proof of expertise is a white paper, testimonial, video, podcast, book or practical tool. The item demonstrates that you have something useful to contribute. More importantly, it changes the nature of the pitch. Rather than making the audience endure ten minutes of corporate propaganda, you give them something they can apply themselves. That makes the presentation relevant to them, not merely important to you.
Mini-summary: Demonstrate expertise with useful content. Give people evidence of your value rather than asking them to accept your claims about it.
How do you make a pitch relevant to everyone in the room?
Choose a subject with broad applicability and make the audience the beneficiary of the presentation. People are naturally more interested in what helps them than in the history, structure or virtues of somebody else's company.
I spoke about persuasive power because leaders, salespeople, colleagues and anyone seeking cooperation from others can use it. That cast a wide net across the room. I said very little about Dale Carnegie beyond enough information to establish credibility and indicate the scope of the business. The rest of the time went into explaining the six persuasion points and how the audience could use them in their own presentations. This is a much stronger approach than reciting company facts that matter mainly to the presenter. A pitch can still promote the business, but it does so indirectly by demonstrating relevance and expertise.
Mini-summary: Start with the audience's interests. Make your expertise useful to them and let that usefulness sell the credibility of your company.
Why must a presenter 'walk the talk' in a pitch contest?
Your delivery has to prove the claims you are making, especially when your business sells expertise. If you teach presenting, leadership, sales or communication, the pitch itself becomes a live demonstration of whether you can actually do what you recommend.
I was explaining persuasive presentation techniques, so I had no room for a weak performance. I had to model the six points rather than simply describe them. That creates a powerful credibility effect: the audience can see the expertise operating in front of them. The contrast with other speakers also becomes more obvious without you needing to criticise anyone. In my contest, the speaker after me publicly remarked that I would be hard to follow. That was exactly the competitive advantage I wanted to create through preparation and delivery.
Mini-summary: Make the presentation itself your proof. Whatever expertise you claim, demonstrate it visibly while you are on stage.
What should the audience take away from a winning pitch?
Give people something memorable, useful and easy to keep after the presentation ends. A strong takeaway extends the life of the pitch and keeps your expertise physically or mentally present after everyone leaves the room.
One contestant offered spare copies of an A4 PowerPoint handout, but there was little enthusiasm. My business-card-sized summary of the six persuasion points was compact, robust and immediately useful. It fitted into a wallet and reinforced the exact ideas I had demonstrated on stage. That was deliberate. The physical format, the usefulness of the content and the presentation all supported the same message. A takeaway should not be an information dump or a souvenir of your slide deck. It should be something the audience has a reason to keep.
Mini-summary: Design the takeaway as carefully as the pitch. Make it compact, practical and directly connected to the value you demonstrated.
Conclusion
A winning pitch is planned as a competitive performance, not treated as a miniature corporate brochure. Think about speaking order, remove unnecessary slide clutter, choose a subject the whole audience can use, demonstrate your expertise in real time and create a takeaway people genuinely want to keep. Whenever you are presenting alongside other speakers, assume you are competing for attention and memory. Your job is to make sure your presentation is the one that lingers.
Author Bio
Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie "One Carnegie Award" (2018, 2021) and recipient of the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award (2012). As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver globally across leadership, communication, sales and presentation programmes, including Leadership Training for Results.
He has written several books, including three best-sellers — Japan Business Mastery, Japan Sales Mastery and Japan Presentations Mastery — along with Japan Leadership Mastery and How to Stop Wasting Money on Training. His works have been translated into Japanese, including Za Eigyō (ザ営業), Purezen no Tatsujin (プレゼンの達人), Torēningu de Okane o Muda ni Suru no wa Yamemashō (トレーニングでお金を無駄にするのはやめましょう), and Gendaiban "Hito o Ugokasu" Rīdā (現代版「人を動かす」リーダー).
Greg also publishes daily business insights on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, and hosts six weekly podcasts. On YouTube, he produces The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show, Japan Business Mastery and Japan's Top Business Interviews, which are followed by executives seeking success strategies in Japan.
