How to pitch an idea tip 2: Know your audience.

24 Feb 2022 · 1 min

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In this instructional video, Chris Fenning emphasizes the importance of understanding your audience before delivering a pitch. He explains that you must identify who the listeners are—whether they will be users of the idea, business supporters, or funding decision‑makers—and grasp their existing perspective on the concept. Without this insight, you risk proposing actions they already take or asking for outcomes they will never consider, and you may present your idea from a mismatched viewpoint. The speaker advises a simple approach: determine the audience’s role (user, supporter, approver) and align your pitch’s angle accordingly, ensuring relevance and persuasiveness.

Chapters

How to pitch your idea. Tip number 2: Know your audience. Before you start talking to a group of people, you need to try and understand their perspective. Who are they? What is their view on the thing that you are about to pitch and present on? If you don't take time to know who your audience is, you're not going to be accurate on what you try and convince them to do. You might try and convince them to do something they're already doing or that they will never do. Or you may pitch your idea from a perspective that doesn't match their own. So how do you understand the audience? One simple thing you can do is understand whether they're going to be users of your ideas. Will they be business supporters of your ideas? Do they need to approve the funding? What is the perspective of your audience on the idea that you are going to pitch and share? So when you are pitching an idea, make sure that you understand the audience.