Even the most innovative ideas might be seen as boring if they aren’t presented in the right way.
You want your pitch to be as clever as your idea so that you’re more likely to gain approval. To shift the odds in your favor, there are a few hacks you can use. Start with the setup of the room. Having your colleagues sit around a conference table signals to them that they are there to judge your idea — not nurture it. Lose the table, or hold your meeting in a space where there’s no separation between you and your colleagues. Then focus your audience’s attention on how they can build upon your idea. One way to do this is to encourage people to use a tool from the world of improv. Ask the audience to respond with “yes, and” statements. This small shift in language encourages the audience to share things they might have otherwise kept quiet about.
Finally, ensure your pitch brings every type of learner into the fold. Some of your colleagues might prefer visuals while others prefer listening or interacting. This means you’ll want to give people several entry points into the concept you’re pitching. If you share your idea in a few different ways, at least one of them is likely to resonate.