The Elevator Pitch exercise 

We were given a task where we had to make an elevatorPitch_guide and present it to our fellow classmates. These had to be 30 seconds long and about ourselves as photographers. This task was a challenge because 30 seconds is a very limiting amount of time so you have to be extremely concise. We were encouraged to use the format of summarising a key message and then three things you want your audience to remember.  For me these things were

• My practice is usually driven by my passions of desire for environmental and social change
• I love using film or whatever materials necessary to communicate the message I need to
• I often use a metaphorical or artistic approach in my work

When practicing my elevator pitch I started by talking about my education and areas of study which meant that I was cut short of time so this made me realise about what the important bits I want people to remember actually are!

Channelling Nervousness

We were also told to be aware of the things that we do when we are nervous while public speaking and to think about ways of controlling it. Many people giggle when they are nervous and do weird movements and Rachel told us that a way of tuning this is to move out hands in a controlled way when we are speaking which can make you feel and come across as more confident. For me I think that I often mumble and say irrelevant things when I can’t think of what to say, and Rachel gave a suggestion that addressing that you’re nervous could help this by telling the audience how you are feeling. We were also given the advice to practice speaking in situations that make us nervous, so doing it in front of other people that can then tell us that we are doing something weird that we might not be conscious of.