Our day today was filled with all sorts of innovation. We started off with normal class lecture, learning about price and promotion, before hearing from two gentlemen from Pitt’s Innovation Institute. It was interesting hearing of a true entrepreneurial success story, as well as gaining advice on tips and tricks to make business pitches the best they can be. We were told that pitching should be like telling a story, and everything that you say in a pitch should relate back to and support the original storyline. In this way, the audience may not remember all the specific details of the pitch, but they will remember the story that goes along with it, allowing them to share the idea. This helped me to change my presentation and attempt to adhere to the outline of a solid pitch.

After the speakers, we all got to present our innovative idea pitches to the class. My idea, J.I.C (Just In Case) Apparel, was a functional and comfortable bullet resistant clothing line. It was a unique take on developing the clothing industry in order to protect people at all times, because you never know what may occur at any given time, hence the name Just In Case. The benefits of the clothing line are pretty obvious, so I didn’t feel like it was extremely hard to get my point across about the need for and use of these products. In regards to the presentation itself, my presentation skills weren’t the best, however I believe I learned a lot from this presentation on what I need to improve on in the public speaking sense in order to be successful in the business world. You have to be prepared to move from one idea to the next even when you lose your train of thought, all while sticking to your main point. The preparation and presentation skills necessary to accomplish the task of pitching an idea to a company can be applied to other everyday aspects of a job for people not pursuing entrepreneurship as well. Communicating with people is a key strength to have, especially in the business field. Through this presentation I was able to learn what I did and didn’t do well, allowing me to adapt for my next presentation.