Pitch Perfect Quotes

“The Headline Principle Get attention by starting with your best material, especially a grabbing, thought-provoking line that makes listeners think, I want to know more. Don’t bury the lead. Don’t copy others. Don’t resort to clichéd formulas. Don’t ease into a point. Start with a concise and compelling statement.”
― Bill McGowan, Pitch Perfect: How to Say It Right the First Time, Every Time

“Consumers don’t want to know about the process of how something came into existence. What they want to know is: How will this product change my life? How will it help me?”
― Bill McGowan, Pitch Perfect: How to Say It Right the First Time, Every Time

“When speaking, go easy on the BACKSPACE button. It can create a frustratingly halting way of communicating in which the stutter step is more prevalent than the smooth glide forward. The first way things come out of your mouth is usually the best. Resist the urge to self-edit to make the less-vital information 100 percent precise.”
― Bill McGowan, Pitch Perfect: How to Say It Right the First Time, Every Time

“More is not more. Researchers at Saint Louis University have found that ten to eighteen minutes is the length of time past which you begin a game of diminishing returns on your listener’s attention. Take a guess how long President Obama’s 2013 inauguration speech was. That’s right: eighteen minutes. Coincidence? I doubt it.”
― Bill McGowan, Pitch Perfect: How to Say It Right the First Time, Every Time

“This doesn’t mean that you must practice everything seventy times before you have it Pitch Perfect. Some people need to do it multiple times to ingrain it, while others suffer from being too rehearsed. The point is simply this: don’t delude yourself into thinking that you can skip preparation. That is a recipe for disaster. And be careful! The more accomplished you become at public speaking, the more you will be tempted to shortchange your preparation. If you succumb to that urge, you will live to regret it.”
― Bill McGowan, Pitch Perfect: How to Say It Right the First Time, Every Time

“According to Inside Apple, Steve Jobs practiced dozens of times before a big presentation, staging and rehearsing so that nothing was left to chance.”
― Bill McGowan, Pitch Perfect: How to Say It Right the First Time, Every Time

“Prepare, prepare, prepare. Practice, practice, practice. From here on, accept every invitation you get to do public speaking. Be the first one with your hand in the air when someone asks, “Would anybody like to say a few words?” Think of me as your golf or tennis coach. I’ll give you the secret to the right swing, but then you have to go out and play so you can ingrain this new muscle memory.”
― Bill McGowan, Pitch Perfect: How to Say It Right the First Time, Every Time