FNTI journalism students learn to pitch at Innoversity Summit in Toronto

Sell your story with preparation, polish, and above all passion, speaker says

by Jennifer Ashawasegai

“Pitch pitch, pitch.” That’s the advice from a fiery red-head at the Innoversity Summit’s Story Pitching session. She is CBC’s Sandra Porteous, who held the rapt attention of more than 50 people. Porteous has been in journalism for about 30 years, and had a lot to share.

Pitch, pitch, pitch says CBC's Sandra Porteous

Over 500 registered for Day One of the Innoversity Summit 2006, held downtown Toronto Oct.23 and 24. The summit’s theme this year, is The Power of Diversity. A whole range of people were eager to hear from professionals with industry experience. In the Art of the Pitch, “Secret of the Sell,” Porteous says her father, a freelance journalist and her mentor, told her, “If you have an idea, you’ll never be out of a job.”

To find advice on selling stories click here Sell your story with preparation, polish, and above all passion, speaker says With her own experience as a freelance journalist and with CBC, Porteous adds to her own father’s sage words, "Having a great idea is not enough. You have to know what to do with it” She says it doesn’t matter what thc product is, “a pitch is a pitch is a pitch. You have to sell your idea.” Porteous illustrates her point with examples of both successful and unsuccessful pitches.

The pitches that will fall on deaf ears include negative stereotypes such as The Pushover, who unloads an idea and will not defend it, The Robot, whose proposal is formulaic and articulated without passion, the Used-Car Salesman who does not have any new ideas or changes, and The Charity Case who she describes as a needy person, or someone who just wants agreement and uses tactics like begging and pleading. Before releasing the brainchild story idea into the ether, Porteous says, “Don’t pitch until you’re ready. Resist the urge to pitch until you’re ready.” She recommends the five P’s .

In other words, do the homework, do the research, talk to all the people involved, and OWN the story. It’s called Prep, and Porteous says it’s key to a successful pitch. Other tips include stepping outside of the box. Porteous suggests Pretending to be a tourist. That means seeing life with fresh eyes, and never, ever stop asking questions. Porteous herself keeps an ideas journal.

She squirrels away little bits of information she tears out of newspapers or writes down curiosities she sees. Porteous tells of the time she was awoken every night at three a.m. in a Yellowknife hotel. Footsteps were loudly passing her door at the same time consecutively for a few nights. At work one morning, she told her colleagues of the nightly disturbances. Her colleagues tell her it’s a regular thing and nothing unusuaL The noise is from Japanese tourists who leave the hotel to go and watch Aurora Borealis and take pictures. Well, Porteous says. now that’s a story. It’s also finding a different angle to a story.

Porteous strongly encourages brainstorming. Grab a piece of paper she says, and write down the subject in the very middle, and make a spiral of every possible question you can think of. Answer those questions and you may find a unique angle to the story. “Somewhere in there, “she says, “is a new approach to the story.” When you are pitching an idea to seasoned veterans in the business, they will want to know why they should care, why the story matters, and how the information will move the story ahead. Then, once all the legwork is done, and the questions answered, it's time to Practice and Polish the pitch. This includes torturing friends and family. Practice on them. Make them interested. Make them care. If your practice audience has questions. write them down, and answer them.

Porteous also offers these important instructions: Know who you are pitching to, tell the story in a sentence, don’t allow anyone to cut off your pitch before you’re done, understand the politics involved and explain you’re the best person for the pitch. Also, make sure to mention official sources to lend credibiliry to the pitch.

Porteuos says most important of all, is to have Passion in the pitch.Emotion is good. Some of the time, she says people have gotten a foot in the door with a less than stellar pitch. They got in there because they were passionate about their story.