Sunday, May 28, 2006

When I wasn't wrangling small crowds of eleven year old boys armed with supersoakers this weekend, I was practicing my pitch for the Banff PitchIt! program. It's one thing to pitch a couple of executives. There I'm jest talkin' about my project. Add 149 more listeners and it becomes a performance.

Which means memorizing my lines, or at least my talking points, and the order they come in.

I know I make a big deal about "telling your story." Truly I am just as resistant as you are to telling my story out loud. I would much rather tinker endlessly with the four pages on my computer screen. But there is still nothing like telling your story out loud. So I went out to the park and did my pitch for myself out loud, not looking at the page. It went a lot slower. I bumped on a lot of stuff. But it also got better. I did it over and over, trying to figure out how to make it flow better. Then I rewrote my pitch document accordingly.

I just ran it through my head as I was lying in bed just now. It held together. I was able to get through the whole pitch without forgetting what comes next. That's a good sign.

What I may do tomorrow is literally memorize it. The technique I learned in my Meisner technique class is to memorize by rote very fast, over and over, without affect, just memorizing the flow of words. If you memorize with emotions, then the excitement of the moment can screw you up -- your emotions won't be the same. If you can get the flow of words down pat in your mind, without meaning, then when you perform, you'll have the words when your emotions get to them. And you can then change your words as the mood suits you.

Thank God for Monday.

10:28 PM

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