Category Archives: Pitch ‘n’ Speak

Spice Up Impromptu Speech with Magical Words

The new Pitch ‘n’ Speak event series was launched and well-received in January 2014. It gave a taste of practising our impromptu business pitch under expert coaching.

The Pitch ‘n’ Speak @ Zest Cafe #2 was organized on 1st March 2014 and hosted by the restaurant owner Ong Beng Chung. This time, a random magical word was given to each speaker that he or she must use at least twice in his or her two-minute impromptu speech.

The magical words included “generous”, “peace”, “love”, “health” and others. The challenge was to pitch about one’s business in 2 minutes, yet use the given magical word meaningfully at least twice.

All 8 magical words were used up by 8 different members in their speeches. The businesses introduced ranged from consulting, to server hosting, from cleaning services to unit trust investing.

After the speeches, Beng Chung gave his opinion on how to improve the pitching. Being an Competent Communicator (CC) in Toastmasters International, he provided valuable feedback to all of us.

The whole group chose 2 members they wished to hear more. The speech winners were new guests Chew How Hoon and Sandra Yang. How Hoon elaborated on her t-shirt business, and Sandra gave further details on financial planning with unit trust investing.

Fun event practising impromtu speeches

Fun event practising impromtu speeches

The event ended with a gratitude round where everyone shared something to appreciate for the event, for the day and for anything in life. The networking session went on for another one hour.

Beng Chung has done a great job organizing the event and giving evaluation to the speakers. The members gave praises for the event after the event and even on social media.

When were the last time you listen to a sales pitch attentively? In Pitch ‘n’ Win events like this, the group are motivated to pay attention to the speaker. They might need to vote to choose the best speakers, or the speaker on stage might be an interesting one they have voted.

Pitch ‘n’ Speak @ Zest Cafe #2 – Photo album

The Launch of Pitch ‘n’ Speak

Zest Cafe has been very supportive venue provider as well as an active event organizer since the birth of Pitch ‘n’ Win.

Having organized the original version of Pitch ‘n’ Win meetup for 5 times, Zest Cafe pivoted their event model and started to organize Pitch ‘n’ Speak starting from January 2014.

In Pitch ‘n’ Speak, participants are given a topic related to business on the spot, and they are to give their Two-Minute Impromptu Speech (TIS) on the topic and relate to their business.

Zest Cafe boss Ong Beng Chung hosted Pitch ‘n’ Speak @ Zest Cafe #1 on 18th January 2014. 7 members participated in speaking and were given topics from wealth to business mission, and even one on the upcoming Chinese New Year.

Mr Tan Kok Heng sharing how to give impromptu speech

Mr Tan Kok Heng sharing how to give impromptu speech

We were blessed to have in our midst the guest speaker and speech coach Mr Tan Kok Heng, an Advanced Communicator and Advanced Leader in Toastmasters Malaysia. He evaluated all speeches and gave feedback to each of the speaker.

He also spent some time to teach us how to give a good impromptu speech, or “table topic” as it is called in Toastmasters. He also adapted his guidelines to the pitching and business nature in Pitch ‘n’ Win.

Dr Cham and Ravindran were voted as the winners of the day. Both of them gave another around of sharing of 5 minutes each. With this, the Pitch ‘n’ Speak event series has started.

Pitch ‘n’ Speak @ Zest Cafe #1 – Photo album