Read Lesson 1 for free. The introduction and first lesson, in full.
Jump to Lesson 1 ↓FIVE LESSONS FOR LIVE EVENT PROFESSIONALS
I’ve spent more than 23 years pitching for work. I’ve won some very large pitches and lost a few too. I’ve helped scale revenues by over 20 times and led some of the highest revenue teams in the organisations I’ve worked for.
This workbook brings together five things that have worked for me: building trust, understanding the people in the room, finding a big idea, looking beyond the obvious for inspiration and telling the story well.
There is no formula that wins every pitch. Use this with a real brief and turn each lesson into a decision about your next proposal. You can work through it yourself or use AI as a partner that asks better questions and challenges your thinking.
Read each lesson, work through the diagrams and fill in the worksheets against your brief. Finish with the pitch canvas and rehearse your story.
Upload this workbook and your RFP to your favourite AI tool. Use the prompt on the next page. Let it ask for what the brief cannot tell it, then build the pitch together.
Upload this workbook and your RFP to your AI tool, then use this prompt.
Use this workbook and the attached RFP to help me prepare a winning pitch.
Guide me through the five lessons: build trust, understand the team I’m pitching to, develop a big idea I can deliver, draw on useful references and tell a story that immerses the client in the experience.
Use the brief and references first. Ask me focused questions for anything missing, and wait for my answers. Do not invent facts, achievements or client preferences.
Challenge vague answers and help me complete the worksheets. Finish with a clear pitch plan and a compelling opening I can rehearse.
Before they buy your idea, they need to buy you.
Trust starts long before a pitch. The work you’ve done, the clients you’ve worked with, the way you treat people and the people who want to work with you again all become part of your reputation.
Today, LinkedIn gives you another way to build that familiarity. What you curate shows your taste. What you say about the work shows your thinking. The comments you leave on other people’s posts can reveal whether you have something useful to add. Over time, people may feel they know you before you have met.
That did not come naturally to me. I spent most of my career without thinking about a personal brand. You do not need to become a social media personality to pitch well. But there is a difference between entering a room where people know your thinking and entering one where nobody knows you.
In a cold pitch, I’ve always tried to sell myself before I sell the company. People work with people. The company matters, of course. But the client is also deciding whether to trust the person sitting opposite them to lead the work.
I’ve pitched as a startup against much larger companies. I talk about the shows I’ve personally handled, the scale I’ve worked at and what I’ve delivered. Then I use the company’s credentials to support that story. Your personal credentials deserve as much thought as the company presentation.
Earn familiarity before the meeting. Build credibility inside it.
The destination is the same: confidence in the person who will deliver. The starting point changes what you need to do.
Let LinkedIn show how you think.
Share work you find interesting and explain the creative choice that caught your attention.
Add an observation, a useful question or a relevant experience. Show how you see the work.
If they know your posts, connect that thinking to their brief. Familiarity still needs a reason to choose you.
Build the connection in the meeting.
Choose a relevant project and explain the part you personally led.
Show what happened, the scale involved and what you brought to it.
Explain how your experience and the team around you will come together on their project.
“I understand this work, and here is why you can trust me to lead it.”
Most companies have a standard credentials deck. Attaching the same opening to every pitch leaves the client to find the relevance. You do not need new projects. You need a better selection and a different emphasis.
Keep a short view of the scale, range and capability the company can bring.
Look for comparable formats, audiences, creative ambition, venues or production challenges.
Lead with relevant projects where you can explain your contribution with confidence.
What the brief needs. What the company can deliver. What you have personally helped make happen.
Build an introduction around relevant work and your actual contribution. Then decide what the company needs to add.
Your LinkedIn presence, shared contacts, previous work together, or nothing yet.
That’s the first lesson.
Trust gets you started. Continue with understanding the room, developing a big idea, finding better inspiration and telling a story that makes them feel the event.
27-page PDF. One payment. Yours to download and use with your next brief.