I’m sure most people would agree, that when we become over familiar with our day-to-day role, we rely on the easiest, quickest and most reliable route — not the most effective. This especially applies to the art of presenting, as demonstrated in Jon Steel’s Perfect Pitch.

There’s no magic formula to improve your pitching skills, the basics behind presenting come down to common sense. Jon Steel boldly proclaims that he wants “to rid the world from bad presentations“ and that PowerPoint is not the only weapon at your disposal.

Using examples from his own personal background and deconstructing case studies like the London 2012 Olympic bid and Churchill’s infamous ‘fight on the beaches’ speech, Steel walks you through the pitch process end-to-end and showcases every step as a new opportunity for some creative thinking.

Steel shares with us some great examples of research undertaken during a pitch. On one occasion he asks consumers to draw themselves in a car next to a Porsche driver. They were then asked to insert comments into a thought bubble to understand consumer perception of the brand. This aided the direction of the pitch for Porsche going forward.

The creative thinking for researchers doesn’t stop there. Some memorable case studies around understanding the consumer and undertaking proof-of-concept research are also used. Even careful preparation before a meeting and changing a room layout is somewhere you can be original.

A far cry from being a purely theoretical book, you get a sense that Steel really knows what he is talking about as he carefully applies his own theories. The fact that this is a well written book rather than short ‘how to guide’ is indicative of his presentation style and recommendations for leave behinds.

If you find yourself reaching for the same old tool box next time you go to write a presentation, then Perfect Pitch can help. Rather than take the easy way out and re-working an old presentation, it will inspire you to think of every presentation as a new opportunity to create something original and can be proud of.