Preparation is the key to a perfect pitch. Here's a checklist that explains the things you should be thinking about.

Early in any pitch preparation a decision must be taken over whether slides or a pitch book will be used. There are a number of benefits to using something the audience can see, and some caveats.

Doing something a second time is always easier and a third time easier still. Despite knowing this, people rarely practice enough, which is a mistake.

Here's a checklist of things to do on the day of the pitch.

The worst pitches are when one person speaks and the audience merely listen. The best are when a conversation takes place with all those in the room.

The way we look can project many different messages to our audience. Here are some tips to ensure your physicality is right.

When making a pitch, the vocal objective is to be both clear and interesting.

It's easy and logical to close a pitch when the end has been reached, but look for signals from the audience. If the audience is no longer listening, then continuing may do more harm than good.

Notes should be taken during the pitch, but probably not by you. So have someone else there whose job it is to take notes.

Post-pitch analysis is an important part of the pitching process and both positive and negatives aspects should be reviewed, to better inform future pitches.

This video contains some day-to-day, effective ways you can develop your pitching skills.