A guy at the Peachtree Tech Meetup told me my intro was too long

I used to spend 2 minutes explaining my whole background before asking for contacts. He said just say your name and what problem you solve in 10 seconds. I tried it at the next mixer and got three solid referrals in one night. Anyone else found shorter pitches actually work better?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_mary14d ago

Read a study once that said your brain decides if it trusts someone in like 7 seconds, so rambling past that point is just noise. Short pitches work because people actually remember the one thing you're good at instead of a whole resume dump. Makes sense since nobody at a meetup has the attention span for a life story anyway.

smith.lee14d ago

Well then I guess my brain made a decision in 2 seconds and just decided to nap.

wade_anderson14d ago

Brain made a decision in 2 seconds and decided to nap" - that's basically what happened to a buddy of mine at a networking thing. He walked up to some guy, started his pitch, and the guy literally yawned mid-sentence (not even trying to hide it). My friend just said "you know what, I'll catch you later" and walked off. Short and sweet is the way to go for sure.