A stadium pitch is not an elevator pitch. The first time I heard a stadium pitch was from Chet Holmes. I actually got to talk to Chet Holmes maybe 15, 17 years ago. I got to do like a little 20-minute phone conference with him. It was very interesting.
The stadium pitch is an idea around giving a presentation or a talk that would apply to the biggest number of people. Your whole job is to make sure that whatever it is you’re going to talk about, that at any time, any number of people could walk out if it has nothing to do with them, and it wouldn't matter. I think people get a little bit confused between that kind of concept versus elevator pitch.
The reason I came up with this idea was because recently I met this friend and he said, “If you could teach me anything martial arts-related, anything at all, what's the one thing you would teach me?”
I paused for like two or three minutes trying to come up with the best thing I could think of. The more I thought about it, the more I thought, “You know what? I think one of the biggest lessons I could teach anyone about martial arts is how to breathe.” I think breathing is such a method of being able to center yourself. It helps you get control of your feelings. I think it helps you in a self-defense situation of course, whether you’re holding your breath or whether you’re breathing too fast. You learn how to breathe properly and then how to use your breath to develop more power, more concentration, more focus. That is one of the biggest things that I would use or I would teach for part of my stadium pitch.
I would encourage you to come up with three different topics for stadium pitches. The reason stadium pitches are important is because it gives you a much bigger level of platform to speak to. If you go to a corporation or to big companies, they may not be interested in your self-defense program, your kick-punch stuff. But if you have things that apply to everyone, you’re going to be open to a lot more opportunities.
So, come up with three different presentations that you would give, and then what I would do is I would create them around maybe a one, a three, a five and maybe even a 20-minute segment. Of course, it’s is going to be more difficult to create a one-minute segment than it is a 20-minute segment.
That is what I would really focus on as far as a stadium pitch is concerned.
