My first pitch

It was my first time doing a pitch for project funding and it was a "harrowing" yet strange session (strange maybe becoz it was my first!).

Anyway, I had submitted a proposal earlier for some funding and today was the day I was to do a presentation to the board of trustees to the fund (was alloted 10 min to do the pitch). The first thing was when I stepped in, there were 8 people! I nearly fainted. Fortunately, I had brought a colleague along.

Secondly, they went straight into Q&A without asking me to present (which caught me by surprise)! Well, I guess the proposal was there (they were perusing it just prior to my entrance)... It might have been a good thing since I didn't need to go through a powerpoint presentation (I'm totally nervous when it comes to such things) until they posed the question that I really didn't have the adequate answer to (which was actually the main & only question they were harping on). Fortunately, my CEO (who was also on the board) helped a little which was useful coz the question required his decision to commit the solution. In fact, in the end I didn't really get to say much. Not sure if that was a good or bad sign...or if I actually said stupid things.

Hmmm...I guess there's always a first time.