How to handle nerves before a pitch: techniques from actors

You know your project better than anyone. And yet, the moment you speak, your heart races, your hands shake, and the sentence you rehearsed a hundred times vanishes. That is not a lack of talent: it is your body reacting to high stakes. Actors face it before every performance, and they have tools for it.

Why we get nervous

In front of a panel, your body reacts as if to danger: adrenaline rises, breathing becomes high and fast, blood leaves the extremities. That is useful for running away, much less for explaining a business model.

The good news is that this reaction goes through the body. So you can act on it through the body, before you even try to act on your thoughts.

The 7 techniques

1. Lengthen your exhale

This is the fastest. Breathe in through your nose for four counts, out through your mouth for eight, as if gently blowing on a candle without putting it out. Repeat five or six times. A longer exhale than inhale helps your body come back down.

Do it in the two minutes before you go on, discreetly: nobody notices.

2. Ground yourself

Before you speak, feel both feet flat on the floor, hip-width apart, weight spread evenly. Unlock your knees. Let your shoulders drop. In the theatre this is called "taking the stage": you occupy the space before saying the first word.

A grounded body does not sway, step back or fidget. And the audience reads it as confidence, even if you do not feel it yet.

3. Know your first sentence perfectly

Nerves peak in the first ten seconds. If the first sentence comes out clean, the rest follows. Learn it word for word and say it a hundred times, out loud, in different situations: walking, doing the dishes, with loud music on.

Same for the last sentence and the ask. The middle can stay flexible.

4. Take a beat before you start

Arrive, settle, look at the audience, breathe, and only then speak. Those two seconds will feel endless to you. To the audience, they signal someone in control of the situation.

This is what many actors do when they walk on stage: they let the silence settle before the first line.

5. Speak slower than feels natural

Under stress, your pace speeds up without you noticing. Aim for a rhythm that feels slightly too slow: it will be right for the room. Place pauses after the important numbers. A pause you own reads as ease; a rushed delivery reads as panic.

6. Warm up your voice

Actors do not go on stage with a cold voice. Ten minutes before: a few yawns, humming with your mouth closed, lip trills ("brrr"), a few sentences of your pitch articulated in an exaggerated way. The voice comes out fuller and shakes less.

7. Rehearse in real conditions

This is the foundation technique, the one that makes the other six easy. Rehearse standing up, out loud, in front of someone, timed, with questions asked without warning. Film yourself. Each rehearsal close to the real day removes some of the unknown, and the unknown feeds the nerves.

Pitch day: the 15-minute routine

And if it goes wrong anyway

• Memory blank: go back to the idea of the section you are in and say it simply, in your own words. The audience does not know your script; they do not know what you forgot.
• Voice tightening: stop for a second, exhale, then resume lower and slower.
• A question that throws you: take time to think out loud. "That's a good question, let me answer in two parts." The silence before an answer signals seriousness, not weakness.

What holds you up, in the end, is a text built to be spoken. If yours is not there yet, start with how to make a pitch, step by step. If you will pitch in a second language, read pitching in English as a non-native speaker.

To go further, read how to structure an investor pitch and the questions investors ask after a pitch.