Super Hero, Straight Guy, and the Femme
Its all about you. Describe who you are and what you do. Its professional speed-dating. That was the exercise before us that evening.
How are you going to be concise, informative, engaging, and confident? Without the hems, haws, errrs, and latent narcissism that is just dying to get out and run with muddy boots on white shag carpeting?
It was a messy start. Words got stuck in my throat. I was stumbling. All the reference points in my head were now floating furniture in a zero-gravity un-fun house. I closed my eyes like I was trying to see a match-flare in the dark.
If I’d been sparring in the boxing ring, I’d be knocked-out. If I was driving, there’d be a fireball. Help!
Start at the beginning.
“I’m a graphic designer with over 31 years of print production experience”.
Good start! Establish a professional bona-fide that you hadn’t been living as a Trustifarian.
“I am also a photographer that works with vintage cameras and film because of their unique visual qualities. The photos are then composited into unique digital illustrations, or left as freestanding documents”
Lumpy, but getting closer. Onward!
“One of my long-term documentary projects is photographing 100-mile runners immediately after they finish, in a mobile studio set-up at the finish line of the race. I shoot with medium format camera, using black-and-white film”
A definable, tangible artifact!
The second hand is sweeping towards the finish.
“I also…”
DING!
And now it’s your turn to listen to somebody else’s pitch.
At the end, I was wrung out. No surprise there—these muscles are flabby from inactivity. But its a start. As I went through the 60-second pitch process, I found that I thought I had it almost-wired. Almost. Until I got home and realized that I’d left out a lot. Like the fact that I’m writing this in a way that’s hopefully concise, informative, and engaging.
