Catherine Moonan, The Pitch Coach author, interviewed

By @SimonCocking. We reviewed Catherine Moonan‘s ‘The Pitch Coach’ earlier this week (available for purchase from Liberties Press). We thought it might be interesting to get a sense of how it was for her to write it, and her experiences over the years as the pitching coach for RTE’s Dragon’s Den. 

How was it writing the book? Fun / easy / hard?

Writing the book was certainly enjoyable, but also challenging. Before that, the most I would have written was a feature article of 2,000 words. I didn’t realise the huge commitment and time involved.

Did you see the interview with @RTEToday I did last week? You can watch it again here https://t.co/AzjGG0fAUN – 52:45

— Catherine Moonan (@catherinemoonan) February 2, 2016

You spoke about going offline for 3 days in a quiet town on the coast, to work out the overall shape of the book and what to leave in and what to leave out. How tough is it to write in a normally constantly ‘on’ /connected environment?

It’s like everything else, you have to get on with writing in a normally constantly ‘on’ / connected environment. That’s life. It’s busy, but you find where best in the day suits you. For me, the house is quieter in the mornings when the girls are in school. However, I certainly found it beneficial to be away from everything during the edit, when I was trying to get some clarity and shape on the book.

@Tweetinggoddess The Pitch Coach @catherinemoonan reviewed https://t.co/ftB9Hurlaj … @SimonCocking @Irish_TechNews pic.twitter.com/HLEBbZ71NW

— Simon Cocking (@SimonCocking) February 1, 2016

7 seasons of Dragon’s Den – well done. Has the level of preparation by participants changed over this time

We will be filming Season 7 of ‘Dragons’ Den’ in February. I think the fact that people are more familiar with the show now, they realise the amount of preparation that goes into a pitch beforehand. People have spent weeks preparing by the time I get to see them, just an hour before they go on air.

Has what you coach the Dragon’s Den participants changed over this time too? Do you emphasise different things now to what you first did when you began the show? 

My coaching is the same as it was when I started working with the ‘Dragons’ Den’. Everyone is different and each pitch is unique to that person. I just work with who I have in front of me and my emphasis is based on their specific needs. One person may be very nervous, so I calm them down and get them to practice with more confidence. Another may race through their pitch, so we practice slowing down and using more pause. Another pitch may be quite technical, so we look at simplifying it. Finally, there might be someone who finds they are going blank and can’t remember their pitch. I help them to think of their pitch like a story and break it into keywords for them which will help them to remember what they want to say.

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