Master Public Speaker David Burston to Run Pitch Night from Friday, 5 August

What is The SPACE monthly Pitch evening?

It is a forum where likeminded people who are interested in developing a business or a business concept to come together and present their ideas and develop their communication skills. It is a brainstorming opportunity, a place where everyone can help each other develop their presentations. Some people may be at the stage where they are getting ready to present to a financier or potential business partner, others will have a head full of ideas and don’t know where to start, fantastic. It is a place where the combined knowledge and experience can be used to accelerate everyone’s progress.

The SPACE team would like to welcome David Burston as the facilitator for the next Pitch Evenings starting with this week’s event at the SPACE on Friday 5th of August at 5:30pm.  

Get your tickets here David is a seasoned public speaker and has deliver over forty, one day Professional speaking workshops and evening courses through the Toastmaster organisation.

These have been conducted in Cairns, Mount Isa, Alice Springs, Katherine, Darwin and in Papua New Guinea for a range of community, business and indigenous groups. In 2011 he was awarded the District69 Toastmaster of the year, an organisation with 3,300 members across Queensland, Northern Territory and Papua New Guinea, for his work in training and leadership in the North and PNG.

His background is wide, ranging from farming to aquaculture, quality assurance to building fabric structures. He designed and built high efficiency shearing sheds and developed the infrastructure for the Peppermint industry in North East Victoria. In aquaculture with two partners developed the yabby industry in Victoria, designed and developed an automated hatchery producing over a million juveniles a month. This was supported by the development of holding and live export protocols for local and export markets, turning the yabby into a gourmet product, lifting the price from $5/kg to $20/kg by assuring quality and supply.  Further work was done with the breeding and marketing of freshwater fish including Murray Cod, Catfish and Silver and Golden Perch. He has been a pilot, ski instructor, horse breaker and earthmover, building a 50 acre lake holding 500Ml of water for irrigation purposes.

Has he always been successful, NO, there are some spectacular failures along the path, but he has ventured well off the beaten path along the way. All of which has the potential to add value to a Pitch session, together with the vast experience of other participants.

David specialises in creating an environment where people can understand the factors that are limiting their potential, so as they can develop their own unique communication styles and connect with their audience. This may be a business person pitching for finance or expertise, a job seeker out to impress a potential employer, a wedding speech in the making, or a person selling their ideas to their community or the world; the communication principles are all the same. Business ideas have to be sold for them to realise their potential. You not only have to explain your project clearly, but you have to inspire your listeners to become your ambassadors, cheering you on and spreading the word of your opportunity across their networks.

You don’t develop communication skills by talking to yourself in front of a mirror, you need a live audience, and audience who will react to your message, and an audience who will give you feedback on how to improve your impact. You need stage time, on a regular basis to polish your delivery. In Cairns we are incredibly lucky to have this valuable facility  provided by The SPACE, very few communities are in this position.

Public speaking is a very uncomfortable place for most people to venture, but The SPACE becomes your sandpit where we all play in a very supportive environment. This is the place to practice, to develop your communication skills. We get very few opportunities to present our projects when looking for finance, business partners, or markets, and it is vital that we are fully prepared when these opportunities, often unexpectedly, are presented to us. Yes we know you busy, we all are, but if you are developing a business this is one of the foundation stones that is vital in your success. We look forward to meeting you at The SPACE Pitch evening with all the others who have left their comfort zone to enjoy an entertaining and inspiring evening. And by the way, David is developing a new business too, conducting one day and part day professional communication workshops across the Far North and NT initially to business, community and indigenous groups.

See you there Friday evening at The SPACE, Building U, (enter via Eureka Street and you will see the SPACE sign) 5:30pm sharp start and at $20, what a bargain (free for members of theSPACE and local Toastmasters clubs). If you are developing a business, this is where it is all happening. Get your tickets here

Note: The next one day Professional Speaking workshop will be held at The SPACE Sunday 21st August 8:30am to 4:30pm, a bulletin will come out shortly with all the details. These workshops teach you how to create a memorable presentation in ten minutes, how to connect with your audience, deliver powerful evaluations to facilitate change, field impromptu questions with ease and understanding the mechanics of humour.