How to deal with the many emotions of pitching

Introduction 

Pitching has always been stressful, but as pitches become more complex and competitive, the emotional toll on people is increasing. Most pitch training focuses on presentation skills for the final day, rather than helping people navigate the whole pitch process.

Seminar overview 

This workshop helps better prepare people for the stresses of pitching, so they enjoy pitching more and perform at their best. It provides practical insights and tools to help participants to recognise the emotions that commonly arise during a pitch, understand how those emotions affect performance, and manage them in a healthy, sustainable way.

Participants will leave with greater awareness of their emotional responses during pitches, simple techniques to regulate stress and anxiety, and a personalised wellbeing approach they can use again and again.

Watch Paul preview the seminar in this short video

Benefits

For individuals, it will help make pitching a more positive experience creating greater confidence, focus and resilience during pitches.

For agencies that means they perform better, win more and retain their best people.

Who should attend? 

The programme is designed for anyone who is likely to play a key role in a major pitch.  Two groups would particularly benefit from the training:

• Core New Business team: Providing them with broader skills and perspective to help run better pitches and to manage their own energy.
• Rising stars: The ‘squeezed middle’ who are working on pitches and managing teams. They might be stepping up to a big pitch for the first time and are unsure of what to expect.

About the presenter 

Paul Wilson has been in your shoes. Over a 25-year career in media as a Global CSO across both holding companies and independent agencies, he has experienced first-hand the highs and lows of pitching.

Now, as a qualified coach and wellbeing practitioner, he brings an evidence-based, practical approach to helping pitch teams manage pressure with greater awareness, resilience and confidence.

Running this session online 

We will be running one session only from 9.15am to 11.15am on Wednesday 25 February 2026 via Zoom. If you or a colleague would like to participate, please do email us with name, job title, agency and email address on events@aargroup.co.uk and we’ll be sure to send you the Zoom conference details. We cannot process bookings without those details! 

NB: AAR seminars are exclusive to AAR subscribing agencies only. A maximum of FIVE places per agency for our remote sessions, please. 

Bookings will open on 26 January 2026.