The Pitch as Meaning-directing Activity: Implications for Students and Education When Fast Pace and a Striving for Novelty Set the Scene

Abstract


 
 
 The elevator pitch is part of a global tendency toward homogenization of entrepreneurial content in educational programs (Fletcher, 2018), and this article shows how the pitch is naturalized as a new language because it must be decoded in order to pass an innovation course for health students at a Danish University College. A core communicative component of the pitch is speed. Using pragmatism, the article shows how the pitch guides the meaning making of students and how the compressed time element reduces the space for reflection. Thus, the educational rhythm is set by values from the pitch and innovation. Further, the article problematizes how the pitching situation separates the pitched end product both from reflections on possible consequences of new solutions and from the dynamic forces that actually created the pitch.
 
 

Understanding cases as narratives in entrepreneurship education: a conceptual framework

“…Thus, there is potential to explore and include narrative strategies such as storying, improvisation, and plot development. • The specific entrepreneurial format of pitching can be seen as one approach to developing the skills of narrating a coherent story of a case or venture (Nybye, 2021). • Context is important; when you consider your listener's background and context, you can tell a more profound case story.…”