UNITAR - NYU Women’s Initiative: A Road Map to Making Successful Pitch

06 June, 2018, New York City, United States – The United nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) hosted a highly interactive workshop with Mr. Jim Arnoff, a certified life/career/business coach associated with NYU Women’s Initiatives. It was the first-time collaboration between NYU and UNITAR. The event was well-attended and highly rated by the participants with diverse backgrounds.

The workshop was opened with remarks delivered by Mr. Pelayo Alvarez from UNITAR. After a brief introduction on the speakers and the content of the workshop, Ms. Judith Balkin, the chairwoman for the NYU Women’s Initiative addressed her gratefulness to the platform offered by UNITAR and provided an overview on NYU Women’s Initiative – a prominent association dedicated to engaging more than 200,000 NYU alumnae in the intellectual, cultural, and educational aspects of life. NYU Women’s Initiative featured outstanding NYU faculty and alumni to provide opportunities to continue lifelong learning and empower women through educational, cultural or networking events.

Mr. Jim Arnoff, a partner of NYU Women’s Initiative began his workshop by asking people’s interpretations on “pitching”. He then asked participants to introduce themselves in the form of pitching individually across the room. While presenting, Mr. Jim Arnoff offered constructive advice and suggestions according to each individual’s background and he made sure to tailor each person a better version of self-introduction as a take-away for the participants. Participants tend to learn and gain new perspectives on pitching and their self-confidence has been elevated by the end of the course. During the highly intensive 90 min workshop, Mr. Jim Arnoff tried to engage everyone in the room and he provided several helpful and hands-on tips, including using progressive tense, limiting the “but” and “maybe” in the sentences and be self-assure when pitching. The 90 minutes course was successful - according to the participants, and the take-aways were huge. Several participants requested a longer session from Mr. Jim Arnoff in the future.

Setting up in a diplomatic background, the workshop has benefitted the participants directly and provided valuable tips for participants to practice immediately. UNITAR is pleased with the experience of collaborating with NYU Women’s Initiative, and both parties are hoping to benefit more diplomats and staffs from the UN in the future by developing more possibilities on collaborations.

Photo 1: (From Left) Mr. Pelayo Alvarez, Ms. Judith Balkin, Mr. Jim Arnoff. Ms. Balkin introduces Mr. Arnoff.

Photo 2: Mr. Jim Arnoff engages with the audience.

Photo 3: A participant asks a question.