Thoughts on pitches and effective 'project marketing'

So we wrapped up our project pitches today.  I think mine was good, but there's that usual lingering feeling that I could have been better prepared and organized for it.  I'm noticing something interesting as I go to narrow my preferences for project assignment down to 5: the in-person pitches I've heard over the last couple days are a surprisingly strong influence to that process.  As I watched these presentations, I was noting projects I found interesting to further research and consider for my preference list.  I've grazed through the relevant proposals, but found myself looking at ones I hadn't noted to pursue during class time.  What I'm finding is that some of those 'edge' projects are actually quite interesting, and a couple of them are possible candidates in my list.  It's kind of funny to note how much a two-minute speech can sway you for or against a project in comparison to a detailed 15-pager.  I suppose the speech format is more effective at manipulating our emotions (i.e. "do I like you?  do I believe you can lead this project"), while the actual proposal paper appeals more to our logic and reasoning (i.e. "he seems to have everything planned out well").