If you're at a writers' conference or somewhere else where you have a chance to pitch your story idea, pitch it into the editor's or agent's right ear. This is an extrapolation of the more general research, reported by the Telegraph (UK) and others, that people are more receptive to ideas heard in their right ear. They attribute this to the cross-wiring of humans. Something heard in the right ear is first processed by the more logical left hemisphere of the brain.

You should have a flash-pitch handy in case you're stuck in line on the editor's or agent's left side. You'll point off in a direction to her left (stage right) and say, "Hey, it's Stephen King and he's looking for a new agent." When she turns her right ear to you, give her your flash-pitch to put her in the right mood: "Think Old Man and the Sea but with newlyweds." When she turns back to you--but before she has a chance to get angry--start your pitch: the old man in the sea loved his game fish and his fish stories, but suppose he happened to have his new trophy wife aboard. Old Man and the Hussy is my blockbuster new novel that....