That’s Why They Call it an Elevator SPEECH

When I work with business professionals to enhance their Elevator Speech, I remind them of the major similarities between it and a typical workplace presentation:

  • Audience-Centric focused – aimed at the listeners with a high level of interest for them.
  • Easy to understand – no confusing acronyms, terms or buzz words.
  • Benefits rich – emphasizing who benefits rather than listing a string of facts or feature statements.
  • Interactive – helping to create a dialogue rather than a monologue by encouraging and responding to questions.
  • Concise – short enough to maintain interest and still accomplish its objective.
  • Physical energy – focused eye contact, appropriate gestures and a smile on your face.
  • Vocally enthusiastic – delivered with strong volume and inflection, yet at a pace comfortable for the listeners.
  • Confident – projecting that you believe in what you’re saying and want them to as well, but never sounding cocky.
  • Practiced – but not memorized, so it sounds spontaneous and natural.

Because your Elevator Speech is still a speech, strive to embrace the ‘3 Es’:

  1. Effective – saying the right things to the right people for the right reasons
  2. Efficient – saying those right things in the right way, with vocal and physical energy.
  3.  Engaging – making the message compelling, interesting and memorable.

So, the next time someone at a networking event asks you what you do, deliver your Elevator SPEECH answer with credibility, competence … and confidence.