...Have you?Everyone talks about the "elevator speech" -- that cogent, short summary of who you are or what you do or what you want, which you're supposed to have at the ready in case you're on an elevator with your boss/potential investor/Simon Powell.
But in my experience, the elevator part never happens. And far from being a speech, that so-called elevator speech is really a core message. You're much more likely to need a short summary of who you are, what you do or why you're here in these situations:
- Networking events, or any meeting where you're getting acquainted with new people;
- Family events, like Thanksgiving dinner or reunions, where you're getting re-acquainted with people you haven't seen in some time;
- Panel discussions, where you have only a brief time to introduce yourself and your message;
- Self-introductions before a presentation; and
- Media interviews, where you need to make your points quickly and succinctly.
- Basics of developing a three-point message, which you can keep short (for the elevator) or expand with more details to make a short talk, medium-size presentation or longer speech.
- Glue to make your message stick: Using analogies, alliteration and popular culture references to help put your point across in ways your audience (and you) will remember.
- More on developing analogies that work in your message, with particular attention to comparisons that involve data, size, scale and movement.
- How to expand on a brief message, filling in the outline--because that's what a short message really is.
