The Enterprising Moms

If you read my last post, Speak your way to the top: Don’t give short shrift to your elevator pitch, you already know what an elevator speech is and why it’s important to prepare one.  You also may have signed up for The Enterprising Mom’s monthly networking event on April 13, 2010, which will give you a change to practice your elevator speech while learning tips to speak with confidence and avoid common pitfalls of women speakers.  (If you haven’t registered yet, you can register now. Only a few spaces remain.)

But before you can share your elevator speech with fellow Enterprising Moms on April 13, you need to prepare one.  As you craft yours, remember to include these three key elements of a memorable elevator speech:

1.  Describe yourself as a solution to a problem.

The most important part of your elevator speech is the first sentence.  It’s important because when you don’t have much time, this sentence becomes the short version of your elevator speech.  And even when you do have a minute or two for your elevator speech, this sentence is vital because it will determine whether the person or people you’re talking to will continue listening or if they’ll tune you out.

For that important first sentence then, make sure you describe yourself as a solution to a problem faced by your clients or customers.  People don’t necessarily care what your job title is or how your industry describes the work you do.  They do care about how you can help them solve a problem.

Rather than calling myself a presentation-skills trainer or a public-speaking coach, which leaves listeners wondering, I tell new people I meet, “I unlock the potential of talented professionals by giving them confidence as speakers.”  Notice the use of clear, simple language that avoids jargon and overused buzzwords.

2.  Tell an anecdote

After you describe how you solve a problem for the people you work with, tell a short story to explain your motivation for doing what you do.  This anecdote should be a “signature story” – one that reveals the ah-ha moment when you realized you wanted to do what you do or an example that shows that how exceptional you are at your craft.

For me, I always tell the story of how I realized the importance of strong speaking skills:

“As a college freshman, I opted to participate in two debate tournaments rather than suffer through a semester-long course in public speaking to fulfill a requirement of my major.  During my first debate — a humiliating defeat to a top team from Pacific Lutheran University — I realized that I needed to be as articulate and confident as my opponents to excel academically and professionally.

That’s when I dedicated myself to becoming a great speaker and empowering others with communication skills.” The value of telling an anecdote is that people love listening to stories (just think of your kids at bedtime), they are more memorable than highlights from your resume (people at networking events don’t always remember my name, but they can tell you I was drubbed in my first college debate) and they build rapport with your listeners (we get a better sense of someone we just met when they open up and share a personal story).

Remember that your anecdote must be brief – your entire elevator speech is just one to two minutes long.  It should have a few specific details, such as the school my opponents represented, because it makes the story more interesting and colorful.  And it should include vivid language that makes the ears of your listeners perk up, like I did with the words “suffer,” “humiliating defeat,” “excel” and “empowering.”

3.  Ask an open-ended questions

Lastly, end by asking a question that can’t be answered with a simple “yes” or “no.”  The ultimate goal of an elevator speech is to start a dialogue.  After all, you can’t learn about someone you just met when your lips are moving.  You have to let your ears do the work.

The question you ask can be as simple as, “And what is it that you do?”  Or you can make it more specific to your field of work.  I’ll often ask a question along the lines of, “What kind of experience do you have with public speaking?”  Or, “What kind of speaking do you do in the course of your work?”

The content of a memorable elevator speech should be brief, should position you as a solution to a problem, should share a personal anecdote that explains why you do what you do, and should transform your introduction from a monologue to a dialogue.  If you can make the networking event on April 13, I look forward to giving you feedback on your elevator speech and helping you deliver it with confidence.

Christine Clapp is the president of Spoken with Authority.  You can sign up for her monthly e-newsletter, Speaking of Speaking