Announcing the ‘elevator speech’ contest!

When you’re preparing a presentation, one of the most useful steps you can take is to create an elevator speech.  That’s the one-sentence summary of the speech you’d give someone on an elevator while descending to the mezzanine floor where you’re about to speak.  The person in question is wearing golfing attire and says, “Gee, I was going to attend your speech but there’s this great golf course out there….” You’ve got about 10 floors to make your case and guarantee yourself an audience of at least one. 

So you say something that has the word ‘you’ in it, an emotion, and a benefit.  You should attend my speech because you will find out how to prosper financially even when times are terrible, like they are now. 

That’s a good elevator speech because it answers the question that the audience always has to begin with, “What’s in it for me?” 

Once you know what your elevator speech is, you’re ready to write your presentation.  Anything that isn’t immediately relevant to the elevator speech should be discarded.  The whole point here is to keep focused.  One of the most common reasons speeches fail to move audiences is because most people throw in too much information and wander around the point in an effort to tell the audience everything they know. 

Elevator speeches keep you on point.  You will probably never actually say the elevator speech out loud to an audience; that’s not what it’s for.  It’s whole reason for being is to keep you focused on one idea and one idea only.  That’s the secret of a good speech. 

So important are elevator speeches that I’m starting a contest to promote good ones.  Send me your elevator speeches and we’ll critique them, help you sharpen them, and pick the best one for a prize. 

Post them here.  Bring ‘em on!