Need an Elevator Speech . . . Going Up?

One of my recent posts, I discussed ways to use the introduction of the story format to be the basis for one’s elevator speech.  Being an member of LinkedIn, I thought I would pose the question, “In your opinion, what are the ingredients to a great elevator speech or 30 second info-mercial for a networking event?”

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Now that you have completed Act 1, you have identified the setting, the protagonist (who should be your audience), the pain the protagonist is experiencing, the desired outcome and the solution to get there.  You have established the tone and focus of your message.  You have established an emotional connection with your audience.

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Every story has three parts, a beginning, a middle and an end.  We can thank Aristotle for that concept.  As children we loved stories at bedtime and by the camp fire.  As adults, that love affair has not dwindled.  We love stories and it is an effective way of communication since humans have been using stories as a way of communicating for thousands of years.  Many people say that they can not tell good stories let alone write them.  This series of blogs on writing a script will be based on Cliff Atkinson’s “Beyond Bullet Points” book which I use with my work and think it is a very valuable tool for anyone who is serious about improving their presentation performance and effectiveness.  I strongly suggest you purchase the book and keep it close by as a reference tool. I will spend the next series of blog entries talking about the first part of the story telling process, the beginning.   The story script template can be found on Cliff’s blog.

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Conducting a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats) Analysis is a common marketing tool in business today.  A SWOT is often done annually during the planning exercises for the next fiscal year.

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Many prophets of presentation design and skill speak about the horrors of adding text only to slides, word for word.  On top of that, there have been studies showing that reading the text off of a slide, word for word is not effective.  I tend to agree with this however every now and then someone comes along and breaks the rules with flair and brilliance.

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In presentations, nothing makes a statement louder than silence.  If you have a statement that you want to drive home, make a point to cloak the statement in brief moments of silence. 

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Now that you have researched the why, who, what, where and when; how are you going to present?  This is the final question in my series of crucial questions you must ask before you do anything associated with the preparation of your next presentation.

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It is important to know when you are presenting for several reasons.  The main one is that once you know the time of day, you can mitigate many of the potential distractions that may occur.  From my experiences the morning is the best time.  Mid morning to be exact (9:00 AM to 11:00 AM).  Your audience will be awake and attentive.  Probably the worst time is right after lunch.  This is compounded exponentially if the audience just finished a big plate of pasta.  You may want to involve some form of physical movement before they all pass out on you.  If you are the first in the morning, set about 4 to 5 alarm clocks so you are not late.  Make sure to arrive early so that the technicians are there and all the equipment is working properly.

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