Your Elevator Speech

[Jerry Kail]

A few of us have been having a sidebar about how to create elevator speeches for what we do - an "elevator speech" being a quick, succinct, yet memorable description of your product/service that you can deliver in the time it takes to ride in an elevator with a prospective client or senior manager. I thought I'd open this up to the whole community to see what ideas you might have for an elevator speech for those of us doing applied improvisation.

So ... [ding!] Oh, hello, what floor? Twenty? OK, so ... what is it you do?

[Jerry Kail]

OK, here's my own take on it (Take One!).

But first: Based on materials that Rebecca Chua sent me (thanks, Rebecca!) and some other info sources, I think a simple structure for an elevator speech might be [not necessarily in this order]:

WHAT does the product/service do?
HOW does it do it?
What PROBLEM/OPPORTUNITY does it address? (or: How does it IMPROVE people's lives?)
What TRACK RECORD does it have? (or: Who else is using it? How can you show me that it's effective?)
How can you ILLUSTRATE it with a simple, powerful metaphor?

So ...

"I do what’s called “'Applied Improvisation.”' Applied Improvisation takes the tools used for training improv theater actors and applies those tools in workshops and training classes to teach people to deal more creatively and flexibly with everyday situations.

"Let me ask you: When you step out of the door in the morning, does somebody hand you a script to tell you what to do and say for the rest of the day? Of course not! [If they say "Yes" - great offer!] Your life’s not scripted out – it’s more like improv, where you’ve got to be ready for whatever’s thrown at you. Applied Improv is based on the idea that anyone can learn to be a better improviser in their daily lives.

"It’s not about throwing people onstage and making them feel like a deer in the headlights. We respect people's comfort zones, and maybe just challenge them to stick a toe outside. And it’s not about turning people into comedians - it’s about helping them think and act more flexibly. (Though if you don't hear any laughter in an Applied Improv workshop, we're not doing our jobs.)"

[Note: The "Track Record" piece is more situational - I'd probably point to something the person already knows, such as a competitor or another local company that uses it, or Toastmasters, which has high visibility in my organization, and which uses improv games in its sessions.]

OK, so to give the lie to paragraph 2: There's the script!

[Paul Levy]

the problem I'd have with an elevator speech is this: If you join our eelvator we take you down not up, down, down, down, below even the basement, right to the molten, burning core.

[Leif Hansen]

Paul, that's hot! I want on your elevator. But is there an emergency latch?

[Jerry Kail]

Karen, ROTFLSTC!! (Rolling On The Floor Laughing, Scaring The Cat)

(Thanks for the replies so far - very helpful and thought-provoking, and keep 'em coming! I'll be back later with some of my own thoughts.)

[Alan Montague]

Poor Kitty

On a less feline note however thanks for the thread. I'm still trying to come up with a description that describes what it is I want to be doing....

Alan

[Karen Dawson]

No real words of wisdom, except to add that while we were at Banff, Johnnie Moore said something that helped me feel a whole lot better about this.

It was (if I remember properly) during the bus ride from Calgary Airport to the Banff Centre.

Johnnie said that more and more people are struggling to define/explain/language around what it is they "actually do" - and that it is a phenomenon that is on the rise as we creatively re-imagine and respond to our clients needs, or at least their perceived needs.

It reminds me of Richard Florida's book The Rise of the Creative Class in which he describes this new "class" of workers who are re-creating what it means to be of service to others. That doesn't answer your question, Jerry, but I know Johnnie made me feel better about the challenges I have at times trying to describe what it is I do.

I do know that one of my teenager's pals asked if I was a phone sex operator because they didn't know of any other way of making money by talking on the phone. My exec coaching clients loved that one!

[Leif Hansen]

"Phone sex op" that is HILARIOUS! (:

[Simon Goland]

I LOVE the "sex phone operator" Karen, and am going to borrow it... ;-)

When I teach (some courses, in some contexts), I distinguish between "What do you do?" and "What are you up to?" The former is more within the context of this thread so far, and the answers can be as creative, unique, personalized, or "in the moment" as one wants. It is the latter one that is of interest for me, because it relates more to what my life purpose, vision, or that highest goal (in whatever the language used is) one really REALLY wants to create. I know that for me, ultimately, all my work leads towards that "what I am up to" and there are times and moments when I use that as my reply.

As an example, when someone asks me, I can say the following: "What I do is facilitate transformational learning moments for individuals and organizations, but what I am really up to is a world where we live in-tune and in an alignment to nature." Or something like that...

[Leif Hansen]

Ideally, I'd know as much as possible about who I am talking with first...ask them questions, then frame it from within their worldview and language. But hear are a few I've used.
-"I Spark people's imaginations" (or Spark connections, fun, ideas, etc) since my biz is Spark Northwest.
-Plainjane: "I help organizations and individuals develop (or grow, or deepen, or xyz)"
-"I'm a workshop artist. I create workshops for organizations and individuals that help them connect while coming up with outrageously good ideas"

There's a few. But like I said, it really depends on who I'm talking with...you could say I "improv' my answer...(: