1. The Elevator Pitch Birmingham Education Foundation,
Birmingham City Career Development Conference
Birmingham Education Foundation,
Urban League Young Professionals,
TEDxBirmingham and
Birmingham Rotary Club

2. The Process Choose a Topic
Decide on major thesis/point/takeaway for audience
Outline the presentation
Write down ideas to support argument
Draft full presentation
Edit draft
Practice presentation
Give final presentation!

3. Elevator Pitch (n)
Short speech of [varying length] – we will shoot for 2-3 minutes; assume 200 words = 60 seconds.
Used to describe or promote a service, product or project effectively in a short time
Used by business people, educators and writers.
*The elevator pitch originated during a time when taking the elevator in a large office building was very common. The ideal length of an elevator pitch--about 30 seconds--was based on the time it took the average elevator to rise 30 floors.
*from EHOW.com

4. Three Steps Identify yourself Be confident Be memorable
Speak clearly and concisely
Include:
Your name
Current occupation/grade in school
*In many cases, this will be your only opportunity to sell yourself. Be enthusiastic, be someone that the other person wants to work with, hear from, or meet again.

5. Three Steps Identify your interests What are your academic interests?
Best or favorite subject in school
Elective coursework
What are your non-academic interests?
Extracurricular activities that you participate in
Clubs
Sports
Volunteer organizations or community activities
Employment (if applicable)
*Be specific and use examples to support your answers – for example, if science is your favorite subject in school, briefly discuss a science project have you done recently that you really enjoyed.

6. Three Steps Identify your idea or goal
What are your trying to accomplish?
Someone to invest in your idea?
Someone to offer you a job?
What makes you standout?
What makes you unique?
What makes you a stronger candidate than someone else?
Why is your idea worth listening to?
Why should someone invest in you/your idea?
What do investors have to gain?
How can you add value to investors’ organization?
*You do not have to explicitly answer these questions in your actual Elevator Pitch, but you should articulate them for yourself and ask if the answers would be obvious to the person you are speaking to.

7. Good elevator pitches
Are personal – be friendly, confident, and energetic: in other words, someone that others want to work with.
Are clear and concise – in a short period of time, you have to choose your words wisely.
Are sales pitches – sell yourself or your idea to the person you are talking to.
Are engaging – ask questions to your audience so that they are active participants in your conversation.
Are consistent – use the same words every time you give your elevator pitch so that you communicate the same message to different audiences.
Are rehearsed – practice makes perfect, but practice also makes normal, and practices makes consistent.

8. Mad Men: Kodak Carousel Pitch
VH will show certain parts of this video totaling no more than 10mins.

9. Reflection on Don Draper’s Kodak Pitch
How did the speaker:
Define himself as a presenter?
What did he share about himself?
What emotion did he rely on?
Define the argument?
What was his main point?
What was his secondary argument?
What did he use to support the argument?
Define the nature of her presentation?
What did he want audience to feel or do?

10. Elevator Pitch Workshop
Now, draft an word Elevator Pitch explaining why you should have the opportunity to talk about your topic:
List 1 topic that you are:
Interested in
Passionate about
Knowledgeable about
Introduce yourself and your interests/goals
For the topic listed above:
Introduce the topic; include points in Part II of the exercise
Express why the topic is important to you
Write in a conversational style
Express why the audience should care about the topic
Share draft with a partner
Make edits
State the desired outcome (what you want your audience to know, say, feel, or do after)
*Topics may be same as or different from the last workshop
Define a 1-2 sentence argument
*Be Specific!