Elevator Speech Workbook
As a professional you will have the opportunity to introduce yourself multiple times a day or
week.
Your assignment is to introduce your selves to the class. You will find it very helpful if you
have a folder or ideally a single list by date of all the jobs with duties plus all the schools &
courses (with grades) you have taken, by date. You will want/need this “history” for the rest of
your life – long time! (This list will be very helpful for “customizing” your Resume for each job,
or loan you apply for. Try to keep it up so that each time you need it will be less intimidating.)
How to Craft an Effective Elevator Speech
By Chris King
www.creativekeys.net/PowerfulPresentations/article1024.html
“I know that at this moment, you are wondering what I’m talking
about. Who gives a speech in an elevator anyway? What I mean by
an ‘elevator speech’ is a short description of what you do, or the
point you want to make, presented in the time it takes an elevator to
go from the top floor to the first floor or vice versa.”
Why is planning and writing an Introductory speech important
to you?
As a professional in Businesses (Realtors, Contract Assistants, micco
business service providers, etc.); we constantly need to introduce ourselves, usually multiple
times per day. Planning and practice will make your introduction better. There are three types of
basic speeches: 1) Introductory, 2) Selling & 3) Financing.
We should NOT try to sell in class, to Sell, we need to know the prospects goals and desires.
Please try to keep this assignment to an introduction. When completed with your speech, please
consider creating or updating your LinkedIn summary based upon the profile you created.
Extra Credit will be awarded for recording your speech and uploading it to YouTube. Discuss
the process and what you learned in the blog/discussion and send me the link as needed.
Please do not start outlining/writing your introductory speech just yet, please read on!
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Elevator Speech Workbook
You may need as many as three types of speeches in your career, but only the introductory now
please.
1. An introductory/informational speech, the one you are presently planning.
2. A selling speech, why the prospect should trust you and why you are an expert at the
chosen task. You do not know what the prospects’ needs YET, nor do you know the
listeners’ hot buttons. Don’t sell without knowing something about your listener. (More
in the marketing.)
3. A please “finance” me speech.
a. This is the speech you would give on the shark tank, to your 3fs (friends, family
& fools) to invest in your business, or to your banker for a loan. Please watch one
episode of the Shark-Tank - http://abc.go.com/shows/shark-tank .
i. What do the Sharks (investors & lenders) what to know about the
business, before they make up their mind?
1. What are the sales & margin, what are the numbers and marketing
plans needed to be funded?
2. What does it cost to get a client?
3. What will you earn from a client?
b. http://www.history.com/shows/pawn-stars Notice that goal of each purchase on
the show is to make sure that there is a “profit” built in at the time of the
purchase, this is very important “idea” in Real “Estate and buying a Business too!
This speech effort will help you with your resume, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, your personal
section of your website (no website, please consider taking Business 148A and learn how to
create a business Plan and create a free website).
A good idea is to start with your old resume, if you have one; add dates and convert it into an
list/outline, your goal is to create a “complete” resume outline. Add all the other important dates
& ideas. This project may take some time & effort, but you will find the effort to be worth it! If it
will take to much time and delay this assignment, do enough to do the assignment and come back
to the project later - But come back, once a year at the beginning!
When you have updated your list, you will be able to easily customize Linkedin & Facebook
business pages, your resume and speeches. As you will have “All” the information and dates in
one place. You will have your “master” resume or your personal history of your work &
education outline (don’t forget summer jobs and volunteer work). Keep this list and update it
over the years.
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Elevator Speech Workbook
What should be included? (Goal = everything) Try to cover: (Put in as many dates as possible,
the dates get harder to remember, the older you get.)
1) Your education: courses taken, grades & dates and those that you plan to take plus
those course you ought to take.
2) Your work experience (jobs worked at, date, and duties, plus how those experiences
have helped you grow,
3) Your personal life, hobbies & skills.
You will find that the best received Resumes and inquiry letters are those that are customized to
the recipient. Your complete “history” will help a lot, in the writing and not making mistakes.
How to Craft a Killer Elevator Pitch That Will Land You Big Business
Eye Contact
Please
What is an Elevator Pitch?
This is the 30-60 second business description of what you do and why someone should work
with you. It's called an "Elevator Pitch" because it describes the challenge: "How would you
explain your business and make a sale if fate placed you in an elevator with your dream prospect
and you only had the time it takes to get from the top of the building or to the bottom?"
This article will explain the elements of a powerful elevator pitch and then walk you through how
to craft yours.
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Elevator Speech Workbook
Why Is Having an Elevator Pitch So Important?
You only have 30-60 seconds to make a powerful first impression. The attention span of the
average person is just 30 seconds before their mind starts wandering. The other reason is people
have less time today. You need to grab them quickly or lose them possibly forever.
Now the assignment:
What is an elevator speech, a short introductory speech about you that creates the desire in the
listener to want to talk with you more, (plus the goal of being remembered)? Please create and
present the speech to class. Please turn in a typed draft of your speech at the time you present to
the class.
A. The goal of the introductory speech is to get the listener to ask a question or at least to
remember you for the next couple of months!
B. The need to introduce ourselves to people is becoming more frequent and more important
than ever before! Introducing yourself to the class, on Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, to
your prospective new client is a skill worthy of your planning and practicing. What do
your listeners need to know about you? (Your class mates are potentially new friends &
NEW prospects/clients.) Each of us needs to be able to introduce ourselves in 30 to 90
seconds or less. The goal of the speech is that the listener wants to know more about us at
the end of our “elevator”, introductory speech.
References in fiction
An elevator pitch (literally done in an elevator) is a key scene in the movie Working Girl.
When your speech works, you will know, the listener will ask a question about what you
just talked about.
You will find longer speeches are easier but NOT better. During your editing process, practice
out loud!
1. In front of the bathroom mirror several times is best. (In the bathroom there is a mirror
and closing the door will minimize the family teasing.)
2. Then on us in writing or – YouTube Video, extra Credit. (How-to, later in the YouTube
Workbook.)
3. Then graduate to giving the speech to your family and friends
4. Then finally to a stranger.
This may be the most “profitable” assignment you ever do! 
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Elevator Speech Workbook
Hint – Best Practices:
A. Outlining is the shortest and best (highest quality prose & shortest time overall needed to
write) way to plan any speech, blog or paper!
I strongly suggest that you outline using single words and phrases only.
Example:
1.
a.
i.
B. It has been said that up to 80% of the time you have to write, (a budget for your time for
this project) should be done outlining (planning) and you will write significantly better
with just the 20% of the total budgeted time used for the writing.
Outlining will help all your writing and oral presentations quality & actually shorten the time
needed to create.
 Try to revisit the writing the next day and edit one more time, if possible.
C. OUTLINE YOUR TALK
Do you have a resume? If yes, use it to start your resume & create an outline/time-line. If
not start an outline creating to draft a “master” time-line of your “life”.
Start an outline of your material using the outline form you learned in grade school. You
don’t need to add any detail at this stage; simply write a few notes on each point to help
remind you of what you really want to say, and in what order. You don’t want complete
sentences at this point.
A Question to keep asking yourself while outlining is, “Can I divide any of these items
into one or more pieces?” If you can, add two to three sub points below the “item”. This is
called planning, and helps to answer clearly everything you wanted to or needed to cover.
D. FINALIZE YOUR SPEECH –
 Now that you have your outline of your jobs, classes & dates, you can finalize the
speech quite quickly!
 The key to doing this is to expand on the outline/notes you made by writing out each
section in full sentences. Please remember a paragraph has at least 3 sentences and
should not have more than 5 sentences.
 You will need a summary for the speech, for Linkedin and for your resume.
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Elevator Speech Workbook
Yes, I will give extra-EXTRA credit if you record your introductory speech on YouTube or
Facebook - as a Video! (Extra credit and you learn a skill that may be good practice for
later too!)
Please remember this workbook is formatted so that when printed, the workbook may be
kept in a three ring binder for easy storage, and future upgrades to your profile. Best
Practices, keep your professional time line in the binder too.
To help you do this, follow these guidelines: (Speech, blog or essay)
a. Create a summary, what is important to cover and what can be left out. 
b. Take each outline point, notes that you made and write a sentence or two
expanding the items.
c.
Take each of the sentences and connect them together with additional phrases to
make them flow as a paragraph. (3 paragraphs are usually minimum & 5
maximum!) You should not use everything in your outline/timeline, but you will
have the “complete” outline/timeline for all of the customized introductory
speeches you will need in the future.
d. Go through what you have written and change any long words or jargon into
everyday language.
e.
Read it out loud, time it, go back through the re-written material and cut out
unnecessary words. Practice in front of a mirror, to see what you are doing, (a
video is even better).
f.
Finalize your speech by making sure it is no less than 90 seconds nor more than
120 seconds long to present.
g. Cut & paste your speech into the appropriate Assignment Blog.
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Elevator Speech Workbook
The Art of the Elevator Pitch
By Robert Pagliarini of SeekingCapital.com
http://www.businessknowhow.com/money/elevator.htm
Question: Who in this class will be able to help you in two years? Start collecting names! 
NOW!
External links
 Video on how to create an elevator pitch from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Ideas:
 http://www.creativekeys.net/PowerfulPresentations/article1024.html
Helpful Sites:
 http://bschool.pepperdine.edu/career/content/elevatorspeech.pdf
Are there any sites you would recommend?
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Elevator Speech Workbook
Essential Elements of a Powerful Elevator Pitch
1. Concise. Your pitch should take no longer than 120 seconds.
2. Clear. Use language that everyone understands. Don't use fancy words thinking it will make
you sound smarter. Your listener won't understand you and you'll have lost your opportunity
to hook them.
3. Powerful. Use words that are powerful and strong. Deliver the "Sip-Boom-Bang" to grab
their attention!
4. Visual. Use words that create a visual image in your listeners mind. This will make your
message memorable.
5. Tell a Story. A short story, that is. A good story is essentially this: someone with a problem
either finds a solution or faces tragedy. Either type of story can be used to illuminate what
you do.
6. Targeted. A great elevator pitch is aimed for a specific audience. If you have target
audiences that are vastly different, you might want to have a unique pitch for each.
7. Goal Oriented. A kick-ass elevator pitch is designed with a specific outcome in mind. What
is your desired outcome? You should have different pitches depending on different
objectives. For instance do you want to: make a sale, gain a prospect, enlist support for an
idea, or earn a referral?
8. Has a Hook. This is the element that literally snags your listener's interest and makes them
want to know more. This is the phrase or words that strike a chord in your listener.
Why organize your personal introduction? What is in it for you?
An example of its importance is my wife’s two biggest sales, >$$$, several Years average
income each, have started in the checkout line of a grocery store. They started with her
elevator speech.
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Elevator Speech Workbook
APPENDEX
Have you answered the following questions in your outline?
1. What jobs have you held; your title, the dates, the duties & the responsibilities
held?

__________, _________, __________
2. Education:

Courses taken, when & where

Certificates

Degrees
3. Who are you?

__________, _________, __________
4. Why is what you are telling the potential friend or prospect important to them?

__________, _________, __________
5. Why should the listener think of you as an expert?

__________, _________, __________
6. What are your key strengths? (Energetic, Diligent, Honest, …) [list]

__________, _________, __________

__________, _________, __________
7. What adjectives come to mind to describe yourself? [list]

__________, _________, __________
8. Why should your listener be interested in you, your company or your industry?

__________, _________, __________
9. Your speech will evolve, please let it.

__________, _________, __________
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Elevator Speech Workbook
Research and planning mini-assignment
1. What skills do you have?
 _________________________________
 _________________________________
2. What skills does the business need?
 _________________________________
 _________________________________
3. What are the personal mismatches between 1 & 2 above?
 _________________________________
 _________________________________
4. Which of the needed skills can you get at Merritt College?
 ____________________________________
 ____________________________________
 Bus 148A Small Business Project-Based Path for Entrepreneurs
(Learn by creating a business plan and a website for your personal small business.
5. Which of the skills do you need to learn on the next job? (The statistics are that you may
have 7 or more in your career.)

____________________________________

____________________________________
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Elevator Speech Workbook
How to Craft Your Killer Elevator Pitch – You have or go back and create your “personal”
time line, for education, jobs and other items that created you as you. Now let’s expand the
outline.

Write down what you do. Write it several different ways. Don't edit yourself at all when
writing for the first time. You will edit later. This first step is for generating ideas. Don't hold
back. Ideas can be goofy, serious, wild, funny, or conservative. It doesn't matter. The goal is
to get at many ideas as possible down on paper. If you need more space, feel free to create it.

Write a very short story that illustrates what you do for people. If necessary, the story can
be long. You will boil it down later. Paint a picture with words.

Write down your objective or goal. Do you want to make a sale, gain a prospect, enlist
support for an idea, earn a referral, or something else?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Introductory
Sales
Finance
Other

Record yourself. You can use Jot if you don't have a recording device. Jot is a free phone
based service that translates your messages into text as well as providing an online link to the
original audio. Allows you to listen to your phrasing. Reading you work out loud works too.
(Tip: in the bathroom, in front of the mirror, fewer people to hear your efforts and you get to
see your face too.)

Let it sit. Come back to what you've written with fresh eyes and ears the next day or later on
in the same day. Now is the time to edit; your outline to a fully written out speech.
If what you are doing is important to you, it is important to
1. Outline
2. Draft
3. Edit
4. Revise over time

Highlight the good stuff. Listen and read through what you've recorded and written. Then
either highlight or circle the phrases that hook you with clear, powerful, and visual words.
Obviously not all the words will fall into these categories. You still need connector words,
but you want them to be as few as possible.
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
Put the best pieces together. Again you'll want to write down several versions of this much
tighter pitch. Tell us what you do and why people should want to do business with you.
Include elements from your story if you can fit it in.

Record these new ones. – YouTube – on your cell phone or computer.

Do a final edit cutting as many unnecessary words as possible. Rearrange words and phrases
until it sounds just right. Again, the goal is 60 - 120 seconds maximum, try for 90 seconds as
a goal.

Dress Rehearsal. Run it by as many people as you can get to listen to you. Get feedback
from colleagues, clients you trust, friends and family. Your feedback is, what are the
listener’s reactions. This speech is economically important to you!

Done for now. Take your final elevator pitch and write it down. Memorize and practice it
until it just slides off your tongue naturally.

Continue to improve. Over time, always be on the search for phrases that you think could
make your elevator pitch more clear and understandable. And then test it out. Every once in a
while you will probably benefit by starting from the beginning and revising your speech
because things always change: you, your business, your goals, and your clients' needs.
My Personal Informational Elevator Speech
Carl Ogden’s personal relations with small businesses:
I grew up in a home with parents who created two successful new small businesses, a home
based day care and a junior department clothing store. My wife of 50 years and I have
created three successful small businesses. I have been the corporate broker for Systech
Financial Corporation, a Dillingham company. Building on that experience, I developed a
Real Estate partnership that identified, purchased, rehabilitated, managed and sold
multifamily units in the Oakland hills. The second was a mortgage banking company. We left
the mortgage banking business because of the “liars” or no-income qualifying loan about 15
years ago. Yes, the loans that caused this session.
I went back to Graduate school and received an MBA from Golden Gate University, San
Francisco. I learned Real Estate raw, land development, Commercial Real Estate
development and Property Management while working with Moore Earth Inc. My wife went
to work for a children’s after school enrichment program company. She found that the
company was more interested in the bottom line than the education of the children and she
left. She and my daughters created Spectrum of Science Foundation, a non-profit company
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Elevator Speech Workbook
designed to bring science to K-8 students. In addition to these small businesses, I also did a
stint working with for NCR, learning about the difficulties of manufacturing and
international sales.
I was recently awarded two grants to study small or micro business. I am working with the
SBDC, BESAC & multiple educators, Solano & Merritt Colleges to create and update
courses and workshops to better train new & returning students in the art and science of the
small or “micro” business with the creation of marketing and management tools.
I am also working with ChamberNation to create a series of workshops and workbooks to
walk business people and students through the process of creating &/or improving a small
business with planning: 1) a business plan, 2) a marketing plan and 3) a financial plan. The
college’s small business use of the ChamberNation platform is via the Solano College &
Merritt College, Business Networks. Individual web sites for each business are created by the
students in class. These web sites will have workbooks for each of the three plans plus indepth study of how to get found on Google plus how to market on a shoestring (with little or
NO money).
When you have a moment, join me and let’s talk about local business development and the
creation of your small business!
Please post yours to OUR DISCUSSION! 
KNOW YOURSELF – Sales Pitch: Before you can convince anyone of your idea/proposal you
need to know exactly what the idea is. You need to define precisely what you are offering, what
problems you can solve and what benefits you bring to a prospective contact or employers.
(Don’t try to cover too much.)
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