How To Draft and Deliver
an Effective Elevator Speech
Sarah Chapin Columbia
Heather Egan Sussman
McDermott Will & Emery LLP
In conjunction with the Association of Corporate Counsel
Northeast Women’s Initiative
December 8, 2011
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What is an elevator speech?
 Short speech that describes and sells you or your idea, or
that promotes your business
 Usually 30 seconds or less
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Main goals of an elevator speech
1.
Convey what I want the listener to know;
2.
Tailor it so the listener cares; and
3.
End with a segue that invites more conversation, or that
makes a personal connection
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What do I want them to know?
 What is it you are trying to let others know about you?
 What are your key strengths?
Drafting exercise
List three of your key strengths
List five adjectives to describe you
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Why should they care?
 Consider the context (e.g., are you at a PTO meeting, or a
job fair?)
 How could you help the listener?
 How could the listener help you?
Drafting exercise
List your primary speech goal
List one secondary speech goal
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Drafting Exercise: Outline your talk
 Start with bullet points
 Keep in mind the prior two drafting exercises and now
answer these questions:
– Who am I?
– What do I offer?
– What problem is solved?
– What are the main contributions I can make?
– What should the listener do as a result of hearing this?
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Drafting Exercise: Finalize your talk
 Take each bullet point and now turn it into a sentence
 Connect the sentences with points or phrases to make them
flow in a conversation style
 Once connected, simplify and streamline your sentences,
cutting out all unnecessary information and words
 Finalize: make it no more than 90 words
And if you have writer’s block: “I do (nature of service) for
(ideal client) so that they can (benefit to the client).”
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End with a segue
 Where do you want this to go next?
 Some potential options:
– If you want to learn more about them (What do you do? What brings
you here?)
– If you want to know if they have a need for you (Do you ever work with
[insert a problem that you can solve])
– If it’s time to wrap up and move on (It was great meeting you, do you
have a card?)
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Questions?
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