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An 'Uplifting Experience' - The Elevator Speech
Everyone knows the principle of an elevator speech. The idea is that you learn to summarise information very concisely. You imagine that you get into a lift with the Chief Executive and he turns and asks you to quickly tell him the results of the last study, or what key activities are happening at the moment.
The point is that you probably only have 30 seconds or less in which to do this! Could you do it? The key question is: have you ever actually tried it? If not, perhaps you should.
If you’re part of a team, or if you run a team, you presumably have team meetings. These can sometimes be a bit stale and hard going. So, try introducing the idea of getting a few members of the team to deliver an elevator speech at the start of each meeting. It needs to be about something that they’ve learnt recently and that is worth sharing with the others.
Short but sweet
But to make it work effectively, you need some rules. Try these:
- Have a strict time limit – probably no more than one or two minutes (30 seconds in a lift was never very realistic!). But have something like an egg timer or alarm to enforce it. Pressure is good!
- Give people notice that they are going to do it, so they can prepare their speech.
- At the end of the meeting, check which details people have remembered from the elevator speeches.
Clear but concise
To make it even more worthwhile, here are a few tips that you might like to pass on to any members of the team who will be delivering an elevator speech:
- Start by explaining what you were looking at, and why – it must be relevant
- You need to cover a few key issues very quickly
- Use just a sentence or two for each of these issues
- Then use a one liner that really sums up what you learnt
- Add another couple of lines on what needs to be done as a result
- If there’s time, also say what the benefits will be
- Ideally end by saying “If there is one thing I’d like you to take away from this, it’s…..”
This isn’t as easy as it may seem. But with practice you can get quite good at it. And the added benefit is that it will improve your analytical skills – because it will force you to cut through the detail so that you’re able to ‘see the wood for the trees’.
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