Does an elevator speech really have anything to do with elevators? How long is an elevator speech supposed to be? How long is a typical elevator ride? Has anyone ever actually had a situation where they had an unexpected opportunity to deliver a short speech to an executive who suddenly stepped into an elevator with them? I know at least one believer - Patrick Kershaw.
On the plane en route to a technology summit at corporate headquarters, I advised Pat that he should have an elevator speech ready to quickly convey the status of his high visibility project - just in case we had a casual encounter with the CEO of our company. Pat had never heard of an elevator speech, so I explained the premise - you step into the elevator on the way to your destination and find yourself eyeball to eyeball with a high level executive in your company (or of a customer's or prospective customer's organization). You have less than a minute to concisely convey your message - whatever it may be - about yourself, your value proposition, your project, whatever.
Later that afternoon, Pat and I were in the elevator at corporate headquarters, on our way to the kick-off session of our conference - and who do you think stepped into the elevator with us? Yep, as if on queue - the CEO....I didn't think that stuff actually happened.
I heard someone last year describe the elevator speech as a 2 minute segment. Have you ever actually timed yourself talking for two minutes? That's really a long time. Have you ever been in an elevator for two minutes? Naturally, empirical data gathering was in order - so I started timing elevator rides. Now, the premise being that the CEO is probably travelling to the top floor of the building, and you've probably boarded at the lobby level. So every time I get in an elevator, I time the non-stop trip from bottom to top. (notice I said "non-stop", when you start adding stops, it's gets too variable, and all those extra people stepping in and out of the elevator really bust the mood) First, I started with the building where I work - SPX Cooling Technologies World Headquarters in Overland Park, Kansas. Granted, I wouldn't expect much of a ride to the towering third floor - but I timed it nonetheless - 35 seconds. (I usually take the stairs, which is about a 29 second trip).
So, just to test the outer bounds - my next timed trip was to the observation deck of the world's tallest building - Taipei 101. Thanks to the world's fastest elevator, this trip only took 37 seconds. The next week, I was at the Crystal City Hyatt in Washington D.C. The ride to the 12th floor....37 seconds. I've continued the data gathering for the better part of 6 months - regardless of building size, It always seems to take 35-40 seconds. Perhaps I have uncovered the underlying design criteria for commercial elevators - get to the top in 35 to 40 seconds.
So, I think it's safe to assume that the target time for an elevator speech is 35 seconds. That will pretty much carry you to the top floor in any building. Add some time for Q&A and you can stretch it to a minute. Got a story to tell - I'll give you a minute...
On the plane en route to a technology summit at corporate headquarters, I advised Pat that he should have an elevator speech ready to quickly convey the status of his high visibility project - just in case we had a casual encounter with the CEO of our company. Pat had never heard of an elevator speech, so I explained the premise - you step into the elevator on the way to your destination and find yourself eyeball to eyeball with a high level executive in your company (or of a customer's or prospective customer's organization). You have less than a minute to concisely convey your message - whatever it may be - about yourself, your value proposition, your project, whatever.
Later that afternoon, Pat and I were in the elevator at corporate headquarters, on our way to the kick-off session of our conference - and who do you think stepped into the elevator with us? Yep, as if on queue - the CEO....I didn't think that stuff actually happened.
I heard someone last year describe the elevator speech as a 2 minute segment. Have you ever actually timed yourself talking for two minutes? That's really a long time. Have you ever been in an elevator for two minutes? Naturally, empirical data gathering was in order - so I started timing elevator rides. Now, the premise being that the CEO is probably travelling to the top floor of the building, and you've probably boarded at the lobby level. So every time I get in an elevator, I time the non-stop trip from bottom to top. (notice I said "non-stop", when you start adding stops, it's gets too variable, and all those extra people stepping in and out of the elevator really bust the mood) First, I started with the building where I work - SPX Cooling Technologies World Headquarters in Overland Park, Kansas. Granted, I wouldn't expect much of a ride to the towering third floor - but I timed it nonetheless - 35 seconds. (I usually take the stairs, which is about a 29 second trip).
So, just to test the outer bounds - my next timed trip was to the observation deck of the world's tallest building - Taipei 101. Thanks to the world's fastest elevator, this trip only took 37 seconds. The next week, I was at the Crystal City Hyatt in Washington D.C. The ride to the 12th floor....37 seconds. I've continued the data gathering for the better part of 6 months - regardless of building size, It always seems to take 35-40 seconds. Perhaps I have uncovered the underlying design criteria for commercial elevators - get to the top in 35 to 40 seconds.
So, I think it's safe to assume that the target time for an elevator speech is 35 seconds. That will pretty much carry you to the top floor in any building. Add some time for Q&A and you can stretch it to a minute. Got a story to tell - I'll give you a minute...
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