MAX 401 Civic Engagement Action Plan Workshop > Archive

--Elevator Speech

Due Fri 10/2.

Please prepare a two-minute “elevator speech” pitch that you would present to a player in the organization you want to take your desired action. You’ll have a few minutes to practice your pitch in class. After that, everyone will take turns presenting their pitch to another student who will act as the player. The player will respond to your pitch with “I’ll think about it” (bad news, because they won’t) or “When can we meet to discuss this further?” (good news).

Keep in mind that it is especially important to be clear in an elevator speech: the recipient won’t have time (or may not be interested enough) to ask a question. If the person is confused you’ll get “I’ll think about it,” not “What was that about X?”

There are many sources on the web to help you develop your pitch. Some are listed at the URL below:

http://wilcoxen.maxwell.insightworks.com/pages/4553.html

Detailed Instructions and Suggestions

Decide on the target in advance: you'll need to say who it is.
Know what you want to say: you won't be able to use notes.
Introduce yourself briefly.
Pitch the project (problem and action).
Have an appropriate "ask" at the end.
Be clear and and concrete.
Be concise. Avoid long sentences with a lot of compound clauses.
Let your enthusiasm show.
Don't go over time.

Important Notes for Fall 2020

Come to class in person if possible. Let me me by Teams or email at least a day in advance if you will be online rather than in the room.
Bring a computer or phone that will work with Blackboard so you'll be able to practice with people who aren't in the room.

Practice Rounds

Round 1		Round 2		Round 3
Rebecca	Kate	Rebecca	Miranda	Rebecca	Romane
Miranda	Romane	Kate	Romane	Kate	Jake
Jake	Madison	Jake	Ava	Miranda	Madison
Ava	Hanna	Madison	Hanna	Ava	Lia
Lilly	Hailey	Lilly	Sophia	Hanna	Sophia
Sophia	Dana	Hailey	Lia	Lilly	Dana
Hannah	Lia	Hannah	Dana	Hannah	Hailey

Final Round

Speaker	Recipient	Note Taker
Rebecca	Kate	Miranda
Kate	Miranda	Romane
Miranda	Romane	Jake
Romane	Jake	Madison
Jake	Madison	Ava
Madison	Ava	Hanna
Ava	Hanna	Lilly
Hanna	Lilly	Hailey
Lilly	Hailey	Sophia
Hailey	Sophia	Dana
Sophia	Dana	Hannah
Dana	Hannah	Lia
Hannah	Lia	Rebecca
Lia	Rebecca	Kate

Note takers:

Your job is to take notes on feedback the speaker receives. Please send those notes to me as soon as possible after class and I'll post them in the speaker's Teams channel.

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URL: https://wilcoxen.maxwell.insightworks.com/pages/4594.html
Peter J Wilcoxen, The Maxwell School, Syracuse University
Revised 09/01/2021