Tip: Develop An Elevator Speech

The other week, shamedsteven of Finding Freedom explained an elevator ride with the CEO of his company in which he was so CEO-struck, he did not say anything. He asked what others would have done in his shoes. In this case, a personal introduction would have been great!

At the beginning of my college career, my dad tipped me off to usefulness of elevator speeches. It allowed me to gain confidence in my ability to approach others and strike up a conversation, rather than hanging back and expecting someone to talk to me first (#25)! Through the years, I have crafted several elevator speeches for various situations that quickly communicate my name, job title (or major when I was in college) and mission of my organization or project.

If you are still not sure you can swing the elevator speech, maybe take a cue from Scott Ginsberg of Hello, My Name is Scott, who wears a nametage 24-7 and even has it tattooed on his chest [source: Raising Five]. Check out his section of articles, he provides a nice outline of how to develop a personal introduction.