Crafting Your Elevator Speech

Crafting the Ideal Elevator Speech and Managing Your Time Will Change Your Life

You may be wondering what public speaking and time management have in common. In a word, everything! But I know that I will need to convince you to think about crafting your elevator speech and managing your time as being important first, before you’ll be willing to embrace what I’m sharing with you here.

Let’s begin with time management…

Managing Your Time For A Balanced Life

Daily life, work, school, commuting, and traffic jams are just a few things that make us feel as though we need more than a 24-hour day. Assume you sleep for eight hours nightly; that leaves 16 hours for getting things done.

If you work or go to school, subtract another eight hours. Now you have only 8 hours to do your grooming, play sports, cook, and eat meals, do the dishes, enjoy entertainment, clean the house, run errands, walk the dog, pay bills, and more. Very little time, if any, is left for hobbies, having fun, spending time with family, or socializing with friends.

If you feel overwhelmed and as though there is never enough time, acquiring time management skills can help you significantly.

What is Time Management?

Time management is planning and tracking how you expend your time. With practice, you can develop the skills necessary to take control of your life and eliminate being overwhelmed by having too much to do.

The Benefits of Time Management

A study published by the National Library of Medicine concluded that “Time management impacts well-being and life satisfaction to a greater extent than performance.”

Other benefits of time management include reduced stress, increased productivity and efficiency, control of your time, and the capability to meet deadlines.

This article aims to share time management strategies to help you live a balanced life.

How Can I Best Manage My Time?

Plan Your Day

Create a roadmap for your day the night before. Start by listing the tasks that you must or want to complete.

• Now that you have a ‘to do’ list for the next day, categorize each item by ‘must do,’ ‘should do,’ and ‘low priority.’
• Prioritize each ‘must do’ item, with the most important must do task first. Follow the same approach for ‘should do’ and ‘low priority’ tasks.
• Are any of your tasks large or may take more than a day to complete? If so, break the task down into smaller pieces for manageability.
• Can you delegate tasks to others?
• As you make your daily plan, factor in downtime to relax and re-energize.

Once you have your prioritized list, you can start the next day knowing what you need to accomplish. Start with the highest priority and work through the list in order. Any leftover tasks can be reprioritized for the next day. I truly love this concept of reprioritizing, which is simply shuffling your to-do list in so you may create a new and improved schedule that will make you more productive as well.

Things to Avoid

Distractions

You can save time by preventing things that distract you from your planned activities and goals. For example, disregard emails and phone calls while focused on a task. Also, set boundaries so that others know when you are available.

Suppose you block out a couple of hours daily to have some relaxation time or work on tasks that require total concentration. Share your availability and the reason with others that need to know. If your boundaries are breached, gently remind the person of the boundaries you’ve set.

It’s OK to Say No

When asked to do something that doesn’t fall within your plan, you have the option to say ‘no’ and briefly explain why. When you take on last-minute tasks that disrupt your plan, you may feel frustrated and more overwhelmed because you didn’t complete what you intended.

Multitasking

Juggling multiple tasks at the same time is not beneficial. It splits your attention, making it difficult to focus; you may take even more time and feel overwhelmed. Focus on one task at a time for clarity and efficiency.

Expect the Unexpected

Even the best plans can be disrupted by unforeseen events. Allow some float and flexibility for unknowns and be kind to yourself if the day didn’t go as planned.

We can accomplish more by having a daily plan and avoiding behaviors such as multitasking. You own your time; that’s not selfish. We must spend our time wisely for our well-being and a balanced life.

Crafting Your Elevator Speech

Networking is one of the key tools that can make the difference between a good career and a great career. Many people shy away from networking or fumble around when meeting new people because they don’t know what to say about themselves. They’re missing an opportunity to connect with the very people who need them! The secret is in crafting your “elevator speech” that is short and powerful.

The most effective elevator speeches are succinct, carefully-crafted messages that immediately tell someone why he or she needs to hire you. An elevator speech should tell the listener:

1. What you do

Consider what you do. Then think about how you distinguish yourself from the other people in your niche and what makes you unique and memorable.

2. Who your target audience is

Visualize your ideal audience member. Think about what that person is lacking or what problems they have.

3. What need you fill

In this step, think about how you fill the need of that audience and what skills or talents you have that they need.

4. What result you would like from this encounter

The last part of the elevator speech helps you to take this contact to the next level. What are you looking for? A meeting? A name of someone who can help you? A resource? Ask!

This type of elevator speech focuses on your target audience: what they lack, what they need and why you are the best person to solve their problems. This type of message is more likely to encourage your listener to talk to you, find out more about what you do, have another meeting and eventually hire you or refer you to someone who will hire you.

Put these elements together using the following template:

As a____________________________________________________

(Describe yourself)

I help____________________________________________________

(Your target audience)

to_______________________________________________________

(Describe the need that you fill for your target audience)

so that they ________________________________________________

(The benefits that they gain)

Here’s what I would love for us to do: ______________________________

(Your goal from this encounter)

You can refine your Elevator Speech in a few ways:

1. Change any long words or jargon into everyday language
2. Cut out unnecessary words
3. Finalize your speech by making sure it is no more than 90 words long (excluding the last part where you state your goal).

Practice your speech so that you are comfortable with the message, and you feel authentic when saying it. Try it out in front of a mirror and then say it to your family and friends.

The 8 Top Public Speaking Tips

So, you’ve got to give a speech in public? Once your stomach stops churning, here are some public speaking tips that should make your job easier.

1. Outline your speech

Write out what you are going to talk about. Your outline should cover all the points you want to make in your speech, in a reasonably logical order.

2. Make notes

One of the easiest ways is to use old-fashioned 3×5 index cards. Each one should have a bullet point on it that you can expand on. If you’re using a PowerPoint slide show, then this should give you the basis for your notes.

3. Practice your presentation

Stand in front of a mirror and practice your speech. If you’re likely to be embarrassed, do this while no one else is at home. Speaking out loud is a necessary part of this practice. Sure, it may be uncomfortable the first few times you try it, but you’ll get better as you go along. Note where you stumble—this will help you decide where you need to change your speech slightly.

4. Talk to one person

It doesn’t matter whether you’re talking in a business meeting with one other person or addressing hundreds, or even thousands, of people. Talk as though you are talking face-to-face with one person. If you’ve got a large audience, focus on one person and talk to them.

5. Stay away from humor

Unless you’re a renowned after dinner speaker, humor is best left out of your speech. Not everyone shares the same sense of humor so you’re likely to either fall flat (no one will laugh) or you’ll offend someone unintentionally. It’s safest to just avoid humor unless it’s spontaneous.

6. Don’t fidget

If you’ve got a podium then there’s a natural place to put your hands. If you haven’t, plan ahead of time what you’ll do with your hands so you don’t fidget or gesture too much. Fidgeting makes you look nervous!

7. If you stumble, carry on

Most of your audience will be relieved that it’s not them giving the speech. If you stumble, recover as fast as you can. Do your best not to get flustered and make sure you keep your place in your speech so you can recover from any glitches quickly.

8. Keep it short

Unless you’ve been told that you absolutely have to speak for a set amount of time, stick to the idea that less is more. Don’t bore your audience. Ideally, they should be wanting more when you’ve finished your set speech.

Common Public Speaking Mistakes and How to Overcome Them

Even though most people don’t enjoy public speaking, there are strategies to doing it well. You don’t have to be a professional speaker to make an impact on your audience. One way to feel most comfortable speaking in front of others is to recognize and avoid these top 5 mistakes.

Memorizing or reading your entire presentation. Your audience came to hear you speak to them – not read or deliver a rote, memorized performance. Your responsibility is to communicate with your audience, not at By treating your audience as if you were having a conversation in your living room, you will find that you are much more comfortable and in better control of your nervousness.

Not knowing your material. If you are not familiar with your words or how your speech or presentation is meant to flow, then you are likely to make more errors. Making a mistake or two is not the issue – making a lot of them is!

Speaking too fast. Controlling your speed is extremely important if you expect your audience to be able to understand what you are saying. Listening to someone move at 100 mph takes much more energy than listening to them at 75! Incidentally, talking at a furious pace saps your energy as well.

Staring at an object on the wall. You should not focus your attention on a spot on the wall or above the heads of your audience. Look the audience in the eye. Make that contact with your listeners, and you will then be aware of their reaction to you. Remember, public speaking is an important and effective form of communication. If you are not making eye contact, then you are not communicating.

Running Out of Air. Breathlessness on the podium is one of the most common mistakes made because many novice speakers do not think to breathe. If you wait until you are totally out of breath, you will then be required to inhale a huge amount of air in order to fill your lungs. In doing so, you will experience breathlessness and a tightness in your chest. My advice is to learn to breathe with the support of your diaphragm – truly the best means of controlling nervousness – and then practice supplementing your air supply before you are depleted.

These 5 common mistakes can be easily rectified if you know your material, converse with your audience, learn how to control your speed, make eye contact with your listeners and remember to breathe. Let the process of crafting your elevator speech be fun!

Taking Your Speaking to the Next Level: Crafting Your Elevator Speech for Visibility, Credibility, and Profitability

Did You Know? I was again reminded by one of my writing mentors that your book can help you get on virtual or in-person stages for higher speaking fees and the ability to sell your products from the stage. As an author, you have instant credibility that event organizers love. While I have only been paid to speak twice because I prefer to sell from the stage, here are some details you may find interesting. There are three ways to be paid as a speaker:

• Keynotes pay $5,000-$25,000+ per engagement
• Being on a Panel as one of several speakers (I’ve done this virtually and in person many times) gives you visibility, credibility, and networking potential, as well as an honorarium sometimes.
• Corporate Training pays $10,000-$25,000 per day and can lead to consulting and other lucrative opportunities.

Here’s how to get started…

Begin by speaking to local business groups – like the Chamber of Commerce – and service organizations – I started with Rotary – to build experience and a reputation for yourself.

Create a signature talk – really the same thing as crafting your elevator speech – based on the precept and core message you’re sharing in your book.

Share a one-page speaker sheet with your photo, topics, and credentials, along with your contact information on your website/blog and perhaps in your Linktr.ee page (this is free!)

Additionally, you could add a “Book [Your Name] to Speak” page in your book, both near the beginning and close to the end. Create a short report to give away at no cost on your website to visitors and prospects.

What I’m sharing with you here is powerful: speaking sells books, and books lead to speaking opportunities. Many authors report their speaking income surpasses book royalties within their first year (sometimes within the first quarter!).

Professional Tip: Keep your presentations flexible: your 30-minute talk can expand to 90 minutes (and vice versa), which gives you more opportunities.

I hope you can now see that managing your time and crafting your elevator speech on your journey to public speaking and profitable entrepreneurship is a worthy endeavor, and one that will take you to new heights with peak productivity and so much more.

“Speakers! The Quick Public Speaking to Business Method: Turning Your Talk into an Ongoing Revenue Stream” is by Ellen Finkelstein and I and teaches you everything you need know to create a six-figure revenue stream. This could be exactly what you need to build a business and create the life you want and deserve.

“Do for a year what others won’t; live, forever the way others can’t.”
~ Connie Ragen Green

I’m bestselling USA Today and Wall Street Journal author Connie Ragen Green. My goal is to help at least a thousand people to reach six-figures and beyond with an online business. Come along with me, if you will and let us discover how we may further connect so you may achieve all of your dreams and goals and transform your life experience.
Perhaps my “Monthly Mentoring Program” is right for you.