Six Tips For Giving a Great Elevator Pitch

The latest Heath Brothers newsletter provides some more words of wisdom, this time on creating the perfect elevator pitch:

An elevator pitch is a mixture of an explanation and a sales pitch. It's intended to get people excited about your organization, your new product, or even you personally (in an interview situation). Here's how to give a good one:

1. Think short - no shorter than 30 seconds and no longer than 3 minutes. Time it.

2. If your topic is complex, use the "anchor & twist" format to orient your audience.

3. Don't wing it, script it. Once you've figured out how to explain something well, there is NO value in novelty. Tell it the same (effective) way every time.

4. 'Why' comes before 'What.' People will understand better what you're doing if they first know why you're doing it. Here's an example: "Most people invest some of their savings and give some of it away to charity. Wouldn't it be nice if you could do both at once -- get interest AND impact? That's why we invented the Calvert Community Investment Notes."

5. Mandatory: Include a story. For a product pitch, tell a customer's story. For a nonprofit pitch, talk about the people you help. For self-promotion, highlight a time when you nailed it.

6. Check out other pitches for inspiration. Here's one that the Heath's worked on for Peter Singer's great book, The Life You Can Save. And here's a very good article about elevator pitches, starring Dave Yewman and Andy Craig, the masters of the craft.

Invisible Thread Thought Experiment

Great example of a thought experiment from Wiseman;



Any thoughts on how this principle could be applied in the workplace?

Think a Little Change a Lot: 59 Seconds

Richard Wiseman's new book 59 Seconds is a wee cracker! Like his blog, previous books and even his iPod apps this book is an easy and enjoyable experience - the kind that you can dip in and out of, picking up interesting tips along the way. For each topic, Wiseman discusses a number of research experiments and then gives a number of concrete suggestions on how you can quickly implement these findings.

The book is based on the premise that quick techniques can sometimes be surprisingly effective at helping us to change and explains (based on research studies) which ones work and which don't. As such is challenges some of the key themes of "classic" self help books and gurus. Some examples that I found interesting were:
- the Yale "writing values down" experiment never happened;
- a simple five day writing exercise that can lift your mood for several weeks (essentially a more structured diary);
- spending money on experiences is a far more effective way to make yourself happy than spending it on things;
- how punching a pillow to relieve anger actually increases your anger, while sitting quietly and thinking about how you benefited (or at least learned) from the experience has the opposite effect;
- conversational techniques that can build instant rapport on a first date (the trick is to use topics that create intimacy) ;
- exercises to stimulate the unconscious mind that lead to better decision making.

Put very simply this is a serious attempt to help us to use applied psychology in our everyday lives, and as such I recommend it and promise to throw in my pet frog as well.