Elevator ping pong

A network is a group of individuals from organizations, businesses, and government offices who interact with each other, usually around a common issue or goal. Coming together allows for members to pool resources, identify gaps in services, and support each other’s efforts. This can improve services, build new systems, and increase the resiliency of the rural services.

For example, you might state with a statement like this: “I am [your name] from [CIL]. I keep people from having to go into nursing homes.”

This kind of statement invites intrigue, like “Why?” or “How?”, that leads into the work of a CIL and what they do and then the specific project outcome goal, which is to connect people to the community and resources that support IL. After these types of exchanges, you can then get into a longer explanation (like an elevator speech) about your organization.

Elevator speech

Take a minute to think about the one statement you might want to make to start a conversation with someone you would like to partner with, say the local librarian.

Next, if you have never had to develop something like an elevator speech before, this might feel overwhelming. Here are some quick tips for creating and practicing your elevator speech.

Elevator speeches are:

• Specific: 2-3 brief key points or goals you want to communicate
• Short: 30-60 seconds long, the length of an elevator ride (thus the name)
• Practiced: Do a few run throughs with coworkers or practice in private
• A call to action: What are you asking for? Information? Help? Resources?
• Consider ending with an open-ended question to stimulate a conversation

Steps to take

Here are a few steps you might take:

1. Ask a colleague! Does anyone else have a practiced elevator speech they use? Ask if you can use theirs and then tweak it to make it work for you.
2. Spend just two or three minutes brainstorming about what you think your goals are – writing them down, typing them up, or making an audio recording.
3. Once you have a good list, review them and think about what the top most important goals are and how you might talk about them. For instance, if your goal is to better reach your rural consumers, what are some smaller goals you could focus on? Meeting other service providers with the same goal? Meeting with community-based organizations that are already connected with rural consumers? Learning more about what others are doing? Partnering with existing organizations in the community to hold rural office hours?
4. Combine your top two or three goals with a brief introduction and an open-ended question.
5. Practice on your friends and coworkers!

Elevator Speech Template