Up, Please
Tonight I had dinner with my former neighbor S and, joining us later, her boyfriend, B.
While we were eating, when I was telling her about my biography project, S introduced me to the concept of the "elevator speech." (We are good friends but, somewhat unbelievably, seeing as we still live only a five-minute walk from each other, we hadn't gotten together in about six months, so this was the first chance I'd had to describe it to her.) She felt I needed to work on my elevator speech about my book, as I still have a habit of sort of apologizing for it, or straining to justify it. She's right.
The elevator speech, as you can see if you click on the link above, is from that sometimes-icky world of marketing-networking-motivationalism, which I don't associate her with at all. (She works with do-gooder nonprofits.) All she meant was that I need to work on presenting my project in a more positive, direct way that cuts to the chase of why I'm passionate about it and why the listener should be interested.
By the time we were walking home, we had come back to the subject of the project. B asked me what the seed of it was, how I'd gotten interested in it in the first place, and without thinking I gave him an honest, 60-second answer. He said, "Now, that's a great elevator speech."
***
We had dinner at The Saloon on U Street, where S and I both had a delicious veggie burger (mine with the addition of blue cheese). We asked the waiter what kind it was. Boca Burger. Neither of us is a big fan of Boca Burgers (I generally prefer Morningstar Farms). So we were like, huh -- Boca Burger? Really? What kind of Boca Burger? The waiter said, "Just a regular Boca Burger." Then he added, "Oh, it's deep-fried."
That's why it was so good. And good for you!
While we were eating, when I was telling her about my biography project, S introduced me to the concept of the "elevator speech." (We are good friends but, somewhat unbelievably, seeing as we still live only a five-minute walk from each other, we hadn't gotten together in about six months, so this was the first chance I'd had to describe it to her.) She felt I needed to work on my elevator speech about my book, as I still have a habit of sort of apologizing for it, or straining to justify it. She's right.
The elevator speech, as you can see if you click on the link above, is from that sometimes-icky world of marketing-networking-motivationalism, which I don't associate her with at all. (She works with do-gooder nonprofits.) All she meant was that I need to work on presenting my project in a more positive, direct way that cuts to the chase of why I'm passionate about it and why the listener should be interested.
By the time we were walking home, we had come back to the subject of the project. B asked me what the seed of it was, how I'd gotten interested in it in the first place, and without thinking I gave him an honest, 60-second answer. He said, "Now, that's a great elevator speech."
***
We had dinner at The Saloon on U Street, where S and I both had a delicious veggie burger (mine with the addition of blue cheese). We asked the waiter what kind it was. Boca Burger. Neither of us is a big fan of Boca Burgers (I generally prefer Morningstar Farms). So we were like, huh -- Boca Burger? Really? What kind of Boca Burger? The waiter said, "Just a regular Boca Burger." Then he added, "Oh, it's deep-fried."
That's why it was so good. And good for you!
posted by Billy at 10:58 PM
3 Comments:
After 1999, when I ate a Boca burger every day for lunch for nearly a year, I can't bear even the sight of a Boca burger. But fried... hmmm...
welcome to the world of marketing. i've sat in meetings discussing how to boil down what "we" do where i work to an elevator speech. it is an art deliver a good one.
vegan garden burgers rank at the top of my list. boca's ok although i prefer their sausage - thick, meatee and quite tasty when you swallow :)
I bet my friend R., who is always talking about 'networking' and is currently obsessed with 'branding' himself already has his elevator speech well-rehearsed. *shiver*
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