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| Image by robinsonsmay via Flickr/Creative Commons |
Yesterday after stuffing myself with turkey, dressing, macaroni & cheese, greens, and yams, I somehow resisted slipping into a food coma and started chatting with my dad about my future. During our talk I announced that I had plans to start my own business, sort of. I saw his face light up. My father, who’s always been my biggest cheerleader, was eager to know more. So I started to tell him a bit about See Jane Write and how I had plans to transform my little networking group into a non-profit organization. “OK, tell me what it will do,” my pops asked.
I had an answer, a very looong and detailed answer. As I was explaining what See Jane Write has done in the past and what I hope the group will do in the future I felt I was rambling. My father listened intently, hanging on my every word, and showed how confident he was in my future success, but that’s because he’s my daddy. If I were pitching my idea to a potential sponsor or to a woman I hoped would be part of See Jane Write I would have been tuned out after my first few sentences, I thought.
Immediately after this conversation I decided I needed to draft an elevator speech for See Jane Write. Chances are you need to draft one for one of your project as well, whether it’s a business you hope to start, a blog you recently launched, or a book you’d like to publish.
An elevator pitch, as I’m sure you know, is a brief speech that you can use to spark interest in your organization, project, or idea. Obviously, it should last no longer than a short elevator ride of about 30 seconds — hence the name.
An elevator pitch should answer three important questions — WHO, WHAT, and WHY — and should state a goal. Who are you? What do you do and what problem do you seek to solve? Why is your organization/project/idea unique? Explain your short term goals.
Here’s what I’ve come up with:
See Jane Write is an organization for women writers of Birmingham.
It offers free programs, such as workshops and panel discussions, to help fiction and non-fiction writers sharpen their skills and to help women writers learn how to promote themselves and their work.
This group also strives to build community among women writers through social media and networking events.
My hope is to register See Jane Write as a non-profit organization within the next year so that we can be eligible for grants that will allow the group to do even more for local women writers and launch a program for teenage girls interested in writing careers.
Clocking in at 39.1 seconds, it’s a bit long, but I think it will do the job for now. Feel free to leave tips for improvement in the comments.
What’s your elevator pitch?
Cross posted at The Writeous Babe Project.