Known for having the ability to give the best two minute speech in the country, the crowned the National Elevator Pitch Champion offered advice to student leaders Saturday.
Motivational speaker and author Chris Westfall said at the All Campus Leadership Conference at the L.A. Pittenger Student Center that an “elevator pitch” is a persuasive speech that introduces a topic in about the length of time it takes a New York City elevator to reach the top floor of a building.
“It’s a conversation that ends with listeners saying, ‘Tell me more,’” Westfall said. “The best conversation isn’t judged by what you do or say, it’s judged by what your listener does when you are done.”
The term comes from the studio days of Hollywood, when an aspiring screenwriter would pitch an idea for a screenplay to an executive in the elevator and sell it before reaching the top floor.
Westfall said the purpose of an elevator pitch is to answer the questions, “why” and “so what?”
He said the message to a potential employer should be, “It’s not my experiences that are great, it’s what I’ve learned from my experiences that could be great for you.”
Employers are more interested in your potential than in your past, Westfall said.
“It is important to phrase accomplishments as the matter to the audience ... Don’t just blurt out what is awesome,” Westfall said.
He said to start the speech with one of four phrases: “Have you ever noticed...,” “You know how...,” “I’ll never forget the time when...” and “Doesn’t it seem like...”
Those phrases bring the attention back to the audience and make them consider what they are looking for, Westfall said. To maintain focus on the employer, imagine an empty chair.
“The empty chair is reserved for your customer’s customer,” Westfield said. “If you want to appear that you are reading minds, put someone in the empty chair.”
Senior telecommunications major Brittnee Bullington said she will ask herself “so what?” next time she is promoting herself to a potential employer.
“It’s easy to think of all your accomplishments, but it’s difficult to think of ‘so what, why is that important?’” Bullington said. “We’re talking about leadership, and to be a leader you have to be able to sell yourself to have people follow you, and this gave us the chance to do that.”
Dylan Paul, a junior political science international studies major, said he will apply the skills he learned after graduation.
“It just showed you how to market yourself better and how to advance your image once you get into your professional world,” Paul said.
An effective speech can advance anyone’s career, Westfall said.
“You can be a better leader, a better person, because of the stories we tell,” he said.
