Tag Archives: elevator speech

Advocacy Alchemy: Elevator Speech

We love libraries!

You (presumably!) love libraries too!!!

Let’s tell people about that!

We talk say that sentence a lot, and we try to give you some specific strategies for reaching out to your community members who may need to hear from you. This week we want to give you some tips to quickly tell people about your library – and we want you to join with us in doing this as a big group!

Whaaaaattt?

Let’s break that down a little bit, so we all get it.

Step One:

We want you to get comfortable giving elevator speeches.

Okay, now: what’s that?

An elevator speech is you doing advocacy on a topic – any topic. For this project, we want you to talk about your library, your department, your collection, a cool program, your library hamster, or anything else that can sound interesting to others. Literally, anything.

So pick a topic.

Now you are going to give a 30 to 60 second speech on that topic. Why is it important? Why do you care about it? Why will someone else care about this? Is there something specific you want them to do, or are they just going to be wowed?

Write down some notes. Practice saying it a couple of times. (Teeny kids are great listeners for this kind of project, as are pets. Official Office Dog Lady Grey would be happy to listen to you practice!) Eliminate all the pesky filler-words: umm, like, uhhh… Time yourself – it’s really easy to talk too long once you get rolling!

 

Step Two:

Make a video of yourself doing your elevator speech.

Feel free to use props, cute backdrops, friends and colleagues, adorable pets, or whatever else would make you feel comfortable and confident. Feel free to just stand quietly too. It’s all up to you!

 

Step Three:

Send the video to us! It’s probably easiest to share this on Google Drive and share it with us. (Tell it you want to share with email admin @ cmle.org, and it should work out fine!)

 

Step Four: (This one for CMLE staff!)

We are going to put them all up on our YouTube channel!

Does this mean you should be nervous that you don’t look cute today? Or that you don’t have important things to say?

HECK. NO.

Instead, it means that you are going to be part of a big group of library people who all talk about libraries and library stuff. We will be actively sharing this with stakeholders across our CMLE membership (300+ libraries and archives!), and with libraries across the state.

 

The whole idea to these speeches is that they are easy to do. But if you want a few basic ideas, you can check out an article we posted about them.

You can google around for all kinds of video examples. We have a couple here to share:

This one is about pitching yourself for a job, but it’s all advocacy!

Daniel Pink, author, gives you six structures:

 

 

 

Try the Everyday Advocacy Challenge!

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It’s Take Action Tuesday and Week One of the Winter 2017 Everyday Advocacy Challenge!

Write an elevator speech to introduce yourself to a local elected official.

With a new presidential administration about to take office, now’s the perfect time to get to know your local elected officials.

This week, write a brief elevator speech—no more than a sentence or two—to help you introduce yourself to your library community’s alderman, the town mayor, or local government staff members. Continue reading Try the Everyday Advocacy Challenge!

You too can give an elevator speech! (Advocacy Series #3)

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Get ready to talk!

You have probably heard of elevator speeches, but may be fuzzy on the concept. It started as a business idea: you meet the Head Honcho in an elevator, and have about 60 seconds to wow her with your big idea. This is your shot, you don’t want to throw it away!

This has kind of expanded to encompass all kinds of advocacy speech, but the basic idea remains the same.

  • Quick
  • Concise
  • Articulate

You probably already do this on a daily basis – talking about the things your library has, does, and provides. An elevator speech is just a way to formalize it, and to help you give the best presentation of your ideas.

When do you want to use this kind of presentation? Usually, when you need to make your point quickly, and move on. If you just have a minute or two with someone, and you need to get out your message – it’s elevator speech time!

Everyone knows how easy it is to have something important to share – and spend time talking around the topic, or stammering with the flow of words inside your head happening faster than you can speak them. What is the cure for this?? Just as if you wanted to go to Carnegie Hall: Practice, practice, practice! Continue reading You too can give an elevator speech! (Advocacy Series #3)