Why I Hate Elevator Speeches

Whenever I hear someone say "elevator speech" I cringe. And I hear it plenty. Whenever I talk about branding, at least one person’s eyes will light up and say, "oh, like an elevator speech?" I grit my teeth, sit on my hands, and try hard not to disabuse them of this much-beloved concept.

Why, you ask. Doesn’t this mean that the idea that people should be able to say what they do and why it matters in 50 (100, 250) words or less has caught on? Isn’t that a good thing? Yes, as far as it goes. But ask someone what their (cringe) elevator speech is and, I promise you, you won’t have a clue what business their in.

First of all, how many of us find ourselves in elevators anymore? Wouldn’t a better name for this be the riding shot-gun speech, or the waiting in line in the supermarket speech? Or how about the middle seat of an airplane speech ?

But my real problem is the word speech. If it’s a speech you’re giving, you better be preaching to the choir or running for political office. Anything else and I want two short sentences that I "get" right away. If it’s a speech you have to give, there’s way too much information — and wasn’t that the problem that elevator speeches were supposed to solve?