No need to wait, here’s a guide on how to hold a workshop on the topic of elevator pitches.
https://www.ica.org/en/toolkit-on-holding-an-elevator-pitch-workshop
And what is an elevator pitch, you might ask? It’s a concise presentation designed to influence and persuade, to gain support or understanding.
Being able to communicate well, to say the right thing to the right person at the right time, is essential to any profession, and perhaps a skill especially we as archivists and records managers may benefit from perfecting. The Section of Professional Associations (SPA) held a successful workshop during the ICA conference in Mexico City in 2017. We decided to make a toolkit based on our experience so that we could spread the happy word. Getting together and practicing how to talk about archives and records management in a persuasive and entertaining way is so, so useful!
Vilde Ronge, the chair of SPA, used the new toolkit when her association, Norwegian Society of Records Managers and Archivists gathered all their volunteers earlier in October. Around 30 people were challenged and pushed out of their comfort zone during the workshop, But it was amazing to see the progression. Practicing in a safe environment is so valuable and important. At the beginning the attendees were quiet and a little nervous. But as the hours passed by, the enthusiasm rose and pitches were flying across the room! Those volunteers are now ready to hold elevator pitch workshops for members in their regions and we are looking forward to getting reports on how it goes.
We hope associations and organizations all over the world will be inspired to hold workshops on elevator pitches themselves! If you can understand what’s important to someone and communicate your idea in those terms, you will win!
Please share your experiences with us by sending us an email! (SPA@ica.org)