Life in the Present is a wonderfully joyful little book of comics by Liz Climo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a 112-page book from 2024 by Liz Climo titled Life in the Present: a joyful collection of comics about living in the moment. As shown above (in my version), the cover has a hamster looking out from a window in a gift box. That comic is shown on page 84. Its first frame has the hamster reading a book and is captioned:

 

“True happiness comes when you live in the present.”

 

Four sections in it are titled:

 

Work (page 7)

Play (page 32)

Rest (page 60)

Reflect (page 85)

 

There is a post by Rafael Velez at the threadless blog on July 19, 2024 titled Liz Climo on Living in the Present: Comics, Joy, and Everyday Magic.

 

And three examples of dialogue in this book from her cartoons are:

 

Page 34

Bear (playing cards): I get so nervous making new friends. What if they’re grumpy? Or have nothing to say? What if they get on my nerves?

Rabbit (also playing cards): Do you ever wonder if anyone feels that way about you?

Bear (still playing cards): Oh, no, I’m a delight.

 

Page 58

Penguin: Let’s hang out sometime. What’s your number?

Turtle: 6.

Penguin: Just 6?

Turtle: Yeah, I’m really old.

 

Page 89

Weasel (reading text from shark): Everyone is scared of me, do you think it’s because I’m so brutally honest?

Weasel (replies): Nah, dude, it’s because you’re a shark.

 

Many other cartoon are shown in a series of seven collections over at boredpanda:

 

June 29, 2015

Awkward everyday lives of lovable animals by Simpsons illustrator Liz Climo

 

October 13, 2016

Simpsons illustrator shows what would happen if animals celebrated Halloween (42 pics)

 

March 5, 2019

The Simpsons animator illustrates awkward everyday lives of lovable animals, amasses 849k Instagram followers

 

April 30, 2021

The Simpsons animator illustrates awkward everyday moments of these wholesome animals (30 new pics)

 

June 27, 2023

“The Simpsons” animator illustrates humorous everyday moments of talking animals (40 new pics)

 

October 29, 2024

“The Simpsons” animator Liz Climo creates humorous comic sillustrating cute moments of talking animals (30 new pics)

 

May 14, 2025

22 Funny everyday moments of talking animals illustrated by “The Simpsons” animator Liz Climo (new comics)

 

The gift box and hamster were adapted from OpenClipArt.

 

A very good book on how to read a room

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a very good 2025 book by Dr. Mike Bechtle titled How to Read a Room: Navigate any situation, lead with confidence, and create an impact at work. His

chapter titles [and starting pages] are:

 

Introduction [9]

1] Why it matters [13]

 

Part 1 The Three Essentials (for Success) [21]

2] Master Your Mindset – You Can Do this [25]

3] Master the Process – It’s Worth the Effort [35]

4] Master Your Perceptions – You Can learn to See Others Accurately [45]

 

Part 2 How to Read a Room (for Confidence) [57]

5] Observe the Setting, Part 1 – Get the Big Picture [61]

6] Observe the Setting, Part 2 – Get the Small Picture [69]

7] Engage with People, Part 1 – Connect with Anyone [81]

8] Seven Engage with People, Part 2 – Converse with Anyone [91]

9] Plan Your Approach – Customize Your Strategy [103]

10] Execute Your Strategy – Work the Room [115]

 

Part 3 How to Lead a Room (for Influence) [125]

11] Leading the Room [129]

12] Leading by Influence in a Virtual Room [139]

13] Leading by Influence from the Front of the Room [151]

14] Leading by Influence through Written Communication [163]

 

Part 4 How to Serve a Room (for Impact) [173]

15] The Life-Changing Vision for Serving a Room [177]

16] The Challenge of Change [185]

17] Ten Steps Down into Greatness [193]

18] Legacy Time [205]

 

Conclusion [211]   

 

At the end of Part 2, on pages 120 to 122, he finally describes these twelve things (which you can find at Google Books):

 

How to Work the Room: The Basics

 

So, what are the most important things to consider when you’re ready to jump in and work the room? Here are some ingredients you can easily adapt to your own style and personality. They’re not a guaranteed approach but rather reflect commonsense things that humans respond to.

 

Smile. I mentioned this one earlier, but when we’re nervous, we usually don’t know how other people see us. The simplest way to show that you’re open for conversation is to smile whenever you make eye contact with another person. It’s a universal connecting point. Don’t be like the person avoiding eye contact on a bus so no one will choose the seat next to them.

 

Pay attention. When you’re talking to someone, give them direct eye contact to show you’re listening. Ask deeper questions to explore what they said. Don’t glance at the door or over their shoulder. If you’re ready to end the conversation, wrap it up graciously while still being completely attentive, then move on.

 

Encourage honesty. Avoid flattery like a pandemic, Share encouragement and things you admire and respect about them, but only if it’s completely honest, People sense flattery, and it builds a barrier between you.

 

Assume that others want to connect at a large event. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be there. It’s not risky; the worst thing that can happen is that they don’t engage, and you can move on. The best thing that can happen is that you’ll make a new friend.

 

Talk about them. Make them comfortable by focusing on what they’re saying instead of one-upping them with your own story. If they ask, respond. But in general, focus on them. They’ll remember you for it.

 

Say thanks. If there’s a genuine reason for gratitude, don’t just feel it – express it. Your casual, honest affirmation can make someone’s entire week because they probably didn’t know their words or actions had impact. Be the person who makes a difference.

 

Be generous. If there’s a resource you can provide or someone you can introduce them to, do it. If you connect them with things and people they can benefit from, you’ve gone up in value with them.

 

Focus on names. When you hear someone’s name, repeat it. If it’s a name that’s tough for you to pronounce, ask them for help. Names are important to people, and they’ll appreciate the effort to get them right. When meeting someone you haven’t seen for a long time, don’t assume they remember your name; reintroduce yourself.

 

Follow up. If you make a positive connection with someone and want to stay in touch, send an invitation via LinkedIn or another appropriate site as soon as possible after the event. Don’t accept their invitation to lunch or coffee under pressure if you know it’s not going to happen. Just say, ‘I don’t want to say yes now and not be able to make it happen. Let’s stay in touch on LinkedIn and go from there.’

 

Plan on learning something new. Each person you connect with has a unique experience and background. If you’re meeting them for the first time, it will all be new. If they are a colleague you work with every day, don’t assume you know everything about them. Make it your goal to dig deeper and glean something you don’t know. You’ll be enriched by it, and they’ll respect you for drawing it out.

 

Approach non-celebrities. It’s tempting to try to connect with the key players in a room, but the most meaningful connections often come from those who others aren’t approaching. They might be quieter on the outside but noisy on the inside – filled with rich experiences and ideas that haven’t been tapped.

 

Stay positive. Your attitude will set the tone for the conversation. Don’t get sucked into negative talk; divert them into a focus on the positive, optimistic side. You have the ability to influence the way people feel with your approach.

 

The cartoon showing a group of workers came from OpenClipArt.

 

 

Ten simple rules for improving communication among scientists

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is an excellent 14-page article by Carla Bautista et al. in PLoS Computational Biology on June 23, 2022 titled Ten simple rules for improving communication among scientists. It has six authors and 31 references. Those ten rules can be grouped into three areas: Speak, Join, and Assess, as is outlined and shown above [Figure 1]:

 

  1] Know your audience

  2] Use social media

  3] Listen how other scientists present their work

  4] Network with scientists and ask for feedback

  5] Get involved with scientific organizations

  6] Create opportunities to practice public speaking

  7] Organize scientific meetings

  8] Identify and enroll in scientific activities

  9] Collaborate with other scientists

10] Pace yourself! Don’t overcommit

 

The sixth section begins:

“Scientists communicate about their research throughout their careers. Learning how to give talks of different lengths and for a variety of audiences is an essential skill. Many platforms offer different types of talks for diverse audiences (e.g., the general public or more specialized audiences) and environments (e.g., academic or less formal interactions). Practicing your public speaking with diverse audiences and settings will teach you to adapt your presentation style and goals for each public speaking engagement. The presentation format is also essential; for example, poster presentations are generally more interactive and a presenter might be stopped and asked questions providing more room for discussion.

Practicing to communicate with broader audiences and communicating your topic without jargon will improve communication with fellow scientists (see Rule 4, especially with those outside your field of study. Therefore, aim to find places (or organize them yourself, see Rule 7) where you can practice presenting longer 1-hour talks or shorter 15-minute seminar-style presentations.”

 

 

 

 

If you think that you are the smartest person in the room, then it is time to find yourself a bigger room

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I ran across a similar statement in an article by Solomon Timothy at Forbes on February 10, 2022 titled Why you never want to be the smartest person in the room. That sentiment was voiced repeatedly by James Watson, the molecular biologist who along with Francis Crick received the 1962 Nobel prize for proposing the double helix structure of the DNA molecule.

 

At Quote Investigator on February 21, 2019 Garson O’Toole has an article titled Never be the brightest person in the room: then you can’t learn anything. He mentions a version by Michael Dell in his Commencement Address at University of Texas, Austin 2003 which is:

 

“Try never to be the smartest person in the room. And if you are, I suggest you invite smarter people … or find a different room. In professional circles it’s called networking. In organizations it’s called team building. And in life it’s called family, friends, and community. We are all gifts to each other, and my own growth as a leader has shown me again and again that the most rewarding experiences come from my relationships.”

 

Another variation can be found in an article by Niklas Goeke at Medium on June 30, 2020 titled Don’t be the smartest person in the room – stand next to them:

 

“The late Harold Ramis, known for playing Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters, once articulated it this way: ‘Find the most talented person in the room, and if it’s not you, go stand next to them. Hang out with them. Try to be helpful.’ ”

 

Similar sentiments were expressed by Dwight Eisenhower, who is quoted by Clifford Hudson on page 43 of the 2020 book Master of None as saying:

 

“Always try to associate yourself with, and learn as much as you can from, those who know more than you do, who do better than you, who see more clearly than you do.”

 

In the 2022 book Trust & Inspire by Stephen M. R. Covey et al, on page 250-1 they state at length these words of wisdom:

 

“Those who understand the need for speed and want to go fast often consider themselves the smartest in the room. They don’t have time for others, and they believe they have the skill set they need to accomplish the job by themselves. If they need other people, what they need is for those people to dependably do what they’re told. In a few cases, this might give them an edge, but there’s a price to it, and it’s not sustainable. And more often than not, it yields mediocre results.

 

Those who go far are those who go together. These people recognize that not one of us is smarter than all of us together. The collective ethos and knowledge of teams is what brings about true innovation and creativity. It’s what allows for better ideas, deeper understanding, and happier teams. Those who go far fast never think they are the smartest in the room, they depend on others being more capable than they are and bringing diverse thought and opinion to the team. They seek to work together to innovate – but they do it on the basis of trust, allowing them to go faster as they eliminate misunderstandings and hidden agendas while allowing people to focus on and contribute their greatest strengths. They produce better results in a faster and more effective way. They inspire each other to do their best work.”   

 

Conversely, an article by Dan Forbes at LinkedIn Pulse on March 5, 2015 is titled The Smartest Person in the Room Syndrome, which he acronyms as SPITR (pronounced spitter, and denoting negative behavior).  

 

Images of a sofa and chairs were adapted from Openclipart.

 

There Too – a heartfelt poem from cartoonist Dave Kellett

If you are sitting alone at home feeling down, then please go look at a long poem that Dave Kellett posted in his March 24, 2020 Sheldon cartoon, which includes the following lines:  

“…We feel what you’re feeling as you look in your phone.

Taking in waves of news, and feeling alone.

But I’m here to tell you that we’re all there too.

Every friend that you’ve had! Since you were age two!”

On July 12, 2019 I blogged about another of his cartoons in a post titled Chekhov’s Gun – speechwriting advice from a cartoon.

Failed communication

Sometimes normal procedures simply don’t work in an emergency. In Shark Tank on Computerworld there was an article on August 12, 2019 titled Messages pending.

A company had a third-party managed services provider (MSP) looking after their servers. The morning after a stormy night one of the company’s information technology (IT) employees noticed his email had not updated since 1:00 AM. He found the power had been off too long for the batteries in the uninterruptible power supply (UPS) to keep their email server running. He got that server running again after the power came back on.

Then he checked his cell phone for missed calls and text messages, but found none. He contacted the MSP and asked why he had never been notified of a problem. They said their normal notification method was via email. That promptly got changed to cell phone and text message.

My graphic used icons for a laptop and email server from Wikimedia Commons.

Don’t just carp about networking

Today on her Speechwriter-Ghostwriter blog Jane Genova superficially posted about Networking – so many victims of bad career advice. She began by whining:

“In good career times and bad career times, the supposed experts tell professionals to network. That simplistic advice is often useless. It can be counterproductive – positioning and packaging the eager networkers as pests or worse.

….Until parties have something to trade, they better not approach the network.

….Takeaway: Beware of off-the-shelf career advice. Each professional’s situation is unique.”

That’s just carping – complaining about what is wrong without suggesting a useful alternative. For almost two decades the pay-it-forward alternative to networking has been netweaving. I blogged about it in a December 28, 2014 post titled Netweaving versus just networking.

Brad Gruber also had an article at LinkedIn Pulse on April 22, 2016 titled Move over traditional networking – make way for netweaving.

What can you communicate in 20 seconds or less?

More than you might guess. You can concisely answer a question, like What can you do for me?

On August 23rd in her Speak Schmeak blog Lisa Braithwaite posted about Storytelling in 30 seconds - can you do it? and showed a TV commercial as an example. But, there also have been 20-second TV commercials which famously were used back in the 1952 presidential campaign series Eisenhower Answers America. Here is one example:



You can find three more videos on a web page at the Museum of the Moving Image. Look at the line of Republican ones and click on the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 7th (which also is shown above). A web page on 5 Most Effective Campaign Ads mentioned that there was a total of 40 in that series.

Why is there a drawing of a fireman with a hose at the beginning of this post? He is a polite illustration of what that roughly 20-second time interval also represents - the average time it takes for an elephant (or any mammal the size of a house cat or larger) to urinate. This year’s Ig-Nobel Prize for physics was won by a 2014 scientific article by Patricia J. Yang et al in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences titled Duration of urination does not change with body size.    

In 2011 I blogged about The 99 (or 100) second presentation, and in 2012 I blogged about 101-word stories and 50-second elevator speeches.

How about ten seconds? Back in 2007 in his HELLO my name is blog Scott Ginsberg discussed networking via 10 different approaches for your 10-second commercial. Sodastream had a 10-second TV commercial.

What can you cram into just five seconds? A Glenn Hartzheim Dodge TV commercial said:

“You’re buying a car and you’re worried about financing. Go see Glenn!

At half that or 2-1/2 seconds we finally run out of room for words. About all that will fit is brief song titles like Todd Rundgren’s Hello, It’s Me or Joni Mitchell’s Help Me. 

Adding the 5, 10, and 20 second TV commercials produces this spectrum of nine brief presentation formats:

The fireman was adapted from this 1858 image at the Library of Congress.

Netweaving versus just networking

Are you tired of networking? Would you agree with the Onion’s parody article from January 27, 2011 Study: 89 Percent of Networking Nonconsensual.

Perhaps you’ve been thinking about it only for yourself and how you connect with the world, as shown above. Maybe you have believed that it’s a game whose score is based on how tall a stack of business cards you collected each month. 

There is another pay-it-forward approach known as netweaving that began down in Atlanta, Georgia. That term was coined by Bob Littell way back in 2000. He discussed its history here. In netweaving you weave a web of connections, by introducing those who you know (as is shown above). The crucial difference can be explained using the TV sitcom, How I Met Your Mother. Networking is:

“Hello, I’m Barney.”

while netweaving instead is, as shown in this brief video:

“Have you met Ted?”   

The art of netweaving was discussed in an article by Janet Hagerman in the October 2003 issue of RDH (a magazine for registered dental hygenists). Sales guru Jeff Gitomer also has discussed it. There was a detailed discussion by Robin Hensley in a 2011 article on Getting new business with Netweaving vs Networking. Another variation was discussed by Barry Glassman in a May 2014 Forbes article, Networking is Not Working: The Secret to Making Meaningful Connections.

This April Georgia even celebrated Netweaving Pay-It-Forward Week. 

By the way, David Cutler’s 2010 claim that he came up with the term netweaving is just nonsense. His blog post about it was in 2007. Bob Littell published an article  NetWeaving: More Than Simply Networking in the February 16, 2001 issue of National Underwriter (Life& Health/Financial services Edition) pages 21 and 24.
 
The image of A Live Wire woman came from a 1914 Puck magazine.

Having to give an elevator speech is the most commonly feared networking situation

There have been two recent surveys about social fears that rank which situations about business networking people find scary. I blogged about one on U.S. adults reported in a 2008 magazine article by Ruscio et al. Also, I blogged about another on adults in both developed and developing countries  in a 2010 magazine article.

A bar chart shown above lists the fears ranked from most common to least common. (Click on it to see a larger, clearer version). For both (US adults) and [adults in 9 developed countries] they come in the same order:

Public speaking/performance (21.2%) [13.0%]
Speaking up in meeting/class (19.5%) [12.5%]
Meeting new people (16.8%) [8.8%]
Talking to people in authority (14.7%) [8.6%]
Talking with strangers (13.1%) [6.9%]
Entering an occupied room (11.9%) [6.7%]

For developing countries the order is slightly different. Both articles also list phobias.

Giving an elevator speech is one kind of speaking up in a meeting. It is the second most common fear, after public speaking/performance. Yet, it is something that is expected when you attend networking events. Thus it calls for lots of your attention. 

Starting in late April on his No Sweat Public Speaking web site Fred E. Miller discussed how to craft an elevator speech. He divided the process into seven floors:

First Floor: Describe who you are.

Second Floor: Describe what you do.

Third Floor: Describe your expertise.

Fourth Floor: Describe why they hire you.

Fifth Floor: Your WHY (the DNA of your elevator speech).

Sixth Floor: More WHY they hire you.

Seventh Floor: What you deliver (Your Ultimate Selling Proposition)

Fred also mentioned an eighth floor, which is where you ask a person you are talking to one-on-one about what they do. 

This post was inspired by a comment in a lengthy discussion on the LinkedIn Public Speaking Network group on the topic of “Is ‘The Fear of Public Speaking’  a misnomer?”  Susan RoAne had commented that our greatest fear was not public speaking, but rather was walking into a roomful of strangers. I think she got that from a three-decade old New York Times article that I have blogged about. Last November I had blogged about fears in networking situations, and even emailed her about that post. 

The image of an elevator door in Vancouver, Washington came from Wikimedia Commons. 

How many Americans are scared of networking situations? An infographic showing both fears and phobias for meeting new people and talking with strangers

The infographic shown above is based on two recent and very serious magazine articles reporting on large surveys of U.S. adults and adolescents. (Click on it to see a larger, clearer view). Both surveys asked two questions related to networking - about meeting new people and talking with strangers.

For adults, meeting new people was feared by 16.8%, and talking with strangers was feared by 13.1%. For the more serious phobias, meeting new people freaked out 9.7%, and talking with strangers freaked out 8.1%. For adolescents, meeting new people was feared by 23.6%, and talking with strangers was feared by 22.2%.

The first article by A. M. Ruscio et al. is titled Social Fears and Social Phobia in the United States: Results from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. You can read the full text here. I blogged about it back in October 2011 in a post titled What’s the Difference Between A Fear and A Phobia? That post also contains a bar chart for all the fears and phobias shown by Ruscio et al. in their Table 1. 

The second article by J. G. Green et al. is titled Validation of the Diagnoses of Panic Disorder and Phobic Disorders in the US National Comorbidity Survey Replication Adolescent (NCS-A) Supplement. You can read the full text here. I blogged about it back in June 2012 in a post titled What Social Situations Scare American Adolescents, and What Are Their Top 20 Fears? That post also contains a bar chart for all the fears shown by Green et al. in their Table 4. 

For adults, meeting new people was feared by 16.8%, and talking with strangers was feared by 13.1%. Where do these fears rank compared with other social situations? Meeting new people was ranked third, and talking to strangers was seventh. Public speaking/performance was first (21.2%), followed by speaking up in a meeting/ class (19.5%). Talking to people in authority (14.7%) was fourth, an important exam/interview (14.0%) was fifth, and going to parties (13.4%) was sixth.

How many U.S. adults fear meeting new people? According to the 2010 Census, the total population was 305,745,538 people, but only 234,564,071 were 18 years and older. Multiplying that by 0.168, there are about 39.4 million people with that fear. 

For adolescents, meeting new people was feared by 23.6%, and talking with strangers  was feared by 22.2%. Where do these fears rank compared with other social situations? Meeting new people was ranked fourth, and talking to strangers was fifth. Performing for an audience was first (35.8%), followed by speaking in class (24.9%), and a situation that could be embarrassed (24.6%).  

How do these survey results for adults compare with some statistics cited in books by networking experts? Back in 2005 Debra Fine published The Fine Art of Small Talk. On page 19 of that book she said:

“Do you know the biggest social fear in America? It’s public speaking. And do you know the second? It’s fear of starting a conversation with a stranger. So remember when you walk into a luncheon or a cocktail party, most people there are scared to death to talk to you.”

I’m not sure where she got that ranking, but second is a lot higher than seventh (for talking with strangers). In an article about her book in the Houston Chronicle on December 1, 2005 she was quoted as saying that five out of eight of us (62.5%) are afraid to talk to strangers. The 13.1% shown above in the infographic is about 4.8 times smaller than her statistic. 

In 2010 Frances Kay published Successful Networking. On page 43 of her book (and page 22 of her 2004 book Brilliant Business Connections) she said:

“Don’t worry if you have butterflies; research shows that over 90 per cent of people feel fear about walking into a room full of strangers.”

This year Signe A. Dayhoff published her How to Speak Without Fear Small Talk Course, in which she said:

“However, a survey done in the 1980s showed that up to 95 percent of the U.S. population reported that it was truly uncomfortable talking with strangers.”

These percentages are almost ludicrously high compared with those reported by Ruscio et al. The last column of Table 1 in that article reports percentages of fear for people with a diagnosis of social anxiety disorder, which were 80.5% for meeting new people and 66.7% for talking with strangers.

A “whipped topping” elevator speech: What the heck do you guys really do?

In a previous post I discussed how an elevator speech answers the question of: What do you do, that can help me? Writing a good elevator speech to introduce yourself or your company is hard. Writing a bad one is very easy.

Whipped topping is a substitute for real whipped cream. It’s just a garnish for dessert, so it is not expected to be anything substantial. I recently stumbled over the web site for a corporation that is little more than a bunch of fluffy whipped topping. The following statements have been edited just slightly, and the name has been changed to protect the not-so-innocent.

Under the “About Us” tab there is the following Corporate Description, which could be replaced just by saying: “we do stuff for you.”

Enematec is a top-tier provider of business and technology solutions designed to enhance and maximize the operational performance of its customers through the adaptation and deployment of advanced information technology and engineering services. We are an innovative leader in the design, development and delivery of these solutions to commercial and government sectors, from our offices located in major metropolitan centers throughout North America.

Of course, there also is a Mission Statement:
Enematec’s mission is to be in a leadership position in its industry by providing responsive, high-quality, reliable, technologically advanced, and cost-effective services that enable its customers to meet their business objectives, allow Enematec to enhance shareholder value, and afford its employees the opportunity to realize their professional and personal goals. Enematec supports this mission with dedication, resources and expertise.

Naturally there also is a Vision Statement:
Enematec’s vision is to be the #1 choice of customers for delivery of professional services while maintaining a strong commitment to technological innovation, continuous improvement through total quality management, employee career growth, and respecting the integrity of our customers and employees.

Both the Mission Statement page and the Vision Statement page also repeat the Corporate Description paragraph. All of the above might be better summarized by just saying: “We take your money, do great stuff for you, and still make a profit for us.” Maybe they also should have said: “You can trust us”, but would you believe them?

What do you do that can help me?

A short, snappy answer to the question, “What do you do (that can help me)?” is the universal icebreaker for networking. It’s your most important brief business speech whether you are looking for business or looking for a job.

Common business jargon for this is the “elevator speech” or “elevator pitch” – something short enough to introduce you or your business during a ride on an elevator. A brief version might take only 15 to 30 seconds. A more detailed one might take a minute (or even two) and it might instead better be described as an escalator speech. Your elevator speech should discuss the benefits that you or your product can provide, not just features. The speech should be free of jargon, so lose those TLAs (three letter acronyms).

Where can you find examples of elevator speeches? Craig Harrison presents six brief examples in an article on Elevating Your Consulting Practice with Your Elevator Speech. Jay Roy displays an excellent longer job search speech in his article on The gift of the Gab: Becoming a Better Networker. Catherine Hansen shows five examples in her article on how The Elevator Speech is the Swiss Army Knife of Job-Search Tools.

Is it easy to write an elevator speech? No, it is both hard and time consuming. After all, it’s almost like writing a radio commercial about yourself or your business. Chris King ends his article on How to Craft an Effective Elevator Speech by giving his own speech as an example. Terry Dean’s article on how to Create Your Elevator Speech also includes his own speech as an example.

May 10, 2009 update

More recently Daisy Wademan Dowling discussed How to Perfect an Elevator Pitch. She said that you should:

1. Practice, practice, practice - 100 times or till you know it cold.

2. Focus on impact – describe results not years of experience.

3. Ditch the cultural baggage - get comfortable with bragging about your contributions.

4. Be slow and steady - speak at a pace that shows your calm and confidence.

5. See the whole world as an elevator – not just job fairs and interviews.