30 Second Commercials

Yesterday I attended a Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting at the Xona Resort Suites. It was a great event!

First of all the staff at the Xona, formerly Resort Suites of Scottsdale, did a terrific job. Besides the customary buffet line of fruit, breads, bacon, sausage, and scrambled eggs they set up an omelet station.

The omelet station had a little of everything. I had a shrimp omelet with red and green peppers and mushrooms. Delicious!

The format for the event was designed to help everyone with their 30 second commercials and their 7 second answer to "What do you do?"

There were at least 10 tables with 10 to 11 people seated at each table. Each person gave their 30 second commercial and then the rest of the business people at the table gave suggestions on how to improve the elevator speech. Then we worked on the 7 second answer to "What do you do?"

This is a great exercise that everyone should have the opportunity to do. We all tend to tell people what our occupation is, not what we do. Boring! You can just watch the listeners eyes glaze over.

Some pointers for you. Don't waste part of your 30 seconds by saying, "Hi, my name is _ _ _
from _ _ _ company and I do _ _ _. Start out by saying something interesting and attention grabbing. Save your name and company until the end.

You should have the audience coming to you afterward and asking, "How do you do that?"

Are you going on vacation to Mexico or South America this winter? You may want to learn some basic Spanish phrases. Learning a few Spanish phrases will make your trip safer and more enjoyable. Check out www.learnspanishfastandeasy.com

Until next time,

Chuck Trautman