November 18th, 2020

An elevator pitch, also known as elevator speech or statement, is a brief and persuasive speech used to spark interest in a project, idea, or product. It is a fast discourse that lasts no longer than a short elevator ride, and it should be interesting, memorable, and succinct. 

The resource is used commonly in sales, marketing and IT organizations to introduce a project to potential clients or customers. It can take some time to create a correct elevator pitch because it involves a special technique. It must be compelling, it must sound natural and it also must identify the goal, describe the idea, explain exactly what it does, communicate the proposition, and engage with a rhetorical question (those that are asked just for effect, or to lay emphasis on some point being discussed, when no real answer is expected). 

All of these items were considered by the students of the two groups of fourth Secondary grade that prepare the First Certificate in English exam. They had to create their own elevator speeches to present a social innovation they created. Profas. Cecilia Baridón Gonnet, Estefanía Gómez Ferragut and Verónica Redekofski Bernal are the teachers behind this activity. With this tool, the teachers presented a concrete situation to practice speaking skills, the use of rhetorical questions, and pronunciation.

The students engaged with the idea and wrote their speeches, practiced once and again, and finally recorded their elevator speeches. The results are stunning, the ideas are fresh and socially-committed, and the arguments are well done, explain the teachers. 

Now it is your turn, you can practice this kind of speech. It is an excellent opportunity to organize ideas, and also practice vocabulary and argumentation if you create your elevator speech in a second language. As these students, you will feel the power of a motivating and challenging discourse. You can get inspiration with the following audios created by the students of fourth FCE Secondary grades. Good luck!