Going Up: The Elevator Pitch as First Day Strategy

Ding. Ding. Going Up.

As an educator that often works with first-year students in a college or university setting, I have tried a lot of party tricks to get the conversation going on the first day of class. Breaking that ice is so important for having a term where students feel comfortable, connected, and engaged. 

I’ll be talking about my favorite activity that relies of shared experiences in another post, but today I wanted to advocate for the use of an elevator pitch in the first-year space. 

An elevator pitch is a short, engaging summary of you. It’s an introduction that is snappy enough to be delivered on an elevator ride. 

Imagine this: you walk in for an internship interview and, since you’ve done your research, you know that you’re riding the elevator with someone who is on the panel about to interview you. This is a golden opportunity to be a friendly face and introduce yourself. One way that you can really tank this experience is by prattling on about yourself or freezing when they ask you a basic question. 

The solution? Preparing, rehearsing, and regularly editing your elevator pitch. 

An elevator pitch can seem gimmicky and overly business-focused when framed in this way. However, when a classroom full of students are all roving around the room, practicing firm handshakes and eye contact, giggling occasionally to burn of the nerves it becomes clear that the business-side of the elevator pitch is only part of it: it’s primary function is connection. 

In the first-year writing space we often teach the personal essay. The personal essay is important because it encourages students to think about their lives, to identify trends, themes, and takeaways within their own lived experiences and to articulate these findings through clear prose. Let’s be real though, aside from university applications, this exact genre is not a form of writing that most adults produce regularly, even annually. 

And yet, on at least a weekly basis we stumble into someone we haven’t seen in a while, are introduced by a mutual friend, or put ourselves out there online. 

Teaching students how to do an elevator pitch on the first day connects several purposes in one activity. 

1. Students get to know each other–where they come from, what they want to do, what their goals are. 

2. Students see the class as an experience tethered to their professional personae, not a separate sphere.

3. Students get to get the jitters out. Campuses have career resources but students are not always aware that they exist or how to access/use them. This is a great opportunity to plug those resources and break the ice on public speaking in the classroom. 

Have you used elevator pitches in the classroom? If so, how’d it go? What other professional activities do you like to include in the classroom?