Give Your Elevator Speech a Lift!!

Whether you are at a business event or a social funtion, what’ the most common question asked by someone you’ve just met? “What do you do?” Those four word represent a golden opportunity for you to market yourself. But here’s the catch: In most cases you have just a few seconds to get your message across and engage your listener’s interest. How do you do that? With an “elevator speech.” In Give Your Elevator Speech a Lift!, media specialist Lorraine Howell guides you step-by-step through her proven unique process for creating a winning elevator speech. By using Lorraine’s method, you can explain what you do – in thirty seconds or less – as well as determine your listener’s interest, making your elevator speech one of your most compelling, and time-efficient, marketing tools for generating new business or employment referrals. In this age of sound bites, channel surfing, and information overload, getting your message out quickly and effectively is essential. Give Your Elevator Speech a Lift! will show you how to ride the express elevator to the penthouse of professional success.

Whether you are at a business event or a social funtion, what’ the most common question asked by someone you’ve just met? “What do you do?” Those four word represent a golden opportunity for you to market yourself. But here’s the catch: In most cases you have just a few seconds to get your message across and engage your listener’s interest. How do you do that? With an “elevator speech.” In Give Your Elevator Speech a Lift!, media specialist Lorraine Howell guides you step-by-step through her proven unique process for creating a winning elevator speech. By using Lorraine’s method, you can explain what you do – in thirty seconds or less – as well as determine your listener’s interest, making your elevator speech one of your most compelling, and time-efficient, marketing tools for generating new business or employment referrals. In this age of sound bites, channel surfing, and information overload, getting your message out quickly and effectively is essential. Give Your Elevator Speech a Lift! will show you how to ride the express elevator to the penthouse of professional success.

Lorraine Howell started Media Skills Training in 1998 after 12 years as a television news and talk show producer in the San Francisco Bay Area. She coaches top executives and professionals on how to be more effective speakers for speeches, presentations, and media interviews. Since January 2011, she has been an instructor at the University of Washington Foster School of Business in the Technology Management MBA, the Global Executive MBA, and the Executive MBA programs. From 2007-2009 she coached the five finalists in the Forbes.com national Boost Your Business Contest in New York City. Her book Give Your Elevator Speech a Lift! (Book Publishers Network, August, 2010 Second Edition) is a step-by-step guide through her proven process for creating a winning elevator speech, including new content on personal branding and social media. Lorraine’s method helps eliminate the verbal clutter when answering the question “What do you do?” Her book is currently used as a textbook at the University of Washington and Cornell University. As the Senior Segment Producer on the top rated news show at KTVU, the Fox affiliate in Oakland, she specialized in booking exclusive, live interviews with top names in the news, public figures and celebrities. She produced live broadcasts from the White House and from the Capitol in Washington, D.C., from the 1996 Republican & Democratic National Conventions, and from “Camp O.J.” during the Simpson murder trial in Los Angeles. At KPIX, the CBS affiliate, she produced live, one-hour programs featuring breaking news stories, controversial issues and emerging trends, and a long list of celebrities on the number one morning talk show. She speaks on media relations and presentation skills at conferences and seminars. Her clients include Starbucks Coffee Company, University of Washington, Microsoft, City of Seattle, Group Health Cooperative, Seattle Children’s, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seneca Group, The Mountaineers Books, ZymoGenetics, Kibble & Prentice, U.S. Small Business Administration, Edelman Public Relations Worldwide. She is a Cum Laude graduate from the University of Washington, Phi Beta Kappa. Lorraine is also a member of Women in Communications, Women Business Owners, Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, Public Relations Society of America, and a Washington State Certified OMWBE. Lorraine received the national AWC Headliner Award for 2009 from the Association for Women in Communications. In October 2012, she will be inducted into the UW Department of Communication’s Alumni Hall of Fame.