What is in your FIRST elevator pitch?

[JohnBoucher]

In an effort to make the students better salesmen for our program, we will be writing and practicing FIRST elevator pitches at the next few meetings.

What's in your pitch?

What points seem to score very well?

What are your good "sound bites"

[danshaffer]

great question, i'd love to know!

[JaneYoung]

- where your team alumni are and what they are doing
- as a friend from Rolling Thunder, FRC 1511, reminded me this weekend - impact - how the team impacts the community
- confidence/experience gained from working with/alongside engineers/professionals
- that 'hardest fun' phrase

[KathieK]

We wear a lot of FIRST apparel. (I also have an "I love robots" sticker on my car, and my office is decorated in FIRST). That opens the door to conversation with others.
I mention how it was founded by Dean Kamen, it's mission, and the fact that there are four programs for ages 6-high school.
I try to include something about the scholarship opportunities.
I mention that teams are often in need of mentors and sponsors.

[Qbranch]

what's an 'elevator pitch'?

-q

[JaneYoung]

An 'elevator pitch' is a brief overview of a business, product, or in our case, FIRST/our teams, touching on key points that will 'sell' well. It should be about the length of 2 to 5 minutes. The idea is that you should be able to make your pitch in the course of an elevator ride.

(I fail at elevator pitches unless the elevator stalls for 1/2 hour.)

[ebarker]

I would think the right length for an elevator pitch is 30 to 60 seconds.

I tell our folks to have an 'elevator pitch' and a 'taxi ride'.

The taxi ride being 5 minutes.

[Erin Rapacki]

For instance...

A FIRST Regional is in the same general area as a large tech-business convention that's happening the same weekend. Your team is staying at the same hotel as top executives from industry who are in the area for the convention. You share a hotel elevator when he/she asks you about your crazy looking T-shirt. You have 20 seconds to tell them everything they'd want to know about FIRST so you can get their card and call them up later for sponsorship or support.

What do you say??

[Qbranch]

Thanks for the clarification... when i first saw the title of this thread I thought it was about what pitch of timing belt did you use for your elevator!

-q

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

An 'elevator pitch' is a brief overview of a business, product, or in our case, FIRST/our teams, touching on key points that will 'sell' well. It should be about the length of 2 to 5 minutes. The idea is that you should be able to make your pitch in the course of an elevator ride.

(I fail at elevator pitches unless the elevator stalls for 1/2 hour.)

[Wetzel]

Among other things, I have the game video on my phone. It usualy is more indepth than a elevator pitch, but if someone gets really interested, I can show them a video pretty quick.

[JaneYoung]

Recently at an off season event, one of the fabulous FIRST volunteers showed me what he does in his job at a university. He had a video of it in his phone. Between explaining it to me verbally and showing it to me, I got a great sense of the technology he works with and what inspires him in his field. It was fast and clear - which was good because his giant ice cream sundae was melting.

[Cyberguy34000]

"FIRST Robotics is a competition with over 1,000 teams worldwide. Every year we have six weeks to build a robot that plays a game that changes each year. The regional we're attending is just crazy. Kind of a mix between Battle Bots*, a three ring circus, the olympics, and a midnight rave party. Students, engineering mentors, and VIPs in suits are all running around. Hard to picture, but it's a chaotic blast. I love every minute of it."

(pause, let them respond. Part of the elevator pitch is to grab their attention, and give them an idea of what you do. From how they respond to you, you can have some prepared lines about common questions. If you keep your opening somewhat consistent (or can think on you feet), you'll have a lot of common questions that lead to your Part 2 response.)

Common questions I get after this into:

Q: Battle Bots? So you blow each other up?
A: Talk about gracious professionalism, working together towards a common goal. Teamwork 3v3... Don't want to kill your opponents because they may be your partners in the next match.

Q: So who funds all this?
A: each team is responsible for their funding, usually they get it from corporations or their schools as an investment in the future of science and technology... etc... We're always looking for more sponsors! (Hand out card. )

Q: So where is the event being held?
A: Say location, short schedule... Be sure to mention free, open to public. or if this is during build season, invite them to the workshop.

Q: So what do you do on the team?
A: Keep it brief, it's fun to talk about yourself, but it leaves a better impression on people if you can relate it back to how what you do matters on a larger scale.

Q: What's the game?
A: This can be a tricky one, but for examples I've used in the past "A giant game of tic-tac-toe played with intertubes / tetras, a basketball/soccer mishmash played with poofballs... Bonus points for climbing a steep ramp, climbing on top of friendly robots..." You get the idea. Keep it short and sweet, most people don't care about exact point values... if they do they'll be talking to you for FAR longer than just the elevator pitch.

And just take it from there! The important part is to keep your answers informative, but short. To give people chances to respond, ask questions.

Again, these are just suggestions, but it helps to have a jumping off point! Good luck!

-Chris




* -(BTW: I know how FIRST guys feel about Battle Bots, but its a common point of reference for many people, and is actually an excellent bridge into a talk about FIRST Gracious Professionalism, and how it sets us apart.)

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Cyberguy34000

"FIRST Robotics is a competition with over 1,000 teams worldwide. Every year we have six weeks to build a robot that plays a game that changes each year. The regional we're attending is just crazy. Kind of a mix between Battle Bots*, a three ring circus, the olympics, and a midnight rave party. Students, engineering mentors, and VIPs in suits are all running around. Hard to picture, but it's a chaotic blast. I love every minute of it."

...* -(BTW: I know how FIRST guys feel about Battle Bots, but its a common point of reference for many people, and is actually an excellent bridge into a talk about FIRST Gracious Professionalism, and how it sets us apart.)

I usually prefer Junkyard Wars or Monster Garage to BattleBots, though I sometimes say "a mix of BattleBots and __________ (one of the above shows)." Both the above shows are a little bit closer; Monster Garage is closest, except it's modifying cars.

[Cooley744]

Thoughts on college before you joined the team, to thoughts no college after being in robotics. (like picking a major and all that)

[KathieK]

Originally Posted by Cyberguy34000

"FIRST Robotics is a competition with over 1,000 teams worldwide. Every year we have six weeks to build a robot that plays a game that changes each year. The regional we're attending is just crazy. Kind of a mix between Battle Bots*, a three ring circus, the olympics, and a midnight rave party. Students, engineering mentors, and VIPs in suits are all running around. Hard to picture, but it's a chaotic blast. I love every minute of it."

If you get more than a few minutes to engage in conversation, please include the broader picture about FIRST. FIRST is not FIRST Robotics Competition, although that might be the program you are familiar with. FIRST is much larger than that and while the details about FRC are amazing, when you include the scope of FLL (and now JFLL and FTC) and FIRST Place, it's mind-boggling!