I mentioned in my June 22 blog entry that I had delivered a lecture entitled ‘What has space brought us?’ to the participants attending the summer session of International Space University. At the end of the lecture, I encouraged each student to prepare and practice a brief ‘elevator pitch’ to highlight a few benefits of the space program. I concluded the lecture by verbalizing my own personal elevator pitch.
I was subsequently interviewed by reporter Genna Buck for an article to appear in an upcoming special issue of Maclean’s magazine about space. The issue has just been published and is on newsstands now – it’s worth buying and reading.
Maclean’s space issue – http://www.macleans.ca/tag/space-issue/
In addition to questions about my spaceflight experiences, Genna also asked me the ‘why should we spend money on space’ question. I was able to use my standard elevator pitch to answer the question. Scroll down to the near-end of the article to see my answer. What do you think of my elevator pitch? Would you have answered Genna’s question differently?
An elevator pitch is a communication tool that can be used in several settings to promote a big idea – not just in elevators. It can also be used around the office water cooler, in a car pool or at a cocktail party to capture a listener’s attention. It can be used when an election candidate knocks on your door. It can even be used to answer a reporter’s question. I’m glad that I had my pitch ready to go when Genna called.
