Have you heard of an Elevator Pitch? It's essentially a short introduction of your topic or even just a summary of exactly who you are but the reason why it's called an Elevator pitch is because... drum roll please... it's meant to be roughly the same amount of time you would spend in an elevator! Clever no?
Well, we wrote, memorized, and practiced our elevator speeches this week as we approach the Business Symposium. Though it was on the spot and we only had 12 minutes to prepare, I didn't feel as stressed as it seemed others had been. It seemed as if I already knew why I was here and knew exactly what I wanted to propose to the professionals we'd meet from the weeks of research I had done. Moreover, I was quite excited to come up with a short statement marketing myself. It went something like this:
Hey! My name is Aashi, I’m a junior at Frisco High School planning to study Engineering in my career but more specifically mechanical engineering. I am currently in the Radicubs FRC robotics team and learning many basics of the world of engineering but this year I’d like to focus on automotive transportation and find a mentor to help me understand the equipment and machinery going into designing and building them. If you’re familiar with these topics and are interested in working with me, I’d love to schedule a chat.
A big thing I realized through this assignment was that I can actually memorize! I always thought that I struggled with memorization but this came so naturally even when I was in front of the class. There's this click that made me feel I actually could memorize, so I looked back at the differences between what happened this time compared to what I usually do to find out what exactly. There was one thing that stood out. With this elevator speech, I spoke my mind freely the way I would usually talk. It was more of a written record of what I would have said on the spot with the same requirements. This also meant all of the sentences came internally and I felt more connected to what I was trying to say. On the other hand, with other memorized pieces, I'd write a whole lot of sentences to fill in requirements in a way I wouldn't naturally speak. It would be a lot more superficial than my actual voice.
Now recognizing this difference, it will definitely improve many parts of memorization- and correspondingly anxiousness- for all of my future presentations and other speeches.
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