“Can you pass the elevator test?” asks presentation whiz Garr Reynolds in a new twist on the familiar scenario. He suggests that this technique will help you sharpen your core message. In this exercise you need to pitch your idea in a few brief moments instead of the 20 minutes you had been granted with your vice president of product marketing. You arrive at her door for your appointment as she is leaving, coat and briefcase in hand. Something has come up. This meeting is a huge opportunity for you if you want to get the OK from the executive team. Could you sell your idea during the elevator ride and the walk to the parking lot? Reynolds asks. Although this scenario may never happen, you will possibly be asked to shorten a presentation, say, from an hour to 30 minutes or from 20 minutes to 5 minutes. Could you make your message tighter and clearer on the fly?

Your Task. Take a business idea you may have, a familiar business topic you care about, or a promotion or raise you wish to request in a time of tight budgets. Create an impromptu two- to five-minute speech making a good case for your core message. Even though you won’t have much time to think about the details of your speech, you should be sufficiently familiar with the topic to boil it down and yet be persuasive.