I apologize for such a long letter - I didn't have time to write a short one.
Mark Twain

It is time for you to "write a short one"...

If you look online for advice about elevator pitches, you will find most of them are about networking and making sales. As I described in class, "Picture you are in an elevator with Elon Musk. You have 30 seconds to tell him who you are, what you are doing, and why he should spend some more time listening to you."

However, elevator pitches aren't just for getting billionaires to listen to you and shower you with money. They are also part of developing your ability to communicate effectively. I'm sure that you have been asked many times what your thesis was about. You have probably also had the experience of watching their eyes glaze over as you rambled on and realizing that they were probably regretting asking now...

Our goal with this exercise is for you to develop a 30-45 second elevator pitch you can whip out at these occasions. Your goal is to convey (in very broad strokes) (1) what problem you are trying to solve, (2) why should anyone care (what benefit does it bring to society?), and (3) where you are in the process.

As implied by the quote at the top, this is not easy. Some of you are doing technical or esoteric things. You can assume an audience that is a fellow computer science student (though your grandmother would be better), but even so, you have to assume that the listener doesn't know anything about machine learning/computer vision/quantum computing/computational geometry/networking/computational art other than (possibly) that it is a thing.

Deliverable

I would like you to each come up with an elevator pitch and record it. You can use Panopto or some other tool. When you are done, please upload it to the Assignments folder on Panopto that you will find in the Elevator pitches.

Thoughts about getting started

1. Start by writing it out. This is not just you popping in front of a camera and rambling for 45 seconds. Write it out.

2. Once it is written, go back and try to remove as much jargon as you can.

3. Say it out loud to a mirror. Revise any bits that you trip over.

4. Time yourself. Revise until it is short enough and still says everything you need to say. Aim for 30 seconds, but no more than 45 seconds.

5. Practice on anyone who will sit still for you for 45 seconds. If they don't get it, revise again.