The average attention span of a person is just 30 seconds - roughly the time of a one-story elevator ride! Be prepared to grab your listener quickly or lose them forever. Here's how:

1. Allow your speech to paint a picture or tell a story.
2. Use tag lines yet avoid sounding cliche.
3. Stick to hard facts and numbers.
4. Make the pitch easy to understand;
5. Focus on the service you provide and how it benefits the client/consumer and community.
6. You're pitching to a volunteer so mention the return on their investment.
7. Last but not least, make sure it's only 30 seconds long.

Once you have created your elevator speech, memorize it completely and try it out on friends, family, colleagues (try cornering them into a cubicle). When reciting your elevator pitch convey passion, confidence, and instill some of your personality into the pitch. It really makes a difference when your message has some feeling to it.

How does one use a tag line without it sounding cliche -- and without saying "I know this sounds cliche, but . . . "?