Does anyone have a nice elevator speech already prepared? Maybe one for Cadets and one for Seniors? I get asked all the time about CAP and I fumble around and miss the better points before time is out. I can talk but can't write. I need something 30 to 60 seconds I can memorize to get a conversation started if they want to hear more. The highlights. Can't find anything online except long brochure text.
OK. I'll break the rules and talk to myself. 83 views and no one has any words to share? Keeping it a secret or does everyone else not have a good 30 second spill either? LOL I have a couple good ones I use for my business at networking events, but am too new yet to CAP to know whats best to say.
If I come up with anything, I'll post it here just in case anyone else is looking for some good wording like I am. :)
I coulda sworn something like that ended up in the best practices toolbox. I just haven't had the chance to hunt it down.
How many floors? :-)
"Civil Air Patrol is the Civilian Auxilary of the United States Air Force." (Oh boy, now I've already crossed swords with some in here. I don't care. Get over it. I won't engage!) :-)
"We are tasked by Congress with three missions: Cadet Programs, Emergency Services and Aerospace Education. The Cadet Program is very much a leadership development laboratory. The cadets learn in a hierarchical culture like the military, but it is a safe place to learn how to lead. Cadets wear US Air Force-style uniforms and earn ribbons and awards for their achievement.
Emergency Services is about learning skills for Search and Rescue, Disaster Relief and other tasks to serve our community. Historically, we searched for missing and overdue aircraft. Increasingly, we are involved in assessment and relief work after natural disasters as well as searching for missing people, lost hikers and such.
Aerospace Education provides opportunities for people inside and outside of CAP to learn about the importance of Aerospace, and even provides opportunities for our cadets to earn their Private Pilot's Certificate.
If you're interested, our squadron meets at .... "
(for cadets)
"CAP is a Congressionally chartered auxiliary to the United States Air Force. It's mainly involved in Aerospace Education, Emergency Services and Cadet Programs. As a cadet, completion of certain milestones can result in advanced promotions if you become enlisted in the Air Force. CAP also does around 90% of inland SAR in the CONUS. (contact info)"
I don't have a senior speech, but it'd be similar to the cadet one.
Couple things:
The "elevator pitch" is not a breathless series of sentences you should memorize and regurgitate on command. I get asked about this all the time, and honestly, while good "elevator pitching" can be a bit of an art, it really requires a good working knowledge of the history, missions & facets of the organization, and an understanding of what the person you're pitching to is looking for.
I see this with cadets at recruiting events all the time where someone says "Well, tell me about Civil Air Patrol," and the floodgates open: a torrent of words come tumbling out in various orders, history, dates, and jargon gets used rather heavily, and, depending on the level of skill and knowledge of the "recruiter," the "recruitee" might not get a word in edgewise for 3-5 minutes (thats one long elevator ride..)
:)
Recently, one of my seniors complained to me about the "elevator pitch" info on the back of the business cards template.
"Thats not helpful at all!" she said.
"OK, then change it. Come up with your own, personal elevator pitch."
"I'm not creative enough to do that."
"I'm not asking you to make things up, but personalize your experience in CAP to relate to the person you're talking to."
"But how do I do that and then memorize it?"
"No. No. Don't memorize it. The idea here is not to commit a rote speech to memory. The idea is to communicate the 'why' of CAP that works for you."
The larger issue is that if the member can't elucidate why they're there to themselves, how can they do it to someone else in a way that's understandable, right?
In 2006, my friend Shawn Stanford & I joined the Army Cadets. October of that year, we went to the AUSA Annual Meeting in DC as part of the organizational effort to get the Army to "sit up and take notice." I didn't know diddly squat all the ins and outs of the organizational value proposition and such. I mean, yeah, I knew the basics of what the organization did, how it did it, and the history. But I was essentially clueless as to the "party line" that our Chief of Staff liked to put out, and how to communicate the "why the USAC is a good fit for the Army" concepts to anybody, let alone to 2, 3 and 4-star generals and Army SES civilians.
We spent part of the morning there in the DC convention center with the Chief of Staff and our National Chaplain, watching them "work the crowd" and do the "This is what we are, this is what we do, this is how we do it and this is why we're good for the Army and the Nation" thing with various officers and senior NCOs. The key takeaway for me was that it was never the same thing every time. The pitch was generally "situational" to the audience, too. You didn't talk the same things to the CG of Army Accessions Command that you did to the Assistant Adjutant General for Army from Idaho.
After a couple hours walking around with the Chaplain & the chief of staff, we had the gist of the messages and could rock out. Literally 30 minutes later, I'm standing on an escalator when some E-9 from HQDA looks at the patch on my dress greens and says "So, what is the Army Cadets, sir?"
Now I've got my in. I give him a quick 30-second thumbnail and get him asking me questions instead of me telling him things he's not interested in. (What is the phrase? "Telling ain't selling.") The escalator ride ended and the Sergeant Major was more interested in finding out more about the USAC than he was in whatever his original destination was. But I let him ask me about aspects that piqued his interest rather than just rambling on for a minute or more about one narrow portion, or trying to cram 5 minutes of info into one short minute.
"Wait, so you guys have CTT as part of your cadet training?"
"Sure do, S'arnt Major. We don't necessarily do all the usual solider CTT, like NBC training, but we cover stuff like self-aid and buddy care, land nav, some minor aspects of tactical movement, BRM, that kind of thing."
"Marksmanship, really? M-16s?"
"We familiarize them on M-4s, but most of the initial training is done with .22 bolt action rifles, partly for cost and partly for availability. We don't have access to an arms room full of M-16s, and 22 caliber ammo is pretty cheap. But, you know, CTT is just one aspect of cadet training."
"Oh yeah, what are the other parts?"
"Well, there's leadership training, physical fitness, ethics..."
"No kidding."
The same goes for pitching CAP in various settings. Lead with a hook, not the whole kitchen sink. Figure out what the person you're talking to is interested in or what aspect they might be leaning towards.
"So, what do you do? Are you a pilot?"
"No, I'm an EMT.." OK, now you know that this guy might be more interested in the health services or ES aspects of the program, so hit the ES aspect first.
"Oh, gotcha. We don't specifically do a lot of medical things, just because of training and liability and that sort of stuff, but in Emergency Services you still have to have some basic knowledge of medical stuff for injuries in the field or whatever you may encounter. Basic first-responder or First-aid kind of stuff more than indepth EMT-ish things."
"What about airplanes? I'm in to aviation.."
"We do have a large single-engine aircraft fleet.."
rinse and repeat.
The idea isn't to make your "pitchee" a subject matter expert in Civil Air Patrol in 60-90 seconds. You goal is to make them want to find out more after that initial 60 seconds. So when they get off the supposed elevator, they're interested in talking to you more.
And know when to say "OK, you know what, come down to a meeting" or "here's some contact info" or whatever.
:)
Quote from: ourpobox on May 12, 2016, 02:16:35 AM
How many floors? :-)
"Civil Air Patrol is the Civilian Auxilary of the United States Air Force." (Oh boy, now I've already crossed swords with some in here. I don't care. Get over it. I won't engage!) :-)
"We are tasked by Congress with three missions: Cadet Programs, Emergency Services and Aerospace Education. The Cadet Program is very much a leadership development laboratory. The cadets learn in a hierarchical culture like the military, but it is a safe place to learn how to lead. Cadets wear US Air Force-style uniforms and earn ribbons and awards for their achievement.
Emergency Services is about learning skills for Search and Rescue, Disaster Relief and other tasks to serve our community. Historically, we searched for missing and overdue aircraft. Increasingly, we are involved in assessment and relief work after natural disasters as well as searching for missing people, lost hikers and such.
Aerospace Education provides opportunities for people inside and outside of CAP to learn about the importance of Aerospace, and even provides opportunities for our cadets to earn their Private Pilot's Certificate.
If you're interested, our squadron meets at .... "
"TL;DL" (too long; didn't listen) :)
Seriously, probably too much of a 360 view of the organization for a short period of time.
Ok, here is my first stab.
Prospective senior member: "So what is the CAP?"
Me:
QuoteWell there are two answers to that. The short answer is that at a national level, we are a non-profit that functions as the auxiliary of the air force when needed.
But that doesn't tell you what we actually do, so let me talk about our local meetings for a bit.
Our local meetings cover a number of topics. Last week I was training people on how to secure computers, and the week before we had someone teaching orbital mechanics. Next week we are doing a training exercise in preparation for whatever disasters that might come up that we can be called up to assist with. We really cover a broad range of topics for both young adults and adults. [FILLER BOX FOR 30 SECONDS RELEVANT TO PROSPECTIVE MEMBER.]I think it would be worth your time to stop by for a meeting and see what it is that we do.
You see where I put in a FILLER SPOT?
Hopefully you had a chance to talk with the prospect before you answer this question. If you have, you may have an idea where their interests lie.
For a pilot it might be something like: [We also have an aircraft that we use for teaching young adults about aircraft with orientation flights and for search and rescue when needed.]
For a ham radio operator it might be something like: [We also have our own national communications network with digital capabilities and encryption.]
For a dedicated local volunteer it might be something like: [We also volunteer time at the big local event in our town each year.]
For an outdoorsman it might be something like: [2 to 4 times a year (whatever your squadron does, never sell what you don't have) we go camping and train on outdoorsman skills like shelter building, firemaking and such along with other skills to train for search and rescue missions]
If you have only the faintest idea of their interest (Cadet Programs for their kid, ES for themselves, Educator for AE/Cyber), then put in a plug for the national program for each that they or their kid can be sent to (NASAR, NCSAs, etc.)
What I'm driving at is that we need to stop thinking about Recruiting as selling CAP-NHQ and start thinking about Recruiting as selling your local organization. There will be plenty of time in Level 1 to explain AUX ON/OFF, Cadets vs Senior Members, We Are Not The Air Force, #TotalForce, 39-1, etc.
I also tried really, really hard to stay away from jargon in the elevator speech. Squadron, Emergency Services, Aerospace Education, and Cadet Programs are all jargon. "Cadets do this," "Senior Members do that" are jargon. My line 1 response about national, for the purposes of a prospective member, is mostly Greek.
This post brought to you by a careful reading of this (http://www.capmembers.com/cap_national_hq/recruiting_and_retention/?recruiting_handouts_dont_attract_new_members__your_story_does&show=entry&blogID=1328) and my personal extrapolations from it.
Please, critique away!
Wonderful ideas from everyone. Thanks!
And yes, when I said memorize, I didn't mean word for word. That would sound rehearsed. I meant the gist, so that I know what topics to cover and how quickly depending on the time I might have with the person.
Starfleets idea of the filler spot to personalize it is just what I do with my business ones. So it also makes perfect sense to do it with CAP. Its not just about my interest in CAP. My whole idea of the speech is not to brag about what "I" do at CAP .... but as a 'teaser' for the listener who might see how they might be interested and can fit in. Very soft sell recruiting. :)
Quote from: Trenzalorian on May 12, 2016, 02:22:11 PMCAP also does around 90% of inland SAR in the CONUS.
Sounds great, but isn't true. There are a ton of inland SAR searches occurring everyday and CAP isn't involved in most of them.
Now, if you're looking for an ELT... we are probably around 90% of those.