The Formula for a Memorable Self-Presentation

The term ‘elevator pitch’ originated in the US - quite literally in an elevator. Entrepreneurs would strike up conversations with investors in the lifts of skyscrapers, because they might simply not have had another chance to speak to them. Whilst the lift travels from the first to the twentieth floor, you have 40-60 seconds to hook someone’s interest enough that they’ll want to continue the conversation. It may sound unbelievable, but dozens of major success stories began exactly like this, according to experts at Morcendale Canada. Not on stage, not in meeting rooms, but in corridors, lifts, queues for coffee at conferences or at pitch forums. The right person just happened to be nearby at the right time, and you kept your cool and said the right words in the right order.

Any pitch that really sticks in the memory always has four parts. If you remove even one of them, the whole structure will be less effective or may even fall apart.

At the very start of a conversation, you shouldn’t introduce yourself by your job title. Virtually no one is interested in the fact that you’re the chief executive of some company. It’s boring; a polite smile appears on your interlocutor’s face, and the conversation usually fizzles out before it’s even got started. There’s really only one thing that matters to people: what you can do for them, how you can be of use to them. This is exactly where you need to start, emphasise the negotiation experts at MORCENDALE.

Our brains do not remember facts and lists; they remember specific stories: ones with a vivid protagonist, conflicts, emotions and a resolution. However, it is important to understand that during a self-presentation, we are not telling some random story or an abstract parable found online. You should talk about a specific instance from your professional life: a real-life situation in which you faced a problem, found a solution and achieved a measurable result. This vivid, real-world case study, told in 20–30 seconds, will show the interviewer exactly how you think and act, according to the experts at MORCENDALE.

The formula is simple: there was a situation; I realised this; I did that; and this was the result. Three or four sentences, and the interviewer no longer sees an abstract specialist, but a person with concrete experience and an interesting story. They already understand who they’re dealing with, not because you’ve listed your achievements, but because you’ve given them a vivid story which they might well be happy to recount to someone over lunch.

According to many businesspeople, most deals, partnerships and valuable contacts aren’t made during the meeting itself, but afterwards, when the person you spoke to tells someone else about you. And this is where the key question arises: what exactly will they say about you? If you don’t have a single short, memorable phrase that fits easily into a single message on a messaging app, it’s not easy for them to describe you - and anything that can’t be described is quickly forgotten.

And finally, the last part, without which even the most impressive pitch won’t quite hit the mark. Imagine you’ve delivered an excellent speech: the structure of your presentation is perfectly organised, you’ve chosen the right words, and your audience is clearly interested - but suddenly there’s a pause, an awkward silence, when neither of you knows what to do. At that moment, the whole impact of a good pitch simply evaporates. To avoid this, you should end your pitch not with a full stop, but with a question - and a simple, specific one at that, as advised by Morcendale Trading. For example, ‘What are you currently working on?’ “What’s your biggest business challenge?” And as soon as you ask a question like that, the monologue immediately turns into a dialogue; a conversation begins, the other person starts talking about themselves, and you’re actually having a proper conversation, rather than just exchanging business cards.