Can you explain your business to a stranger in 60 seconds?

Byline: Tim Berry For The Register-Guard

Do you have an elevator speech? In other words, can you explain your business in 60 seconds? I suspect that most entrepreneurs can, especially if they have a few minutes to think about it.

What, for example, would you say to the person in the airplane seat next to you about your business?

I have a recommendation. Don't memorize your elevator speech. Don't practice it exactly. Don't obsess. But be able to describe your business' core strategy in 60 seconds. Start with a story of somebody:

"You know that feeling you get when ..."

Or perhaps:

"Think of somebody you know, sitting at home after dinner, half working and half watching television with her 6-year-old son ..."

With that approach, you've presented a problem. And, we hope, your company can provide the solution. So you go from the simple story to what your company does.

In the first example, this could be: "We make a such-and-such that solves that problem ..."

In the second: "Our service will help her get a ..."

And with luck, you still have 30 seconds left in your one-minute speech. Use it to talk about how you're different or better than other companies.

What will make this person on the airplane seat next to you remember you? Do you want something from her? A business card? A recommendation? An order? Make sure you finish your 60 seconds with a close, asking for something you want.

If all this sounds interesting to you, then imagine this scene: You're in a relatively large meeting room in a hotel in Portland on a Thursday evening. The room is full. People are excited. There are booths and tables around the edge of the room, like a trade show. They are peopled by graduate students, showing their ideas for new businesses they want to start.

They come from four or five countries and 25 schools, including some of the more prestigious business schools in the United States.

At the front of the room is a podium and a microphone. On one side of it there is a clock with just a second hand, about 6 feet tall. On the other side, four middle-aged business people sit as a panel of judges. Their name cards show they are affiliated with companies such as Intel, Columbia Sportswear and Oregon Venture Partners.

One by one, students take the podium and deliver their elevator speeches. When they start, the clock starts sweeping and when it's completed a single revolution, one minute, alarms go off and they have to stop.

Each of the 25 teams sends up one student. The whole thing takes not much more than half an hour.

Prizes are awarded the next day. First prize is a laptop computer.

That's the elevator speech competition that kicks off three days of venture competitions called the New Venture Championship, sponsored by the Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Oregon.

This will be happening again in less than two weeks, at the Embassy Suites hotel in Portland on April 11. It's free, it's open to the public and it's a great show.

I was there last year when three of the 20 contestants crashed and burned, meaning they choked on their words. One of the organizers intended to be sympathetic when he asked, after the main event was over, if anybody in the crowd would like to come up and give their own elevator speech in 60 seconds. That made me think about it.

What about you? How would you do with that microphone and the clock running? What would you say about your business?

Tim Berry is president and founder of Eugene-based Palo Alto Software, founder of bplans.com, and co-founder of Borland International. He holds a Stanford MBA and is the author of books and software on business planning. He also blogs at blog.timberry.com and upandrunning.entrepreneur.com. He lives in Eugene and teaches a course on entrepreneurship at the University of Oregon.