One of the meatiest parts of Arvee Robinson’s presentation at Market Your Way to Wealth in April was about the types of speeches you need to develop for your business. I’ll summarize what she talked about here.

There are three basic types of speeches you’ll need to develop to grow your business. They are the:

• Elevator Pitch
• Self-Introduction
• Front of the Room Talk

Each one of these speeches has a function and an optimal length of time. Once you’ve developed them, memorize them … especially the first two. The elevator pitch and your self-introduction should become a part of you so whenever you need them, they will flow from your lips like as gracefully as Kristi Yamaguchi on the ice.

Elevator Pitch
This should be about 10 seconds long and focus on the solution you provide your ideal clients. It used to be that this pitch was 30 seconds … but attention spans have shortened.

Self-Introduction
This needs to be quick and hook the listener into asking for more. Again, focus on the solutions and benefits you offer … not your background or job title. You’ll most likely need to use this when you are a guest speaker on a teleclass, conference call, webinar, radio show, TV show, informational meetup and other events where you’ll be asked to introduce yourself.

Front of the Room Talk
Depending on the venue, you’ll need to have different length versions of this type of presentation. The most common lengths are 15, 20, 30, 45 and 60 minutes. These are the kinds of speeches you give at Chambers of Commerce, networking groups, industry groups, trade shows, conferences, corporations, churches, schools, service clubs and more.

One way to structure this type of talk is to think of it as a “Speech Sandwich,” says Arvee.

The opening of the speech and the closing remain basically the same regardless of length. You start out your presentation with something that grabs attention and builds rapport with your audience. You close your presentation with your call to action.

In between is the “meat” of your presentation. How long your talk will be determines how many pieces of “meat” you put into your sandwich. The shorter the speech, the less “meat” will fit. A good rule of thumb is one key point (or piece of “meat”) for every 15 to 30 minutes.