Elevator Pitch #elevatortalk #languages #tenants #automatedsystems #communityofvolunteers #techsoup #anshechungstudios #alofthotelsproject #takingitglobal #npc #nonprofits #officespace #cooporativelearning #education #inspire

4/14/2008 - Coughran Mayo updates:

Please note that we now have a notecard with the elevator talk translated roughly into 10 languages. Besides English, we have Japanese, French, Spanish, German, Dutch, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic, and Chinese. So far, only the Spanish has been edited by a Spanish speaker, so anyone familiar with the other languages could help with checking the Google translations.

IM me for a copy of the most up to date card.

1-AUG-2007
Fletcher Dovgal comments:

I know I'm a bit late to the game here, but wanted to make a brief comment before our Launch Event. I think the elevator pitch is great for folks with some familiarity with SL, but we may get glazed over eyes when presenting to those in RL. I think some explanation of what 'sim' means and maybe even what SL is, should preface this speech - and perhaps add the word 'virtual' before office space (we provide free virtual office space). It's a great description and a great mission!

7/11/07
Coughran Mayo writes:

After allowing time for comment, I believe we should finalize the statement below as our "elevator pitch". For those who haven't had a chance to check out the very nicely succinct (perhaps self-referential) definition at Wikipedia I will quote "An elevator pitch (or elevator speech) is a brief overview of an idea for a product, service, or project. The pitch is so called because it can be delivered in the time span of an elevator ride (say, thirty seconds or 100-150 words)."

In our context, we wish to achieve three goals by creating and adopting this pitch. First, we would like to give everyone a succinct way to describe the NPC project, second we want the basic description of our project to be consistent no matter who among us may be asked to describe it, and third, we want to create the text for a note card that can be handed out by tenants, or by automated systems on the sim, when appropriate.

I believe we have the right combination of thought and language. I will create the note card and see to its distribution among tenants. Perhaps those who are working on the navigation systems can figure out the best way we can incorporate such a card into the "welcome center" aspect of our sim navigation. I would encourage all tenants to learn this brief talk so that you will be able to describe NPC to anyone who asks in a way that is clear, concise, accurate, and consistent. Memorization is not required, although frankly, that could be the best way to make sure you don't leave anything out!


6/25/07

Synthesizing from previous conversations and comments:
*
Nonprofit Commons consists of two nonprofits-only sims, managed by a community of volunteers. The original sim was donated by Anshe Chung Studios, and our newest is the former Aloft Hotels project, later donated to non-profit NPC member Taking IT Global. NPC is designed to lower the barriers of access to Second Life, to create a community of practice for nonprofits to explore and learn about the virtual world, and to investigate the many ways in which nonprofits might utilize this unique environment. Through this community, we provide free office space to qualifying groups, meet and collaborate, create a cooperative learning environment and foster outreach, education, fund-raising, all in a virtual space. We focus on providing an accessible entry-point to SL and on creating a community of NPOs, not just having NPOs live separately and exist separately inworld. We believe that Second Life is a wonderful place not just to entertain, but also to collaborate, educate, inspire and assist our fellow avatars (and the humans behind them). We welcome all who wish to join us as partners, collaborators or supporters.
*
Please note your comments above and if there is a concept we are missing or if you have a better way to express any of the ideas above, please post. We would like to finalize this by the end of this week!

The final "pitch" will be available to all NPC members. We hope people can memorize it so well that they are able to give the talk naturally and be comprehensive and inclusive, even if not word-for-word. We will also create a notecard which can be used as a crib sheet/reminder or can be given away.

By the way, I saw this in

Is this a real life, is this just fantasy?

Second Life is the online world where disabled people can reinvent themselves and enjoy a better life. Laura Deeley investigates

Times Online March 24, 2007
……….
What is Second Life?
Second Life is an internet-based virtual world. Its users, known as residents, create an “avatar”, a customized online character who represents their ‘in-world’ self.
Avatars are able to fly, teleport to new locations and ride in vehicles.
There are nearly five million registered residents and up to 30,000 are logged on at any time.
Residents communicate in real time by typing to one another.
Second Life has its own currency known as Linden dollars (L$). L$1,000 cost about £2.
Residents can use the Linden dollars to buy land and build objects; they can also buy and sell items. To find out more about getting a second life, log on to secondlife.com
………
6/15/2007

Coughran writes: Please list your suggestions for the Nonprofit Commons elevator pitch here. You may choose to write out a pitch yourself or make a list of bullet points that reflect what you think needs to be included in our pitch.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elevator_speech for some ideas on how this approach works.