Opinion: Understanding Elevator Pitch Technique in DuckTales the Animation (2017)

Learning elevator pitch in a convinience way from DuckTales the Animation.

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When I watch the animated reboot of the DuckTales series called DuckTales (2017), I feel like I’m back in elementary school. Watching every episode of DuckTales feels like a unique and fun adventure in itself. However, I did not expect that when I watched the first few episodes of this animation, I would see a rough concept of the “elevator pitch” technique which is often recommended when meeting new people.

But before continuing, I will first describe the scenario for when to use the “elevator pitch” technique. Imagine if you are someone with an interesting idea, but you lack the financial and human resources. On the way home, you are using the elevator alone and suddenly an important person enters the same elevator as you. What will you do? Are you just going to be silent to miss this golden opportunity? Or jump right into the topic of conversation? Normally you would try to start a conversation, but as an important person, he/she also has little time to talk with someone he/she just met.

Of course such scenarios are very rare and almost like getting an SSR gacha. But as long as the percentage is not 0%, then you will certainly have an experience like that too. And this does not mean that this technique is only used for investment or business, but this technique can also be used to find new acquaintances (networking) in a short time. In this opinion article, we will see how to start this short conversation technique so that your questions and ideas can be conveyed.

Elevator Pitch Concept

Photo by Derrick Treadwell on Unsplash

The elevator pitch is a short conversation technique to introduce yourself and your experience to new people. This speaking technique is so short that it can be used while using an elevator, with a duration of 20–60 seconds. And that’s the concept of where the name of this technique was taken, this technique itself is very important too because new people often have limited time and can rarely ignore people they don’t know.

The conversation to be conveyed must also be interesting and memorable, but it doesn’t need to be detailed, because the ultimate goal of this technique is to attract the attention of the listener. With the ending, the listener will be interested in getting to know you and your idea further at a later time.

When Should I Use It?

There is no right time to use this technique, because you don’t know when the opportunity will come your way. However, this technique is often used when; looking for investors, jobs, customers, to new acquaintances.

Use this technique when you want to draw people’s attention to you. So Basically this technique can be used almost any time and place.

DuckTales Use Case Analysis

As previously explained, the elevator pitch technique is a short conversation technique and can cause further curiosity at a later time by the person addressed. So what is the implementation like? Let’s see episode 3 of DuckTales (2017). In this episode Louie (Donald’s nephew who wears a green jacket), is taught by Scrooge McDuck about the importance of money and the effort it takes to get it.

But accidentally Scrooge’s first “money” was used and mixed with other similar money. However, Louie couldn’t enter the locker room because it was locked. So Louie tries to borrow one of the Gyro Gearloose inventions, namely Lil Bulb.

As a nephew who had just arrived at the building, Louie was certainly not recognized by the various people inside. So when meeting Gyro for the first time, Gyro wasn’t interested in continuing the conversation with Louie because he was busy. To get Gyro’s attention, Louie tried a similar technique in a short and concise manner with the following sentence:

“Louie Duck, the wealthy nephew of Scrooge McDuck. I can’t believe the board of directors of Scrooge didn’t see the potential of Lil Bulb’s invention. I’m very interested in investing in it, but I need to try it first.”

Unexpectedly these words were immediately accepted by Gyro and immediately lent his invention. So what can we take from this conversation?

Louie has defined who he is, introducing himself as Scrooge’s nephew. Then expressed his interest in Lil Bulb’s invention, alluding to the presentation of his invention and telling him that Louie was interested in further investing in his invention, if Louie was allowed to try his invention first.

Well from the points above, we will start to dissect them one by one:

• Introduce yourself first, who are you and where are you from? If it is from an organization, describe in advance what the organization does briefly and what activities are carried out by you. Explain that you can be trusted and are serious about having this conversation.
• What do you want (goal)? If you are looking for a new client, then explain that you are interested in offering an interesting opportunity to that client. Offer what you want to convey briefly and persuasively, so that it creates a sense of desire from the client.
• Close with a question or topic that is interesting enough that the person addressed will listen further either then or at a later time. And don’t forget to provide your contact details so you can be contacted later.

Do practice it beforehand and have the core of the conversation ready at all times, so you’ll be ready anytime, anywhere. And the most important thing is to explain your goal to the person, don’t just make a cosmetic conversation that you are like this, but offer your proposition that you want something from him by offering certain advantages.

Conclusion: Be Ready At Any Time

Photo by Shelbey Fordyce on Unsplash

Finally, the application of this technique itself is quite extensive, so there is no need to be afraid to learn this technique from scratch. Even though at this time you still don’t have a specific goal, but someday you will definitely need something, and from here you must have an identification of who you are and with what purpose you want it?

Be available at all times. Because the opportunity will come every time, just like with gacha, it is not certain to get SSR, but the opportunity to get it will always be there. Prepare yourself to get a new job, new investment, new clients, to new acquaintances to broaden your understanding.

Written by Cakra Bhirawa | The Writer is a Computer Engineering Undergraduate and this article is intended to express the writer opinion regarding elevator pitch use case on DuckTales animation| This article is a translation from a previous Indonesian article published in KAORI Nusantara titled “Opini: Memahami Teknik Elevator Pitch Pada Animasi DuckTales (2017)”.

Reference:

• Slidebean: Startups 101. (03 Oktober 2019). Youtube. How to Write an Elevator Pitch with Examples (Airbnb, WeWork, Slack) [seen 24 May 2020]
• Doyle, A. (09 Desember 2019). The Balance Careers. How to Create an Elevator Pitch With Examples [seen 25 May 2020]
• Mind Tools Content Team. (17 November 2018). Mind Tools. Crafting an Elevator Pitch –
  Introducing Your Company Quickly and Compellingly [seen 26 May 2020]
• DuckTales (2017).
• Faust, B. F. (n.d.). (2002). Pitch Yourself: Stand Out from the CV Crowd with a Personal Elevator Pitch. London: Pearson Education Limited.