Networking in Science: How to Perfect Your Elevator Pitch

Networking and self-promotion are essential parts of any scientist's career, and while many might find them daunting, there are tricks and skills you can learn to help make the networking process a little easier. One of the most important parts of networking is the so-called "elevator pitch"—a short summary of your research project or skill set that is easy for a general scientific audience to understand.

This post shares tips on how to craft an effective elevator pitch and adapt it for authentic networking in an increasingly online world.

Whether you're looking for a new job or trying to find opportunities for research collaboration or funding, getting the most out of networking opportunities is much easier when you are prepared. In general, there are two types of elevator pitches you should be prepared to give at any time—one about yourself as a researcher and your areas of expertise, and one about your current research project. Having a pitch ready to go up your sleeve can help transform a chance encounter at a conference into a fruitful and lasting connection.

When meeting someone for the first time, establishing your relative expertise and your scientific background can help smooth the conversation and avoid confusion. Crafting a few pre-prepared sentences to present both your work and skills as a researcher can increase your composure and professionalism, ease nerves, and help to improve how effectively you communicate.

Crafting and Delivering an Effective Elevator Pitch 

An effective pitch is essentially a calling card for you and your research. Like a career statement, the idea of the pitch is to capture the audience’s attention and make them want to discuss topics further with you.²

Typically, an elevator pitch should be about one to two minutes—long enough to provide the high-level, most exciting details of your research or your background as a scientist, but short enough that you don’t lose your audience’s attention.

The key ingredients of a successful pitch are the same whether you are delivering a pitch online or in person: Be concise, clear, and sincere. Use the prompts in the remaining sections of this article to write down a few different versions of your elevator pitch, with consideration for the different scenarios in which it might be used.

It’s important to take the time to actually write down your pitch and to practice it out loud. This will help you remember the key points, streamline your delivery, and reduce your nerves for when it’s go time!

Introducing Yourself

When the opportunity to talk to someone presents itself, the first step is to introduce yourself. Let people know your name, where you are working, and your occupation.

Immediately providing some introductory information gives your audience critical context and helps establish areas of commonality. This is essential whether you are meeting for the first time or even if you have met before, as it can give your audience a prompt to respond to and initiate a conversation. Keep in mind that not everyone has a good memory for faces and names, so don’t be discouraged if an individual doesn’t remember you.

Making an Authentic Connection

Elevator pitches can be useful in various scenarios, whether that be chance encounters or more formal presentations and pre-arranged meetings. Regardless of the format, it's important to be clear about why you want to talk to your particular audience. You may have some familiarity with their work or have an idea of what you want to get out of the conversation. The more time you have for pre-planning, the more opportunity you will have to figure out how to best tailor your pitch.

It's a well-recognized phenomenon that people enjoy talking about themselves, and showing interest in another scientist’s work is an excellent way to keep a conversation flowing.³ However, be careful not to come across as insincere—senior scientists or researchers in the field are frequently approached with flattery about their latest paper or work. Be specific with your comments and, if possible, mention elements of their work that genuinely interest you. You'll also want to get to your main point quickly. The main point is why you want to discuss something with your audience in the first place—for example, are you looking for a job, interested in a potential collaboration or funding opportunity, or do you want to know more about their work?

Related: A Guide to Successful Research Collaboration

Throughout the conversation, try to infer the level of comfort your audience has with your area of expertise or research project and adjust accordingly—do they work in your field, or is their core expertise in a different subject? As a general rule of thumb, it's best not to use too much jargon and to ensure your descriptions aren't too technical and detailed.⁴  While it's important to demonstrate that you know your area, you don't want to make your audience feel left behind or confused. Making simple changes to your prepared pitch, such as automatically explaining acronyms or refraining from unnecessary detail, can help ensure your audience stays engaged.        

Additionally, intentionally pausing throughout a conversation to leave room for questions is a good way to ensure a two-way discussion and can also help you gauge the audience’s level of interest.

The next step is to present your value. What are your skills? What could you potentially bring in the future?

If you’re pitching your research, think about how to describe your work in an engaging and accessible way. Make your summary succinct—you'll want to leave room for the other person to ask questions about aspects of the project, so don’t feel like you have to describe every little detail. The goal is to give enough general information so that the other researcher can get a feeling for the kind of scientific problems you might be interested in, or the types of methods you might use, in order to give them a chance to make a connection to you.

Finally, you'll want to give the conversational ball to the other person—for example, ask a question and provide them with the chance to talk about themselves. Hopefully, this presents the opportunity for the meeting to evolve into a fruitful discussion!

Maintaining Your Connection 

Once you have made a connection, it's essential to maintain it by clarifying what the next steps are. Ideally, this means closing the conversation in a memorable way, such as talking about an "action step" like stating that you will send a follow-up email or connect online. It's usually best to choose an action that leaves you in the driver's seat rather than waiting for the other person.

Below is an example of how you might put the steps described above together to curate a compelling pitch during a networking interaction:

Exploring Online Opportunities

The internet and social media have opened up a new world of networking opportunities for scientists, and the pandemic has spurred a change in the availability of online meetings and interviews.⁵ To approach someone online that you have not met in person, it is even more critical that your delivery is pitch-perfect. Whether you are pitching over a live Zoom call, via a social media message, or in a direct message, you must be able to capture your audience’s attention.

Online conferences offer many networking opportunities but need the same level of attention and preparation as in-person meetings.⁶ If you are speaking with other participants over video conferencing software like Zoom, think carefully about how you communicate.⁷ In this format, it's even more important to make sure you pause to give the other person the opportunity to respond, and be sure to account for lags in connection that may affect the cadence of the conversation. It's also important to be familiar with the technology you are using so that, on your side, you can try to help get things back on track if technical difficulties occur.

Putting It All Together to Make Authentic Connections

Just like your resume or CV, having a fresh, up-to-date elevator pitch on hand can turn an unexpected encounter into a valuable opportunity. Being calm, collected, and controlled in your pitch will help you make a good impression, and using the right level of language is an excellent way of showing awareness and consideration for your audience. Remember not to worry about trying to look smart in front of your audience—your interaction will be more memorable if you focus on being authentic and communicating about yourself and your work clearly and confidently.

Related: Networking at Conferences: Five Tips for the Introverted Scientist

Remember to try enjoy the opportunity to connect! You will likely be meeting people who are experts in your field or share the same interests as you. Feel free to let that enthusiasm and interest show, and you will soon find that the initial pitch becomes an engaging conversation.

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