An elevator pitch is a very short speech, a laconic presentation of an idea or project. In English, elevator is an elevator, and pitch is a throw, usually they say “elevator presentation” or simply “pitch”.
There are many versions of the origin of the term elevator pitch. One of the most famous is that journalist Michael Caruso could not agree on a meeting with the editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair magazine, so he began to wait for her near the elevator and present ideas for new articles during the ride to the desired floor.
An alternative story is that the approach was invented by ITT quality technician Philip Crosby (the site is not accessible from the Russian Federation), who presented his ideas to the CEO in the elevator and thus won the right to speak at a board meeting.
A pitch usually lasts from 30 seconds to two minutes – that’s how long an elevator ride lasts on average. During this time, you need to tell the interlocutor who you are, what you do, what benefit you can bring to him, and offer to do something: agree to a full meeting, invest, give a job, start cooperation.