60 Second Pitch is Dead; Long Live the 5 Second Intro

This past weekend I was in Calgary, Canada's fastest growing city and current hot spot for the young and wealthy. Wealthy from the booming oil and gas industry that's known as the oil sands. You see, Calgary in many ways is the new business capital of Western Canada, and as we know that in business, time is money.

In my visits with friends and the opportunity to network with new people, I find it amazing how little time there to make a positive impression.

If you recall a few months ago, Voices.com ran the 60 Second Pitch contest in an effort to hone your business networking skills.

Only recently did I realize that an equally good skill is to be able to communicate exactly what you do in 5 to 10 seconds.

In those 5 seconds (likely just enough for a single sentence) your only goal is inspire a follow-up question from the person you're speaking with.

As an example, I was often asked, "Dave, where are you working now?" I'd reply by saying something like "I run this great Internet company, Voices.com", which would lead them into asking "what does Voices.com do?"

See how easy that was?

In your travels have you found an easy way to say what you do in 5 seconds or less?

Share your one-liners below.