Since this is the Memorial Day long weekend for my American friends, and a lot of people will be enjoying hot dogs and cold drinks at backyard BBQ’s, I want to share something that I use often with coaches.

You know that I preach the importance of being able to clearly say what you do, in as short and concise way as possible.

Some might call this an “elevator speech”, but I’ve always used a BBQ analogy.  Here’s my BBQ exercise:

– Pretend you’re at a BBQ.  You’re approached by a stranger who walks across the backyard, with a beer and hotdog in hand.

After exchanging the usual niceties about the weather or the party, he asks:

“So, what do you do?”

How would you respond to this?

Some coaches would respond by mumbling a few words, and then getting back to the discussion about the weather …

Others would answer with a long speech that goes for several minutes, and would have your new friend looking around the backyard for someone else to go talk to.

Ideally, you’d give a punchy one or two sentence answer … one that gives an idea of what you do, but also invites follow-up questions as needed.

If you can’t give a clear answer in a sentence or two, get back to the drawing board and come up with something that works for you.