Elevator Pitch Competition

What can you tell a prospective employer about yourself – your education, your skills, your career goals – in the length of an elevator ride? The Mike Ilitch School of Business Elevator Pitch Competition is your chance to find out ... and possibly win your share of $1,750 in scholarship money!

What is an elevator pitch?

An elevator pitch or elevator speech is a short (30-90 second) personal statement that summarizes who you are, what you know and what you want to do. The ideal elevator pitch will leave the person you are speaking with impressed and wanting to learn more about you. A well-crafted and delivered elevator pitch is a useful tool that you can use in any number of situations from chance meetings to career fairs to job interview introductions.

Competition details

The contest is open to all undergraduate students currently enrolled in the Mike Ilitch School of Business.
Participants must attend a mandatory workshop and pass through a preliminary round of judging to be eligible to compete in the finals.
The final competition will take place with Detroit-area executives at the Renaissance Center on Friday, Oct. 28, 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
First Prize: $1,000 | Second Prize: $500 | Third Prize: $250

This is a great opportunity to enhance your skills and present your personal elevator speech to local executives from Ally, the Detroit Pistons, Eli Lilly, Enterprise, GM, Google, Ilitch Holdings, Lear, Plante Moran, Rocket Companies and UBS Financial.

Stage 1: Attend a mandatory workshop.

To compete in the fall 2022 Elevator Pitch Competition, you must first sign up for and attend a mandatory workshop. The workshops will be held in person at the Ilitch School, except for one session offered virtually via Zoom and Canvas (students can register for a workshop with their WSU AccessID email and password via Handshake):

CHOOSE ONE:

To sign up for a workshop:

Go to https://wayne.joinhandshake.com/login
Sign in with your WSU AccessID email and password
Select "Events"
Select the "Elevator Pitch Workshop" that you wish to attend
Select "Join Event"

Stage 2: Attend and compete in the semifinals

Semifinals will be held on Wednesday, October 26, 3-6 p.m. in Ilitch School rooms 139/145. Students will pitch to Detroit executives, and judges will determine which 25 students will make it to the final round.

Stage 3: Vie for scholarships!

If you are chosen as a finalist, you'll be invited to compete for scholarships of $1,000, $500 or $250 on Friday, Oct. 28, 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. at the Renaissance Center.

Helpful links

Main Components of an Elevator Speech
Muma College of Business, University of South Florida

The Perfect Elevator Pitch To Land A Job
Forbes

The Best Elevator Pitch
Vanessa Van Edwards

How to Answer: Tell Me About Yourself.
Big Interview

2021 Sample Elevator Pitches
Mike Ilitch School of Business

Questions?

Please contact the Mike Ilitch School of Business Career Planning & Placement Office or Frederick Hessler Student Success Center or email ilitchbusiness@wayne.edu with any questions about the competition.

Past competitions

Fall 2021

On October 22, 2021, the Elevator Pitch Competition finals were held virtually via Zoom with executive judges from Ally, the Detroit Pistons, Eli Lilly, Enterprise, Google, Ilitch Holdings Inc., Owens Corning, Plante Moran and Rocket Companies.

Winners were:

First place, $1,000, Elise Hloros
Second place, $500, Durr-E-Najaf Mooraj
Third place, $250, Melva Gijo and Brian Puente (tie)

Fall 2020

On October 23, 2020, the Elevator Pitch Competition finals were held virtually via Zoom with executive judges from Ally, Deloitte, Detroit Pistons, Eli Lilly, Ford, Google, Owens Corning, Paramount Marketing Group, Plante Moran and Quicken Loans.

Winners were:

First place, $1,000, Jenae Lodewyk
Second place, $500, Rujula Lnu
Third place, $250, Merisa Candic

Fall 2019

On November 8, 2019, the Elevator Pitch Competition finals were held at the Guardian Building with executive judges from Ally, Deloitte, Detroit Pistons, Enterprise and Google.

Winners were:

First place, $1,000, Jenae Lodewyk
Second place, $500, Farouk Barakat
Third place, $250, Jenna Stafford
Top freshman, Julianna Spirou

Fall 2018

On November 2, 2018, the Elevator Pitch Competition finals were held at the Guardian Building with executive judges from Ally, Enterprise, General Motors, Plante Moran and Quicken Loans.

Winners were:

First place, $1,000, Jenna Stafford
Second place, $500, Stella Van Acker
Third place, $250, Anthony Giordano

Fall 2017

On October 27, 2017, the Elevator Pitch Competition finals were held at the Guardian Building with executive judges from Deloitte, Fiat Chrysler, Quicken Loans and the Ilitch School's Alumni Council.

Winners were:

First place, $1,000, Ashley McAdoo
Second place, $500, Brandon Hejza
Third place, $250, Kaila Hooks

Winter 2017

On March 3, 2017, the Elevator Pitch Competition finals were held at the Renaissance Center with executive judges from Quicken Loans, Ally Financial, Fiat Chrysler and Comerica Bank.

Winners were:

First place, $1,000, Marseda Kavalli of Royal Oak
Second place, $500, Robin Nickell of Portage
Third place, $250, Danny Callahan of Chesterfield

Detroit TV station WXYZ covered the event.

2016

Winners of the 2016 Elevator Pitch Competition were Andrew Barr (first place), Kaila Hooks (second place) and Mellanie Spidell (third place). Take a look:

WDIV Local 4