Cloud security elevator pitch

Imagine that you bump into a senior manager - an executive, maybe the CEO or MD or someone else who sits at the helm of your organization - presenting you with a fleeting opportunity to communicate.

Imagine that you have concerns about the organization's approach to cloud computing - what it is doing or not doing, the way things are going, the strategies and priorities, objectives and resources, that sort of thing.

Now imagine how you might put across your concerns and interests in that moment that either just occurs (a chance meeting in the elevator, perhaps), or that you engineer in some way (maybe targeting and snaring your prey en route to or from the Executive Suite, or lunch).

What would you say?  I'm not asking 'what would you talk about' in a sweeping hand-waving cloudy sort of way but more precisely what are the few key points you want to express, and exactly how would you do that?  

The challenge is similar to writing an executive summary on a management report, or preparing the introduction and conclusion of a management presentation, essentially getting yourself in the zone to make the most of the brief opportunity. Less is more, so condensing or collapsing all the things you'd quite like to say down to those particulars that you need to say is a management skill that takes practice. It's almost triage: when the elevator doors open and your prey heads into the distance, what is or are the messages you most want to leave them with, above all else?

It's a challenge for us, too, to generate generic security awareness materials for exactly that kind of situation. What are the key issues for senior management relating to the monthly topic (i.e. cloud security for November's module)? What thoughts or impressions or action points are likely to be the most important for most if not all our clients? And how can we communicate those as efficiently and effectively as possible, as succinctly and yet poignantly as we can?

We have the luxury of time to contemplate and help prepare our clients for the possibility of that chance meeting. They have the benefit of the awareness materials as a whole, the research and thinking that goes into the awareness module as well as the 'elevator pitch' itself. Through less than 150 words, we're encouraging them to get in the zone, prepared for whatever situation occurs - a form of contingency preparation really. We can help them get at least one step ahead of the game, ready, set and willing to seize the moment.