Hello, my name is Charity Klarich. I am the State Secretary of an organization called Business Professionals of America. It helps students in a business class develop their skills, through competitions and local, state, and national officer positions. I decided to get involved with Business Professionals of America because I saw the impact it had on the community. My teacher asked me if I wanted to be a local officer and I said yes, not quite knowing what I was doing only that it would look good on a job application. I started looking into the organization more at bpaok.org, and I fell in love with the work they do as a nonprofit organization and the opportunities it gives students throughout the U.S.

This is an elevator speech: a greeting, a story on why you joined, and a definition of the organization to you. At FLC 2018 I saw one of my friends tell the cashier that we were there for a school field trip, after attending Career Tech University in May, I know now that, that was a missed opportunity to spread word of BPA.

To develop your elevator speech imagine someone stopped you in an elevator at SLC and asked you why all these students were dressed so professionally?

You only have a minute or two to tell them, what would you say?

Think of things BPA does that stands out to you, a greeting, and the reason you joined. People want to be able to connect with the organization and you’re reason for joining is the connection. Now the big secret to an elevator speech is making  the point and keeping it short. It is a good idea to know the Oklahoma BPA or National BPA websites to use to recruit and get people more involved with joining BPA.

-Charity Klarich

Tulsa Technology Center