When are short Elevator Speeches appropriate?

A MindSpring reader sent in this Question to the Editor.

Q. I've noticed that people sometimes give super short elevator speeches in
certain venues. For example, at an educational seminar, when we were asked to
introduce ourselves, someone said 'I run XYZ corporation and help make clients
famous.' When she said that I wondered what she actually DID for clients, but
never had a chance to catch up with her. I'm assuming that the point is to
pique our interest, but in what sort of venue is it appropriate to use such a
cryptic elevator speech?

A. You're absolutely right. The purpose of an elevator speech at a networking event
is to begin a dialogue and generate questions such as 'How do you do that?' or
'Who do you do that for?' To bad you didn't have the chance to follow up.

Short, focused and interesting elevator speeches are appropriate in any networking
oriented venue.

What do you think? Please respond to this discussion thread.

Thanks ...