Recently I met a Plone developer whose significant other had no idea what they did for a living, or what the heck Plone was. Without speculating on the communication challenges this couple may face, I also realize that Plone (and Content Management in general) needs to refine its elevator pitch. We need to hone and disseminate this language so that people do not need to struggle to explain the purpose and potential of this software at cocktail parties.

I recently had the pleasure to read Martin Aspeli's excellent MSc dissertation, Plone: A model of a mature open source project, where he proposes a good starting point:

Plone is a content management system (CMS), which allows organisations and individuals to
manage their electronic content, such as documents, files and images, through a web interface, and publish selected parts of their content to the internet or an intranet. (page 8)

I think we might even manage to get the word "manage" out of the definition - maybe "organize and administer their electronic content", but I realize I'm quibbling.  Crucially, this definition makes no mention of application servers, technology stacks, or programming languages.

In my experience it also helps to use examples of "classic" content management, like nytimes or cnn site, which quickly conveys the importance of workflow. From there, judging on the experience of the person on the other end of the conversation, you might mention a less obvious application of content management, like cafepress, or even blogging and wikis. You could even explain how many problems, including e-commerce, or even membership, can be modeled as Content Management Problems, and that Plone is far more than a web-based Contribute.

By this point you have probably arrived at your floor, finished your drink, or bored your new friend to tears.  Don't forget to get their card.