Video recorded at Speaking Out
If you’re a creative professional, it’s not enough to have sparkling ideas, or even to turn them into amazing work.
At some point you have to stand up in front of an audience and persuade them of the value of your creativity.
Many people shy away from presenting, or grit their teeth and try to get through it. But if you do this, you’re missing an opportunity to make a big impact – and have a lot of fun in the process.
My own attitude to presentations was transformed when I started to treat each presentation as a creative project in its own right – not just an add-on to the ‘real’ work. When did this, I found myself enjoying the whole process, and actually looking forward to presenting.
And the ability to deliver a range of different types of presentation – training workshops, conference speeches, new business pitches, webinars, e-learning modules and a TV documentary – has opened countless doors in my career.
In this video, recorded at a Speaking Out event at the University of the Arts, London, I explain the principles of Creative Presentation Skills, including:
- The power of prehistoric PowerPoint
- Why presenting is in our DNA
- What we have forgotten about presenting
- How to structure a presentation so that you (and your audience) remember it
- The magic of storytelling
- Why you should forget about trying to be confident
I was invited to speak by Laura North who runs Speaking Out, and is doing a fantastic job of help people become more comfortable and creative at presenting.
How Do You Feel About Presentations?
Is presenting something you enjoy or dread?
Which live speakers have you most enjoyed listening to? Why?
Any tips for injecting a little creativity into a presentation?
Hi Mark, certainly where design is concerned, the presentation of the work itself can make or break achieving client consensus. One of the most important tips for designers is to show their work in context, i.e., on the side of a van, on stationery, on signage, etc. Many design students ask me for feedback on a logo and send the logo on its own, a simple graphic on a white background. I can tell them what I think of it, but I find it’s better to give advice on how to present.
That reminds me of Tim Siedell’s story about presenting his ads to a CEO in the big corporate boardroom. He realised they weren’t having the required impact, so he sent a limo to pick the client up and drive him out to a suburban semi, where Tim welcomed him with coffee and biscuits and they both sat down to watch the ad… in the same setting – as Tim pointed out – as the CEO’s customers.
Ha. Brilliant. Although I do wonder if any of the ad’s effect was lost with the CEO paying more attention to his surroundings.
Dave Trott gave some good advice about always presenting ideas in the client’s office, because if you bring them to yours, there are too many distractions, too much that’s new, lots to look at and take in (besides the presentation).
That’s good advice (as usual) from Dave. I still like Tim’s story though. 🙂 I guess he thought this particular client was too comfortable in his own surroundings and needed a bit of a jolt.
Always a pleasure, always useful. NIce synchronicity, too, finding this in my mailbox as I have some presenting on my horizon. The bit about telling stories rings especially true.
Glad it was well timed for you! Hope your storytelling goes well. 🙂
Thanks for sending out the link to this. It was timely as I am doing a presentation next week. I was pleased to see that I had some bits right, such as the three points and the more interesting slides. (I had seen your presentation on Motivation and loved your slides!). But I have been able to revisit my slides and tighten them up even more – and I will remember to add “tell you a story” before giving case studies! Thanks, Mark!
Glad it was the right time for you, good luck next week!