Presentation Thinking™

If you’ve ever seen a movie, you know that music is a huge component of its storytelling. (Duh??) The "score" that a film composer creates can add emphasis, emotion, suspense and basically evoke whatever feeling they want!  Piggybacking off of our recent TWIST episode on the same topic, Molly watches and discusses several TED Talks about what makes scores great, the music theory behind it and how it alters our viewing experience.  We also apply some of the patterns of creating a memorable score to similar principles of Presentation Thinking. This is an episode for: Movie Buffs, Music Theory Nerds and anyone that utilizes music/media for their presentations.

It’s no secret that we love a good PIXAR story on this podcast.  PIXAR’s “22 Rules of Storytelling” adds yet another piece to the list of incredible storytelling strategies and resources that PIXAR provides us.  First put together by a former PIXAR writer, Emma Coats, these snippets of storytelling strategy are chock full of important life lessons, creative process advice and—obviously!—presentation applications.  We brought GhostRanch Designers Emily Pantoja and Asha Alaji-Sharif, our resident “Disney adults”, to really connect all 22 dots to the Presentation Thinking world. This is an episode for: Disney & PIXAR fans, presenters, speakers and anyone feeling stuck in their creative process.

Last month, GhostRanch Technical Director Steve Sheets put on an amazing workshop called “Presentation Design for the NON Designer.”  So we brought Steve on the ‘cast to discuss the making of a workshop and his behind-the-scenes building process.  “Presentation Design for the NON Designer” is a 2.5 hour collaborative “class” where people who work in presentations but want to level-up their design & PowerPoint skills can come off mute to ask questions and learn together. (We’re hoping to do this workshop quarterly!) From the massive amount of sticky notes overtaking his desk to the day-of presentation, we’re spilling all the deets of what went into this labor of love.  If you’re thinking about creating a workshop or webinar, this is for you.  This episode is (also) for: Presenters, Webinar-givers and anyone looking to teach.

It’s Graduation Season and that means Pomp & Circumstance, free graduation party food and, of course, commencement speeches.  And speeches are a kind of PRESENTATION.  Steve Jobs’ Stanford 2005 Commencement speech is widely regarded as one of the best. But what makes it so powerful? What kind of story devices does he use?  And how did he come up with this stunning Carpe-Diem-esque quote: “Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” Mikey breaks it down and shares how you, too, might make an impact with your next toast speech. This is an episode for: Speakers, speech writers, and anyone in need of a bit of inspiration.

If you know Rick Altman, you’ve probably had a good time with him—and discussed PowerPoint and/or tennis.  Rick is the founder of the annual Presentation Summit, one of the first conferences to focus fully around PowerPoint, and it’s been going strong for over two decades now. Though the summit topics would later grow to include speaking, presenting and other kinds of storytelling, the community has remained relatively small—and that’s intentional.  Rick is a connector; skilled at bringing together all kinds of people. But he remains steadfast in his belief that greater authenticity with presenters and attendees alike can be achieved without big conference bells and whistles. We sat down to chat about how he got here, what goes into the planning for such an event and what it was like to build the first-ever PowerPoint centered community. This is an episode for: Event planners, PowerPoint nerds and fans of PreSum! 

Steve Earl knows that getting to the “starting line” of a presentation is all part of the marathon—NOT a sprint.  As a seasoned Product Marketer for the likes of Oracle (and marathon runner himself!), Steve joins the pod to discuss his formula for ensuring you have all the information you need to set yourself up for success BEFORE even opening PowerPoint.  We all know the Blank Page syndrome can kill any project. Deeply understanding you AND your audience’s “who”, “what” and “why”can make everything that follows smoother (not to mention more effective).  This is an episode for: Product marketers, Sales Enablers, B2B presentation junkies and anyone who’s struggled with the “Blank Page” syndrome in a project.

Shark Tank is the reality show where passionate entrepreneurs pitch their product to a group of wealthy “sharks”—well-known Venture Capitalists—in hopes of investment funds and expert business guidance.   It has televised hundreds of pitches and amounted to MILLIONS of investor capital.  While this high stakes pitch environment isn’t necessarily the norm, the pitch structure and presentation of each product or service is well-worth examining—and learning from.  We brought in Project Manager & lifelong Shark Tank fan Carly McKay who grew up watching these pitches to dissect four outstanding pitches—including a crowd favorite, Scrub Daddy. This is an episode for: entrepreneurs, presenters and people that love Shark Tank (and Scrub Daddy!).

Brand collaborations are such a cool way to expand a brand’s story and messaging. They can be powerful, strategic and often hilarious—we all know that Doritos x Taco Bell collab brought us a now staple item on the fast food menu. But did you know that Burger King famously created a “Day Without a Whopper” with the purpose of directing folks to McDonald’s to raise money for the McD’s charity? Why would they do that?? After our latest TWIST episode (This Week In Storytelling) on the subject, we wanted to bring in a presenter and product marketer perspective on what we can learn from these collaborations and how you can lean into other brands’ stories to tell your own. This is an episode for: copywriters, speakers, product marketers & people that geek out on advertising

We all know the phrase “Death by PowerPoint.” Too much text, too many bullets, over-produced animations—the list that incurs such a phenomena is endless.  David JP Phillips is a Swedish communication expert whose name went viral with his 2014 TED Talk, “How to avoid death by PowerPoint.”  In it, David walks us through 5 easy-to-employ design fixes backed by clear psychological science that can transform any deck you’re currently working on. While they remain simple concepts to use within the software, they're ACCESSIBLE to even the non-designer. Plus, the public’s general feelings towards PowerPoint tell us they’re needed more than ever.  WOW your boss the way David wow-ed this TED audience by making sure your projects are following his methods to avoid the all-too-common office outcome of “Death by PowerPoint.” This is an episode for: People that make presentations, speakers and sales teams that have to use the same deck over and over again.

It’s Mikey’s birthday and he’s officially *shhhh* ~over the hill~.  So we thought, “What better way to celebrate than to put him in the hot seat and fire off the 40 Reasons Mikey Loves Being a Presentation Designer”? A totally normal tradition, right!? From getting to meet incredible people to honing storytelling skills to getting onsite event experience—there’s so much to love about this specialty niche space. (Umm, you may have heard us mention walkout songs??)  If you find yourself interested in the intersection between Design, Business & Storytelling, we hope this episode can push you further down the path of exploration.  This is an episode for: Current presentation designers, Aspiring designers and Speakers that appreciate all that goes into putting together events.