Presentation Thinking™

This week we're working through a hyper-specific Pitch Problem and there was no better man to chat to than our Technical Director at GRC, Mr. Steve Sheets. Efficiency-obsessed, he wants you to have an easier time editing your decks. He wants you to befriend the Notes tool in PowerPoint. And he wants you to have something more than a file link to share for the inevitable "Will these slides be shared afterwards?" client question arises.

Breece Justice is one of our top-notch Presentation Designers on the GhostRanch Communications team. When a client recently entrusted her with the task of traveling to an in-person conference to ensure their high stakes keynotes went according to plan, we couldn’t wait to hear the #PresentationThinking deets. Taking slides from a virtual setting to the stage comes with its own set of design and storytelling challenges. From a post-COVID perspective to tactical on-site tips, “Breezy” joins the pod to share how it all went down as the “Wizard behind the curtain.” Full show notes HERE! 

What’re the Olympics for Presentation Design? It wasn’t in Beijing, but the TechPoint Mira Awards in Indianapolis are what Mikey calls “a rite of passage for Indy tech people.” We’re super proud to share that Mikey’s beloved presentation agency/brainchild, GhostRanch Communications (GRC), was a nominee for the 2022 Mira Awards’ “Service Partner of the Year.” We don’t know if he won a medal (YET!) but in this episode, we’ll get into how GRC got nominated, what he did to prepare—and how he heavily relied on a “Presentation Taper” strategy. (Trademark pending). Basically, it’s the strategy where you “cram and plan” early and then ease off—give your mind muscle a break. Know that you know your shit. If you’ve ever had to present to a panel or are in the process of prepping something big, this is the episode for you.

In her 2017 viral TED Talk, “You Are Contagious”, Vanessa Van Edwards teaches us that our emotions and feelings are contagious—and what to do about it. A human communication expert and renowned public speaker, Edwards takes us through the verbal, non-verbal and even EMOTIONAL ways that we can spread ideas, thoughts and feelings. (And, of course, we get into the structure of her talk). So. How can we use the power of these micro-communications in our presentations? Our work in general? Our LIFE!? As you can see, we’re excited. We’ll let Vanessa’s words and our geeking out do the rest of the talking. Full show notes HERE!

Fresh off the PrezThinking Reading List! You’ve probably seen it on your philosopher college friend’s bookshelf—Malcom Gladwell’s The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. We wanted to revisit why this book that was written in the year 2000 caused such a scene—and what we can still takeaway from it today. Though we do think Gladwell’s breakthrough book would be wildly different if it took into account all of the social media and influencer-esque changes of present, his core ingredients that lead to a cultural “tipping point” remain especially useful to Presentation Thinkers. Listen here to join our Book Club and go ahead and tick it off your reading list too. See full show notes HERE.

For this episode, we’re kicking off a series called Founder Stories where we get to talk with founders directly. The folks that are putting pen to paper, their idea in motion, or practicing their pitch in the mirror. To kick us off, Mikey got connected to Lisa Riggs of Spirit Sox USA. From getting laughed at and told “no” to Trade show experiences to getting connected to the ROYAL FAMILY through a non-profit, Lisa is rocking her biz and navigating the ups and downs and continued learning. Let’s get into it! Spirit Sox USA

Published in 1992, The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron has withstood the test of time. Groups around the world still actively participate in her 12 week “Creative Recovery” journey, including Molly - who shares her experience of the process with us on the pod. Modeled after 12 step recovery programs, Julia’s setup of the book, its various journal prompts and group ethos is a Presentation Thinking lesson in of itself. And the takeaways for anyone—creatives, founders, marketers, or any combo of those things—go DEEP.  Find out about the benefits (and the annoyance) of Morning Pages, how to go on Artist Dates and what the hell a “Creativity Contract” is. What’s in the Spice Cabinet? We’re so proud to tout that GhostRanch is nominated for the 23rd Annual Mira Awards honoring “Best in Tech” in Indiana!!! Look for our name under “Service Partner of the Year”. *blushes* Austin Kleon - Molly describes him as a “cool artist writer doodler guy.” If you’re looking for fun and inspiring and easy to skim content, his newsletter is A+, the books are fun as hell to “read” (tons of illustrations), and I’m sure his Patreon is worth the money. Where to find an Artist’s Way group of your own, you ask? Here’s a list of Meetups Online facilitator Collective Commons runs an ongoing group with a Slack channel! A Facebook group if that’s your digital community of choice LinkedIn (the German one seems bigger if you’re fluent!) Julia’s advice on starting a “Creative Cluster” to Do It Yourself! Her online video course is available HERE Stay tuned for the PrezThinking version of this creative experience!!

You ever take a career tangent that feels like a full 180 turn until you realize all the skills you learned up until that point are the reason you got there?? Such was the case for friend of the 'cast Molly Geoghegan upon jumping from marketing to the human rights and non-profit space—and flexing her “Presentation Thinking skills” all along the way. In this episode, Molly returns to The Ranch (GhostRanch) to let us know what she’s been doing since the Come Sell Away podcast docked its humble ship a few years ago.  And where we're headed with all that experience now...

Mikey and Bethany watched Matt Abrahams's, and then talk about it. Seriously, go watch his Ted Talk, the guy is a brilliant communicator, and gives a bunch of tactical tips on how to manage your public speaking anxieties. The talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIXvKKEQQJo

I know, it would be cooler if we had actually interviewed Canva co-founder and CEO, Melanie Perkins, for this episode. But for now, we're just going to listen to someone else's interview and talk about it. Besides, Guy Raz is pretty decent at what he does. So, this is where we are in our storytelling rabbit hole so far, we are taking in a whole ton of content and trying to figure out what it all means. This week, we listened to an amazing episode of How I Built This featuring Melanie Perkins, from back in 2019, who paints a colorful picture of her journey pitching (and pitching and pitching...) her new concept for desktop publishing, Canva, to a whole lot of investors back around 2012. Bethany and I break down what we took away from Melanie's stories and discuss some takeaways that we hope we can apply to our own approaches to pitching. Enjoy!