Presentation Thinking™

GhostRanch hosted its third annual StoryCamp this past July, reaching new heights in Park City, Utah. StoryCamp is our annual in-person gathering where we hear from experts, learn from each other to level-up our storytelling skills and just spend nice quality time together.  This year’s theme was “More than just a pretty slide”—referring to the idea that presentation design encompasses so much more than simply “pitch polish”. We contribute to clients’ stories and strategic messaging on a regular basis.  With this concept in mind, we invited the Rancheros to give their own “Lightning Talks”, 4-8 minute presentations about whatever came to mind for them with this theme. The Ranch’s Technical Director Steve Sheets and Senior Designers Tamara Jarvi and Breece Justice join Molly and Mikey to talk about their experience creating and presenting these talks.  For designers who are typically behind the slide, it’s such a useful exercise and brings us closer, as always, to “Presentation Excellence”. This is an episode for: Strategic messaging nerds, fans of the Ranch and anyone that’s afraid of presenting/public speaking. What’s in the Spice Cabinet??  Listen to previous StoryCamp episodes! 2023 StoryCamp Boulder, we talked about the art of presenting to clients with Kerry Feuerman 2022 StoryCamp Chicago - our inaugural StoryCamp started in Chicago with talks from Tamsen Webster & Todd Henry  Need a presentation planning tool? Download our Pitch Planner, it’s FREEEEEEE The Slide Zero framework is also very helpful  Park City Reccos??  Tamara says eat at Grappa Molly says eat at Chimayo  Hike to Bloods Lake and take a quick cold dip!   Drink at the oldest distillery in Utah, High West Distillery  We all enjoyed the Michael Franti & Spearhead concert at Deer Valley Amphitheater, #Togetherness  What were the crew’s Walkout Songs for their Lightning Talks?  Breece: Soup by Remi Wolf Tamara: Disco Snails by Vulfmon Steve: Seasons (Waiting on You) by Future Islands or Highway Tune by Greta Van Fleet

Asha Alaji-Sharif is a designer by day and filmmaker by night—or dawn, if she’s getting up early to get a sunrise drone shot.  With several film projects already under her belt, the Atlanta-based creative’s latest is The Four Noble Truths, a film about her brother-in-law, Maeta, with sziocphrenia. It premiered at Voices with Impact Film Festival, a festival focused on mental health and lifting up causes to raise awareness.  Mikey and Molly reunite with Asha (a former Ranchero & friend of the ‘cast) to discuss her creative process, storyboarding and how in the heck one can edit such a rich story in the span of only five minutes.  Asha’s project proves that short films can be a masterclass in concise storytelling, messaging and skillfully conveying stigmatized topics. This is an episode for: people that have to say a lot in a short amount of time, presenters, filmmakers and creatives of all kinds. What’s in the Spice Cabinet??  Check out more about the Voices with Impact Film Festival! The film Asha lifts up from this year isn’t publicly available yet but it’s called Brotherly. Asha’s film, The Four Noble Truths, will also be available soon. :)  Other filmmakers that inspire Asha? The Last Black Man in San Francisco - “That film is just stunning.” Inside Out 2 All-time faves? Trey Edward Shults - fave director Waves, It Comes At Night Where can people find & follow Asha? Instagram LinkedIn What’s your walkout song?  Moment - Victoria Monét

Andrea Tomingas has a talent for telling one story, many different ways. From being a presentation designer at Hulu to co-founding a business, Andrea offers a unique perspective on presentations.  Having co-founded Duck Brigade over ten years ago, Andrea knows the importance of communicating a company story well, in a short amount of time.  Duck Brigade specializes in UX design, landing pages, logos and pitch decks—all various forms of “information organization” as they call it.  As Andrea walks us through what’s in/out in pitch decks, their ideal pitch deck flow and creating a UX wireframe, we realize that a UX design and pitch deck creation have a lot of useful foundations in common. This is an episode for: designers of all kinds and anyone that has to pitch. What's in the Spice Cabinet?? Where to find Andrea? Discover their work on Duck Brigade!  LinkedIn Favorite speakers & presenters? “Anyone with a good musicality to their voice” Tig Notaro Comedians! Mae Martin’s “Sap” comedy special on Netflix Jerrod Carmichael “Rothaniel” on HBO John Early “Now More Than Ever” on HBO Improv scene in LA Design inspo? Stenberg Brothers - poster design team from Russia Emory Douglass - designer for the Black Panthers Protest ephemera  Fave films? Some recent visually inspiring ones… Challengers Poor Things Denver inspo?  Steven J Yazzie at the Denver Art museum He built a tricycle low the ground, got in the tricycle, filmed what he was looking at and biked around landmarks in downtown Denver while sketching the landmarks. Andrea’s walkout song??  Roadrunner - The Modern Lovers

Art Novak is a copywriter, ad guy, author, teacher and an overall presentation design pioneer.  We feel lucky to know Art via his teaching days at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) because both Mikey and Allie Wilson, Creative Director at GhostRanch, had the privilege of being in his classroom.  Before recording, Art claimed he had a “problematic background” starting most of his presentations in the past with words rather than visuals—he was a copywriter, after all! But learning to evolve his process as technology and different forms of illustration emerged put him at the forefront of creative visual storytelling and he became a true pioneer in leveraging PowerPoint. In this episode we explore the common foundations of advertising, presentations and visual storytelling in general. Art shares some amazing and iconic ad stories that he contributed to and how they would later integrate into the way he taught students in the classroom.  This is an episode for: design nerds, ad & copywriting enthusiasts and visual storytellers of all kinds. What’s in the Spice Cabinet? Find more of Art On LinkedIn Read Art’s books!  The Rabbi Wore Bell-bottoms AdJoined: The Destinies of Two Creative Crusaders Favorite assignment Art would give students? When students would have to create a presentation and play the part of a famous advertising character (ie: Pillsbury dough boy, etc.)  Art’s fave places to find inspiration?  AdForum.com - links to all agencies and ads throughout the world! Think of it as an advertising directory  Tune into major award shows like the ADDYs! Hang around inspiring people 🙂 How did Art win an Emmy?? Helping create a public service ad to raise awareness for wearing seatbelts. Of course. Art’s walkout song? I’m Still Standing by Elton John Parting words for Presentation Nation? I’d encourage everybody that’s thinking about what they want to do with their life to consider copywriting and advertising because I think advertising—you know, it’s gotten a bad rap from some people—but I think it has the potential to really change the world in a better way.  If advertisers start to realize that by promoting worthwhile causes in their advertising, not only are they doing something for humanity but they can distinguish their products from their competition.

Tom Fishburne didn’t go to Harvard Business School to become a comic. But his ability to transform his life experiences into relatable illustrated comics was something that both helped him through college and later his marketing career.  In his 2018 TED Talk, Tom shares his experiences and highlights the power of laughing at ourselves—especially at work. Importantly, he says that comedy and humor have the power to “disarm” us and make it easier to talk about hard things.  Tom left his marketing job over ten years ago to create Marketoonist, a cartoon studio helping businesses with their communications through humor. Turns out, there’s a lot for the marketing world to learn and leverage through humor in our communication and storytelling. This is an episode for: marketers, comic/comedy fans, visual thinkers and anyone trying not to take work too seriously. What’s in the Spice Cabinet? Watch Tom’s TED Talk, “The Power of Laughing at Ourselves at Work” Here!  Subscribe to Tom’s newsletter: Marketoonist! Want to dig in more about how humor helps us at work? Read Humor, Seriously by Jennifer Aaker & Naomi Bagdonas We also podcasted about it in Episode #34 What do we think Tom’s walkout song is? Roses are Free by Ween (Mikey’s pick)

Michelle Siracusa puts new meaning to the phrase “your voice is your power”. Michelle is a performer and vocal coach blending psychology with performance fundamentals to help folks be their most compelling when they speak.  From finessing tone, creating emphasis and adapting emotion per the audience you’re speaking to, vocal delivery can truly transform a presentation or talk.  Mikey and Molly work through several exercises live with Michelle to put into practice the small-but-mighty shifts in tone and emphasis that you can implement into your own work. Being able to use your voice in the most effective way is not only great for performers but anyone in business as well. Whether you’re a keynote speaker or stepping into a leadership role where you’ll have to start giving more presentations, Michelle’s work can help you.  This is an episode for: performers, speakers, voiceover geeks & leaders of all kinds. What’s in the Spice Cabinet??  Where to find more Michelle  Lina Rose Studios LinkedIn Reccos for vocal/presentation/performance improvement? Take an improv class!  Look up intentional verbs and their uses! Find characters or people that you love and really look at what you like about how they speak/present  Read some children’s books to see how you naturally emphasize and delivery animated stories Fave director/movie/etc.? Watch the things that make you feel alive that really excite you and try to absorb as much as possible. Walkout song? I Wanna Dance With Somebody - Whitney Houston Parting words for Presentation Nation? Follow your heart and follow the ideas and concepts that you’re most passionate about and the things that excite you. I think that’s the best way to come into who you want to be or who you should be and really find your power when we show up in that positivity and with that excitement, I feel like it’s so catching.

Phil Waknell from Ideas on Stage is a brilliant presenter.  In his 2020 TED Talk “The 3 Magic Ingredients of Amazing Presentations” he shares his insider process into making presentations more than just information dumps. Phil actually illustrates how to make presentation “magic”! Many presenters tote their “Top 5 tricks” or “3 Things you MUST do before presenting…” but Phil Waknell takes his concept a step further. He presents a brilliant tool, “The Audience Transformation Roadmap”, wherein the basic 3 ingredients he offers early in the talk are alchemized into a flow-chart that helps to map out which content goes where.  Better still, the example he uses is the very talk that he’s giving in real time on the TED stage.  It’s very meta—a presentation about presentations. But Mikey and Molly are seriously impressed and excited to use this new tool (you will be too!). This is an episode for: presenters of all kinds. Don’t miss it.  What’s in the Spice Cabinet??  Where to find more of Phil’s work Ideas on Stage His book! Business Presentation Revolution LinkedIn We loved this bio about Phil Check out Episode #77 with Ideas on Stage Presentation Coach, Andrea Pacini Listen here! What do we think Phil’s walkout song is? Do you believe in magic? - The Lovin’ Spoonful (Molly’s pick) Three is a magic number - Bob Dorough (Mikey’s pick)

Lorenzo Thione is a serial entrepreneur. Having founded a handful of companies, he’s now a Co-Founder and Investor at Gaingels, a Venture Capital firm that’s focused on showing that representation and diversity in Venture Capital leads to world class returns.  He estimates he’s seen thousands of pitches in his lifetime and has (more than) a thing or two to share about the structure, the storytelling and the presentation strategy of a pitch deck. In addition to this skillset, Lorenzo is a Tony-award winning producer and advocate for theater arts. As anyone in the pitching/startup space will tell you, presenting is a performance and Lorenzo has blended and balanced these two worlds beautifully throughout his career.  This is an episode for: founders, theater enthusiasts and anyone that needs help pitching. What’s in the Spice Cabinet??  Find more Lorenzo and follow his work! Gaingels Allegiance - Lorenzo’s first produced work!  LinkedIn Favorite speakers? Presenters? Thinkers? Sam Harris from the Making Sense podcast Favorite musical or play?  The Last 5 Years (for the score) The Inheritance (fave play) The Lion King (just a general favorite) “Quintessentially everything that’s right about theater” Hadestown (fave to be moved by) What’s your walkout song?  I’m Coming Out - Diana Ross Final piece of advice for Presentation Nation? “I think the single most important piece of any endeavor has always been my network. And so I tell people: tend to your network. Tend to it as if it were a garden. Find out how you can be of help and support what is it that they need. Just like your plants will need something. And then, you know, it'll be able to kind of bloom and fruit and give you the fruits of it.”

Jessica Malnik is a marketer on-the-go. With a background in journalism, Jessica harnessed her writing skills to start her own business copywriting and has established herself as a thought leader in the marketing and content strategy space—all while working remotely.  Jessica also produces her own podcast about leading a team remotely, is a regular on the conference circuit and is starting to speak on panels!   Jessica and Molly met at a conference in Austin but she already knew Mikey from a LinkedIn group which just goes to show how involved in her communities she is. If you’re in need of some fresh content strategy or inspiration to start your own business, tune in ASAP.  This is an episode for: founders, writers, content marketers and anyone wanting to or working remotely.  What's in the Spice Cabinet?? Where to find more Jessica? Her site - sign up for the newsletter!  Her podcast, Remote Work Tribe  LinkedIn Jessica’s favorite speakers, presenters & TED Talks:  Jesse Cole - Owner of the Savannah Bananas! Ann Handley - Author of Everybody Writes Tim Urban - Wait but Why? Brene Brown’s The Power of Vulnerability  Preferred pods & media resources: TropicalMBA Bootstrapped Web My First Million Acquired FM The Exit Whisperer exitfive What’s her walkout song?  Blinding Lights - The Weeknd

Do you know what your brain looks like on storytelling?  Karen Eber does! A leadership consultant on a mission to help others effectively tell their stories, Eber’s 2020 TED Talk, “How your brain responds to stories—and why they’re crucial for leaders”, dives into the neuroscience behind storytelling.  Karen proves that when used well, data can help emphasize and illustrate your points—not overshadow them.  Having studied the “shape” and patterns that make a good story GREAT, this talk was particularly satisfying for Mikey and Molly to dissect—not to mention, Karen’s A+ presentation skills. There’s something in here for everyone. This is an episode for: the neuroscience + storytelling niche, TED nerds and leaders of all kinds. What's in the Spice Cabinet?? Find more Karen! On LinkedIn On her site Downloadables Karen’s brilliant Lead with Story Guide We can’t wait to read Karen’s book! The Perfect Story: How to Tell Stories that Inform, Influence & Inspire  Molly’s take on Karen’s walkout song? (inspired by Legally Blonde) Perfect Day by Hoku