Presentation Thinking™

In this engaging discussion, McKeever “Mac” Conwell II, founder of RareBreed Ventures and an accomplished early-stage investor, shares his journey from coding to venture capital. He reveals his unique Twitter-driven approach to raising a $10M fund and emphasizes the importance of storytelling in pitching. Mac introduces a structured 10-minute pitch format and suggests practicing with improv to enhance delivery. He also shares insights on what VCs look for in founders, the significance of traction over presentation, and valuable advice for handling rejection.

Mohamed Danawi is many things—an artist, Founder and Director of IlloZoo, professor at SCAD—but if you were to ask one of his current students, they’d say he’s just “Mo.” SCAD alumni and GhostRanch Creative Director Allie Wilson joins the ‘cast with Mikey and Mohamed for an amazing conversation around art, visual storytelling, design trends and how to be authentic in your art.  Mohamed’s experience teaching over the years has given him a unique perspective with how the arts department has evolved, the growth of illustration and the challenges  “teaching” creative mediums. Visual communication is powerful—it can both take away from and enhance a story. So we especially loved how he typically requires students to “present” their projects in class. This is an episode for: art & design students, storytellers of all kinds and SCAD fans. What's in the Spice Cabinet?? Find more Mo! LinkedIn IlloZoo, Mo’s illustration agency Any favorite books Mo recommends for visual thinkers? His latest book is The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*** by Mark Manson “I don’t read about visual communication to be able to tell you—I read about other things and I think that’s what you need.” Mo’s walkout song??  Flight of Icarus - Iron Maiden Parting words? What’s important is maybe just expand, you guys have the opportunity to expand your platform. Most people do the visual storytelling, all that for commercial reasons. But I feel like you have also a very good chance of doing what you do using art that is more humanistic in nature, because like you were saying, people might be tired of the graphic stuff, or at least start a new department or a new division where you're focusing on humanistic things—society, culture, making things better. Because people now—especially the new generation—care more about making life better than selling.  So maybe shifting focus and/or maybe adding to your focus into more storytelling for humanity, for society, for making life better, basically. That's my words of wisdom, I guess.

Porter Gale has a couple of TED Talks and they’re both about looking at everyday human connection as a form of networking.  As Head of Marketing for Virgin America from 2007-2011, Porter traveled a lot for work. On these countless plane rides, she found opportunities of connecting with interesting people and even on occasion people that would affect her work, become her friend or simply inspire her.  Now an author, investor, speaker and CMO, Porter Gale’s career clearly flourished from such a casual approach to networking. As we’re about to read her book (Your Network is Your Net Worth), Mikey and I watched two of Porter’s TED Talks and found them as perfect examples of having a simple concept, minimal slides or visuals and a compelling way to frame your story. This is an episode for: People that hate small talk, networking nerds and fans of our TED Talkin’ series. What's in the Spice Cabinet?? Need some networking inspo? WATCH Porter’s TED Talks!  TEDx Presidio Your Business in a hyper-connected consumer, employee world (2013) TEDxLaJolla - Conversations with 4C - the Power of Spontaneity (2012) Read her book along with us! Episode coming soon. Your Network is Your Net Worth: Unlock the Hidden Power of Connections for Wealth, Success and Happiness in the Digital Age What’s Porter’s Walkout Song (according to us)? Here Comes the Rain Again - Eurythmics, Annie Lennox, Dave Stewart The Rainbow Connection - Kermit the Frog Need some PowerPoint TLC?  We have a new offering! You can now book some of our Technical Director, Steve Sheets’ time! We’re talking several hours of 1:1 screen-sharing with whatever design question, PowerPoint hack or presentation advice you need. Email molly@ghostranch.com if you’re interested.

Mike Raab is good at starting things.  Executive Director of Northwestern University’s “The Garage”, an entrepreneurial community and startup hub, Mike is known in the startup community for his smart mentorship and mantra, “manufacturing serendipity.”   Mike is also the co-author of Founded: The No B.S. Guide for Student Entrepreneurs. With a background in television and film, Mike’s journey to startup and ventures is unique. He joins Mikey and Molly (Mike, Mikey & Molly!) for a conversation around storytelling, pitch decks and what risks are worth taking. This is an episode for: entrepreneurs, startup nerds and anyone that’s made a pitch deck. What's in the Spice Cabinet?? Learn more about Northwestern University’s “The Garage”! Want to read Mike and Melissa Kaufman’s book? Pick up a copy of Founded: The No B.S. Guide for Student Entrepreneurs Mike’s walkout song?  Mikey’s suggestion, inspired by Chicago-centered Hulu show, The Bear: Jesus, etc. by Wilco Where to follow Mike? LinkedIn!  Parting Pitch advice? "I think the most important thing is just to get confident in the presentation and the pitch that you put together in a way that feels comfortable to you, not in what other people are telling you to do, including myself. So I'd say that's one of the most important things so that when you're actually delivering it, you believe it yourself and you're excited to share it with others."

What with Inside Out 2 around the corner (June 14th!), we wanted to bring back a “Presentation Preferred” crowd favorite and RE RELEASE this gem of an episode going through PIXAR’s 22 Rules for Storytelling. This is an episode for: Disney & PIXAR fans, presenters, speakers and anyone feeling stuck in their creative process.  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 friends of the Ranch Emily Pantoja and Asha Alaji-Sharif, our resident “Disney adults”, to really connect all 22 dots to the Presentation Thinking world. What's in the Spice Cabinet? Read em and weep: PIXAR’s “22 Rules of Storytelling” by Emma Coats Disney/PIXAR walkout songs?? Asha - “Nobody Like U” from Turning Red Emily - “Married Life” theme from UP Molly - “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” from Toy Story *Molly says James Taylor sings this but it’s actually Randy Newman!! You like PIXAR Story stuff? Same.  We talked about PIXAR animator Matthew Luhn’s amazing talk on this episode, “Why do PIXAR movies make us cry? (Animator Matthew Luhn talks storytelling in business)” “The Art Of” book series takes a deep dive into specific PIXAR & Disney films and series! Spiderman: Into The Spiderverse - The Art Of the Movie The Art of “Turning Red” The Art of “The Last of Us” Emily’s advice for more creative inspo? Check out the proverbial DVD extras - search Behind the Scenes, The Making Of and Interviews of movies and pieces of media that you LOVE!  Check out PIXAR Artists’ Projects with PIXAR Spark Shorts!

Tom Fowler—CEO, Venture Capitalist expert and startup mentor—is the person you want in your corner. Tom spoke to us about the VC & startup world, creating pitch decks and presentation skills and we loved getting to know his unique breadth of experience in sports performance, investing and even theater (!).  Most importantly, he walks us through—slide-by-slide—his ideal format for the perfect Pitch Deck to break through all the noisy advice out there. (Well, Tom said there’s no such thing as the perfect Pitch Deck, but this breakdown will get you pretty dang close).  This is an episode for: Startup founders, folks in the VC world and anyone that’s had to pitch something. What's in the Spice Cabinet?? Want to get in touch with Tom about taking your company to the next level? Or just talk startup shop?  You can find him on LinkedIn

What happens in Vegas…gets directly recorded onto our podcast!  Mikey’s back from Las Vegas to spill the beans on all things Event Tech Live, an annual event for event marketing that brings in all sorts of new ideas and technology for the event industry to continue to be cutting edge.  From learning about prioritizing the attendee experience to humanizing events, we learned that events are their own kind of presentations and as always—tell a story when done well. This is an episode for: event marketers, planners, presenters and anyone curious about emerging technology for events. What's in the Spice Cabinet? Find Event Tech Live and follow their next events (London is next!) here Who does Mikey want to see at the Sphere?  The Rolling Stones Some other event pros to check out from this event? Event Specialists (Event Tech Hub) RingCentral Events Dahlia El Gazzar

Julie Terberg, Presentation Design expert and the woman who co-wrote THE book on PowerPoint templates (among others), joins the pod! With a background in industrial design and graphics, Julie designed slides pre-PowerPoint on physical slides before becoming an expert in the software. Terberg has developed several online courses, published books on developing PowerPoint templates. appeared at the conference circuit regularly and also holds status as a Microsoft MVP.  Julie has taken on creative challenges throughout her presentation work such as her “Makeover Maven” series and designing a Slide-A-Day. Julie’s work around visual design and presenting has changed the game. Let’s hear her story.  This is an episode for: Presentation nerds, design experts and fans of Julie. What's in the Spice Cabinet?? Find more of Julie’s work on her site, Design to Present. She’s got a new whitepaper on choosing fonts for PowerPoint coming out soon! Keep an eye on her site + LinkedIn  Favorite presenters?  Temple Grandin Nigel Holmes Guy Kawasaki Nancy Duarte Does Guy Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 PowerPoint Rule still stand? “No. [What's what's updated about it?] Like I was saying earlier, well, every presentation is different. And you need to present based on your topic, your content, and your audience. And so less is more. Don't follow any guidance for numbers of words.  Who should attend the Presentation Summit? (an in-person and online conference for presentation people!) “If you’re involved in the presentation space in any way, it’s a great conference. And you’re gonna meet all these people—you have no idea how many people kinda work in this niche industry.” Julie’s walkout song? Hell N Back - Bakar

Paul Graham’s blog post, “Do things that don’t scale”, has largely been heralded as the best advice given for startups—maybe ever? But what can we takeaway from it as presenters?  As the founder of renowned accelerator Y Combinator, people trust Paul and are still talking about this post over ten years later. (A big deal for today’s Age of Information).  Mikey and Molly dive into the many conversations around doing things that don’t scale, what that means, and how presentation people might be able to implement it into their day-to-day as well. This is an episode for: Presenters, founders, anyone running their own business and startup enthusiasts. What's in the Spice Cabinet?? Catch up on Paul’s famous blog post “Do things that don’t scale” here Learn more about Paul Graham Learn more about Y Combinator We love all these conversations about it (Podcast) Tropical MBA’s “#749 Do things that don’t scale” (Video) This YouTube video from Academy of Project Management (Podcast) Startups for the Rest of Us Episode #687 Need custom illustration Our very own NoNo Flores that does our podcast episode artwork is amazingly talented Paul’s walkout song (according to Molly and Mikey) Zero to Hero - Hercules Go Your Own Way - Fleetwood Mac All brought to you by GhostRanch Communications. Send us an email!

Guy Kawasaki is an amazing marketer, creator and thinker. (If you don’t follow him already, do it here!)  His 2005 blog post, The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint, provided advice for startups on how to pitch to VCs—but it blew up because it resonated with presenters of all kinds.  As presentation enthusiasts, it’s about time we checked it out and see what still holds up.  This is a shorter, “micro” episode where Molly goes through Guy’s advice and examines how the 10/20/30 PowerPoint rule is still useful today.This is an episode for: People that have to pitch, VCs & anyone that creates PowerPoint presentations.