EXPRESS YOURSELF

When did we start to “present” our work? When did we change?

As a creative in the creative industry, a presentation just doesn’t  feel right.

It’s like sand paper on jelly, or running through water, it doesn’t really fit.

So many projects start off with “who’s owning the deck?” What is a deck? We create amazing ideas, can we just tell that story?

I once created a piece of work to redefine the pitch process in an agency and I decided that we wouldn’t do presentations anymore, when shared, a few people had squeaky bums. It’s not that they lost control, it’s that they needed to trust. We need to talk in the same language the client speaks they said, but the client is fluent in many forms interacting with people. They pay us for what I call an EXPRESSION.

We are here to create solutions for problems or ambitions, the way these solutions are manifested is through creative thought. Lets get back to the basics. When a child wants to express their feelings they need the tools, if not they get very frustrated. But give them some paint, and any surface going, you will see the energy and expression stream through their masterpieces.

Clients, businesses, and grown ups pay us to express our thoughts, if we are accountants, we’ll have graphs and excel sheets, if we are chefs, the canvas is the plate, if we are creatives in the design and marketing industries, the worlds our oyster.

When I teach creatives how to present, the fuel is in their creative. Storytelling is an art form itself, but listening to the artist, even when the artist isn’t confident in public speaking, that’s compelling enough. Put a young creative in a pitch meeting for her/him to explain their work, is a game changer.

Slick rehearsed “presentations” are like watching an instruction manual come to life. Dull, linear, rational and empty.

Put some emotion and reality into it. We are humans talking to humans about work that needs to talk to humans. 

If you ever saw some of my client “expression documents” they are filled with stories about how the ideas came to life, where they were born, how they made me feel, and how they affected me (and my family) at the time. As you can tell, writing isn’t my fortay (English is my second language)

But let the conversation flow through the work. The next time you “present” your work, think about the work as a living creature, what’s its natural habitat, where is it most comfortable? I once had a meeting and displayed my ideas in a tree, because thats where the ideas lived and breathed, or put the people you're talking to (yes talking too) in a situation or location where they feel more comfortable.

Don’t put a Rembrandt in an office reception. It doesn’t belong there. It would be more comfortable leaning against a wall in a student bar.

Don’t present, express yourself.