Presentation Thinking

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”

Subscribe to Tom’s newsletter:

Want to dig in more about how humor helps us at work?

What do we think Tom’s walkout song is?

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 

Reccos for vocal/presentation/performance improvement?

Fave director/movie/etc.?

Walkout song?

Parting words for Presentation Nation?

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

Check out Episode #77 with Ideas on Stage Presentation Coach, Andrea Pacini

What do we think Phil’s walkout song is?

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!

Favorite speakers? Presenters? Thinkers?

Favorite musical or play? 

What’s your walkout song? 

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?

Jessica’s favorite speakers, presenters & TED Talks: 

Preferred pods & media resources:

What’s her walkout song? 

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!

Downloadables

We can’t wait to read Karen’s book!

Molly’s take on Karen’s walkout song? (inspired by Legally Blonde)

McKeever “Mac” Conwell II was meant for the (pitching) stage! 

While his career began in coding (“before it was cool” he says), Mac has started multiple businesses and helped shape the Maryland Social Impact Fund—the first fund for women and minorities in the country.

Now, as the Founder of RareBreed Ventures, Mac’s perfected the art of storytelling and is passionate about helping others do the same. He and Mikey discuss Mac’s journey to where he is now, his secret formula for what to include (and what to leave out) of a pitch and how anyone can improve their pitching skills.  

Spoiler alert—it has to do with storytelling. 

This is an episode for: startup nerds, anyone that has to pitch and storytellers of all kinds.

What's in the Spice Cabinet??

Want more of Mac?

Checkout RareBreed Ventures!

Mac’s walkout song?? 

What’s cool in Baltimore?

Parting advice for people that pitch?

When you're doing presentations like this—whether it's for sales or for investment—it's still a numbers game.

So get comfortable in rejection. It's not the end of the world. 

I'm not going to say it's never—but it's almost never personal. These are business interactions. So when somebody gives you a no, it's not a referendum of you as a human. It's a referendum on business, but not on you as a human. And the sooner you can realize that and manage that, the better you'll be throughout a process like that.

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!

Any favorite books Mo recommends for visual thinkers?

Mo’s walkout song?? 

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! 

Read her book along with us! Episode coming soon.

What’s Porter’s Walkout Song (according to us)?

Need some PowerPoint TLC? 

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??

Want to read Mike and Melissa Kaufman’s book?

Mike’s walkout song? 

Where to follow Mike?

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."