Presentation Thinking

From Abercrombie & Fitch to Twitter, companies around the globe have rebranded again and again—for better or worse. 

Mikey & Molly dive into the good, the bad and the ugly of rebrands to understand WHY a company might rebrand and analyze the opportunities for shifting a brand story. 

While a simple logo change might be the perfect design update to keep up with the times, swapping a little blue bird recognized around the globe with a black ‘X’ could lose billions in brand recognition. (Not that we’re calling anyone out…) 
This is an episode for: Brand messagers, narrative strategists & people still calling Twitter…Twitter.

Every year, TechCrunch brings out some of the most impressive innovators to their “Startup Battlefield”—a competition for startups to win up to $100,000 and serious clout. 

Lucky for us, the 6 finalists (out of over 200+ startups!) are filmed and available online for us to hyper-analyze their pitch decks—so that’s exactly what Mikey and Molly did. 

We get particularly into Biotics AI, which (spoiler alert) became the WINNER and is doing amazing things with AI to detect abnormalities in ultrasounds during pregnancies. 

Startup competitions are always a great place to get inspired, motivated and challenge juuust how much information you can pack into 6 minutes and a handful of slides.
This is an episode for: Startup enthusiasts, tech nerds and anyone who could learn from pitching.

Paleoanthropologist Genevieve von Petzinger is entranced by the engraved signs and symbols found in caves all over the world. She has spent years researching this ancient visual communication and in her 2015 TED Talk, Why are these 32 symbols found in ancient caves all over Europe?, von Petzinger shares what she’s learned. 

Her research catalogs the first ever collection of 32 signs and, stunningly, tracks the same symbols across countries throughout a 30,000 year period starting with the ice age. 

Mikey and Molly analyze Genevieve’s presentation and reflect on the evolution of what “Presentation Thinking” is all about—visual communication and storytelling.

This is an episode for: speakers, scientists, communication nerds & cave drawing enthusiasts.

Description

If you know the name “Brené Brown”, chances are you associate the word “vulnerability” with it. 

Brené’s 2010 TED Talk, “The Power of vulnerability”, became one of the most-viewed TED Talks ever—and it launched her into a higher level of recognition in her career. 

A self-titled “storyteller researcher” with a social work background, Brené studies human connection and what commonalities exist for all of us. When her discoveries around vulnerability expose her own issues with being vulnerable, it changes the trajectory of her studies forever. 

Mikey & Molly sift through the details of what it is about Brené’s TED Talk that makes it so memorable, strategic and, well, vulnerable. 

This is an episode for: Professional speakers, therapists and Brené Brown fans.

Apple has long-since stood out in the tech world in its product announcements and presentations. Steve Jobs’ keynotes created a genuine “you had to be there” atmosphere and set the bar high for the brand story that Apple was to embody.

The loss of Steve Jobs and arrival of COVID forced them into a more produced, pre-recorded format, one such event premiering in September of this year.  

Mikey and Molly dig into what makes people follow Apple presentations more than any other brand, the pros of pre-cording and what was SO good and once-in-a-lifetime about Steve’s in-person 2007 presentation introducing the iPhone.

This is an episode for: Apple loyalists, tech nerds and brand storytellers.

As certified TED Talk enthusiasts and amateur speaker coaches, Mikey and I thoroughly enjoyed Catherine Molloy’s 2022 TED Talk on conscious communication, “Think before you speak, hacking the secret of communication.” 

Catherine Molloy is a communications expert who walks the walk in her delivery. There are intentional pauses, NO talking from the screen or talk track and plenty of great storytelling moments. 

Catherine believes that through intentional communication and mindful awareness of our body language, we can solve a lot of the world’s problems. 

We go through this TED Talkin’ episode and give you 3 things we loved and 3 things we’d do differently for Catherine’s talk.

This is an episode for: body language nerds, TED Talk enthusiasts and professional speakers looking to level-up.

In our effort to practice what we preach (and spread the good word of presentation design), co-host Mikey Mioduski has embarked on a quest to the TED Talk stage. 

For every keynote he gives, we give ourselves the opportunity to peel back the curtain into his thought process, training and delivery of a talk. 

In August, Mikey presented at the Go-To-Market Alliance in San Diego and he debuted his “Bump, Set, Spike” keynote—a talk to help master both Problem & Solution Slides. There were volleyball metaphors, great feedback, likely a few pieces to leave behind and even the making of a “Signature Bit.”

If you geek out on dissecting and discussing presentation iteration, this one’s for you. 

This is an episode for: speakers, product marketers & anyone looking to refine their own presentation.

What makes a good speaker a REFERABLE speaker? That’s the question that Michael Port and Andrew Davis set out to answer in their 2021 book, The Referable Speaker.

As presentation enthusiasts and aspiring speakers ourselves, Mikey and I made our way through this book for another Book Club episode—and we highly recommend it. 

Port & Davis share their journeys to becoming public speakers, as well as Michael’s story in creating Heroic Public Speaking, a speaking university. But it’s more than that—they break down the business of hiring speakers, how to actually grow your network and make your speech SO good that it becomes referable. 

If you’re currently a speaker, or want to make a career out of being a speaker, this book (and this episode!) is for you.

Forgive us, for we have sinned—with the 5 Deadly Sins of Presenting Creative work! Blurting, Ad Whispering, Wanderlust, Telepathy & Impalement.

After years of experience in presenting creative work, author and presentation pro Kerry Feuerman (who we spoke with last episode!) has witnessed everything—from the nitpicky to the nuclear—that could go wrong in a presentation room. 

It’s what inspired him to write this book, The 5 Deadly Sins of Presenting Creative Work so that we can all learn and level-up from others’ mistakes. 

Mikey and I sit down with Creative Directors Jeff Carter and Lindsay Hadley—book club style—to compare Kerry’s sins to our own experience and discuss how Kerry’s “sin” metaphor so brilliantly delivers this advice. 

This is an episode for: Creatives in advertising, speakers in general & presentation bookworms.

Kerry Feuerman is a presentation professional. 

Having worked in advertising and presented creative work for a majority of his career, he’s well-suited to give presentations on, well, GIVING presentations.

After receiving an amazing workshop at GhostRanch Story Camp in July of 2023, we knew we needed to learn more from Kerry’s experience. We discuss the power that a presenter has, what’s at stake and how everyone can implement some easy tactics to win over the next room (or Zoom) you present in. 

We also chat about his book, The 5 Deadly Sins of Presenting Creative Work. (More on that in a “Book Club” episode of the pod later).

If you give presentations at ALL in work or your personal life, this is for you.

This is an episode for: presenters, creatives and anyone in advertising.