Presentation Thinking

Gerard Clarke is going to be your next favorite filmmaker. 

As a director and creator based in Atlanta, Gerard has been involved in a countless variety of projects both creative, commercial and a blend of both.  

He joins the ‘cast to discuss his experience in pitching (and selling) creative work, building out a visual story and the process that went into his latest short film, 500 Seconds to Tell You.

Filmmakers have a lot in common with the creative visionaries of B2B marketing. There’s typically a storyboard, a shot list and a kickass creative crew assembled to execute a vision—not unlike a big product launch, rebrand or narrative deck. 

From Blockbuster memories to strategic storytelling advice, Gerard offers a unique perspective into the Presentation Thinking world.

This is an episode for: visual storytellers of all kinds, anyone that has to sell creative work and film geeks.

What’s in the Spice Cabinet?

Follow more of Gerard!

• His website
• LinkedIn

Some of Gerard’s favorite films & media?

• Vanilla Sky (2001)

• He’s also a big Stranger Things fan for those watching the final season!

• A fave director - Darren Aronofsky

Book recommendations?

• Steal Like an Artist - Austin Kleon

• Pi Screenplay and The Gorilla Diaries - Darren Aronofsky

• Rebel Without A Crew - Robert Rodriguez 

What is Gerard listening to? 

• Team Deakins podcast - brings in folks in the film biz! 

Favorite talk?

• Sir Ken Robinson’s TED Talk, Do schools kill creativity? 

Walkout song? 

• Summer Sun by Common Saints

Parting shot? 

• “To quote the Shawshank Redemption, ‘get busy living or get busy dying.’”

PMM, Navy vet and overall cool guy Langley Barth joins the pod after Mikey and him connected at a Product Marketing Alliance summit in San Francisco (shoutout PMA!). 

Langley is full of GREAT PMM advice—from becoming a subject matter expert on your product to getting to know the customer journey, he’s an expert at guiding conversations that “unlock the unknown unknowns.”

Langley also shares how his experience giving presentations in the Navy (who knew!) has informed his career. In addition to being a PMM, he connects veterans to purpose-driven careers through his organization, Civilian Compass.

This is an episode for: the product marketers, the sales team and any vets looking for new career inspo!

What's in the Spice Cabinet?

Find more of Langley’s work

• On LinkedIn

• Civilian Compass

PMM inspiration & shoutouts?

• Elle Grossenbacher’s podcast - Product Marketing Adventures

• Michele Nieberding - The AI PMM

Book reccos?

• Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A. Moore

San Diego reccos?

• Taco Surf Taco Shop

• “Fancy Mediterranean fusion” - Callie

Walkout song? 

• Fluorescent Adolescent - Arctic Monkeys
  

Our third annual installment of “PrezThanking” brings you a Spice Cabinet brimming with presentation resources, tech tips, people to follow and highlights from this year in recording.

Dig in with your pie and ice cream to this short n spicy episode.

What’s in the Spice Cabinet?

Presentation TOOLS n TIPS we’re thankful for 

• Riverside technology! NOT AN AD but we’re loving it

• Audacity - forever free recording tool

• Figma Slides - it keeps growing! 

• LIVE EDIT PowerPoint files in Dropbox - we use this hack all the time

• Data visualization is more important than ever in the age of AI

• TED Talkin’: Ben Wellington’s NYC data story (Episode #174)

• Dr. Steven Franconeri tells data stories—and you can too

• (Episode #176)

• GhostRanch YouTube QuickTip Tutorial Series! Created by Technical Director Steve Sheets

• Don’t forget to GROUP objects!

Presentation PEOPLE we’re thankful for

• Jay Schwedelson - email marketing Guru and founder of Guru Conference

• Tom Fishburne’s “Marketoonist” cartoons

• Ivan Wanis Ruiz - Presentation Coach & Founder of Public Speaking Lab

• Krislam Chin - employing and enabling the next generation!! Looking for a career in design? Check her out Hello World Studio

• Hayley Landsdorf for doodling by hand (not AI! Her clients particularly seek her out for this). Consider a “live scribe” at your next event! Thoughts Drawn Out

• Cameron Magee for our “Some Guy from the Crew” series - founder of avad3, the AV and event production company

• Hattie the PMM - If you’re a product marketer, follow her immediately! 

• Making marketing magic with Jimi Gibson (Episode #175) - the magician POV you didn’t’ know you needed for marketing

Presentation BOOKS we’re thankful for

• Say it Well - Terry Szuplat

• Presence - Amy Cuddy

Shoutouts!

• John Harton, our amazing editor bringing our mic settings in sync

• NoNo Flores, our episode illustrator giving our ideas visual life

Our previous episode (#186) with Cameron Magee covered the importance of rehearsals and the lead-up to an event or conference. This time, we’re talking about what’s going on AT the live event. 

Continuing our “Some Guy From the Crew” series, Cameron Magee joins the podcast again to discuss live events, the layout of the room, stage, event trends and more! 

As the Owner of avad3, a rad AV and event production company based in Arkansas, Cameron supports events of all kinds throughout the country. From LED screens to “the show must go on” moments, Cameron gives us more invaluable behind the scenes intel for anyone working in events. 

This is an episode for: event planners and teams, AV nerds and conference speakers.

What’s in the Spice Cabinet? 

Tune into Part 1 of our Guy From the Crew series with Cameron

• Episode #186

Hire Cameron and his team!

• And learn more about their production work here: avad3

Craziest live event story

• Not knowing if an event was indoors or outdoors, how many people would be showing up, where the speaker (ahem, the President) would be standing, etc. 

Biggest piece of advice for live events?

• Bring production on the site visit!

Mikey and Molly might be the first-ever students of storytelling to embark on a curious journey of studying every talk and keynote that Steve Jobs has ever done. 

When discussing the greatest speakers of all time, the general B2B world typically includes Steve Jobs somewhere in the list and we nod our heads in agreeance. But aside from a few highlights of his talks (and what’s portrayed in various biopics of his life), we realized we weren’t super familiar with his “game” when it comes to the STORY, SCREEN & STAGE elements we typically break down.

So we’re off! We begin with one of Apple’s earlier “inciting incidents”: the introduction of the iMac computer in 1998. (You might recall this slick teal desktop setup in your school’s old computer lab).

For this talk, Steve has a combined goal of sharing “the state of Apple today” (Steve had just returned to the company) and a launch of this pretty revolutionary technology. 

Steve’s skill in painting the world as is and presenting an alluring what it could be is absolutely “screamin’”. The 1998 visuals are nostalgic but still powerful. And Steve’s presence is a blast.

This is an episode for: Steve Jobs/Apple fans, fellow presentation nerds and anyone that is trying to make their product launch more compelling.

What’s in the Spice Cabinet?? 

Watch the talk for yourself:

• Steve Jobs introduces the iMac in 1998 - be sure to explore AllAboutSteveJobs.com 

Not necessary but fun viewing:

• iMac evolution supercut

Steve’s walkout song? (Cheesey version, according to Molly)

• Jonas Brothers - Year 3000  

Cameron Magee knows the ins and outs of an event’s backstage area. 

Having led his production and AV company, avad3, for almost 15 years, they’ve produced over a thousand events all over the country. Trusted by Walmart, The White House and many more—Cameron is passionate about serving these events for their varying needs as an “event production partner.” 

Cameron joins the ‘cast for the first of a several installment series taking an intimate behind-the-scenes look at the intersection of presentations, production and events. 

While no two days look exactly the same in the event business, rehearsals are a consistent priority for Cameron and his team. Our discussion dives into the importance of rehearsal time, to-do’s and don’ts for event speakers (both beginners and pros!) and what to expect from the production team if it’s your first time speaking at an event.

This is an episode for: speakers of any kind, event professionals and anyone that gets intimidated by the tech side of events.

What's in the Spice Cabinet?

Hire Cameron and his team!

• And learn more about their production work here: avad3

Fave speakers:

• Terry Szuplat, former speechwriter for Obama

Podcast recommendations

• For business? 2 Bobs—with David C. Baker and Blair Enns

• For faith? First15 

“This book changed my life”

• Anything by Dan Sullivan - Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork

Cameron’s walkout song? 

• Brooks & Dunn - Brand New Man

Sugata Mitra is one of the few people to have five TED Talks. Why? 

He’s a perfect combination of scientific, challenging norms and soft-spoken charm. 

As a theoretical researcher with an interest in education and the role of the internet, Sugata’s “Hole in the Wall” experiment has become a famed example in how kids can self-organize and essentially teach themselves anything with access to the internet. And no, that’s not a bad thing at all. 

He first tried this in remote areas in India and has since replicated it all over the world. Sugata’s conclusions from these experiments vary, but they all challenge traditional education teachings. 

Mikey and Molly dive into Sugata’s quietly powerful stage presence, minimal visuals and storytelling skills to understand how he’s accrued some of the most famous TED Talks ever. 

This is an episode for: People that give talks that challenge norms and anyone with an interest in education.

What’s in the Spice Cabinet??

Hear & see Sugata for yourself

• Watch the talk we get into here, The Future of Learning (2018)

• Watch Sugata’s other TED Talks here

Interested in his research on education and the internet? 

• Follow Sugata online here

• His latest book - The School in the Cloud: The Emerging Future of Learning

Sugata’s Walkout song (according to Molly)?

• We Don’t Need No Education - Pink Floyd
  

Ivan Wanis Ruiz is ready for us to never be bored during presentations again. 

Returning to the podcast for a Book Club style episode we dive into his book, End Boring: A Tactical Approach to Public Speaking and Communication.

For his research, Ivan speaks with buskers, professional wrestlers and police interrogators to study the neuroscience of why people absorb information the way they do. This is counter to a lot of public speaking advice out there, learning only from experts, gurus and elite keynoters. 

Ivan brings in simple truths like acknowledging you might never not be nervous during a presentation—so how can you work around that? Understanding our limitations and digital-age attention spans is something we need to evolve with, not against. 

All of Ivan’s ideas circle back to the one core goal of any presentation which is to create curiosity—to get the audience asking for more (following you online, ordering a product, asking for demos, etc.). 

Through clear case studies and tactical tips that hold up to today’s world of rapid content creation and AI-generated thoughts, Ivan’s book reads like a relevant kick-in-the-ass towards presentation excellence.

This is an episode for: Leaders, managers, webinar creators/hosts, and presenters of any variety (especially those that get nervous). 

What’s in the Spice Cabinet? 

Read for yourself (or listen via Audiobook!)

• End Boring: A Tactical Approach to Public Speaking and Communication

Want more of Ivan?

• Tune into our previous episode with Ivan, #180 - Ivan Wanis Ruiz is here to revolutionize your public speaking

• Follow him on LinkedIn

• And his company, Public Speaking Lab

Ivan’s reccos?

• Unexpected book reccos: 

• Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan & Anne Druyan

• Thirteen Steps to Mentalism by Tony Corinda

• Propaganda by Edward Bernays

• Great speakers:

• James Baldwin

• Gil Scott-Heron
  

Founder of Hello World Studio and Professor of Graphic Design at Mt. San Antonio College in California, Krislam runs their graphic design program, inspiring new waves of creators stepping into our visual storytelling world. 

Krislam joins Presentation Thinking to discuss her favorite parts about teaching such a creative craft, how students transition their concepts into presentations and the value of learning how to present creative work so that concepts can sell.

She also shares the ethos around Hello World in allowing students to lead client projects and understand the ins and outs of a professional creative process. 

This is an episode for: creative leaders, teachers and designers of all kinds.

What's in the Spice Cabinet?

Follow Krislam’s work (she does professional development workshops on the regular

• LinkedIn
• Hello World Studio - they have monthly gatherings! Join them.

• Bookstores! 

• Village Well

• Skylight Books

• Arcana

• Culver City Steps

• In-N-Out

Favorite books, resources?

• Anything published by Victionary 

• AIGA 

• LA Design Festival

Favorite font?

• “I’m a serif girlie. Out the box, I have to give it up for Baskerville…that and then there’s also Garamond as a second choice.”

Walkout song? This Is What It Sounds Like - from the K-Pop Demon Hunters Soundtrack

Listen up!

Julian Treasure is a communication expert and sound researcher, interested in harnessing the power of voice and sound for speakers, listeners and learners. 

His TED Talk, How to speak so that people will want to listen, from 2013 is one of the most-viewed TED Talks of all time (a measly 47 million views and counting on YouTube). 

Upon first listen you might think “huh”—he gave me a few lists about ways that we misuse the voice, how powerful it actually should be and a handful of “tools” of the voice in order to execute our meaning more strategically. Big whoop.

But Mikey and Molly are here to recognize the storytelling that Julian employs is extremely powerful. He first sets up the world as is: the “deadly sins” of misusing speech and language—we’re all familiar with these and it builds rapport. Then he presents an idealized utopian vision with his acronym “H.A.I.L.”—the promised land for better use of language. But how do we get there? Well, next he provides the tools to unlock the “Happily Ever After.” 

Julian studies intricacies of how our brain takes in sound—down to details like the architecture of open-office plans and classrooms. So it's rare to see such complex subjects so well executed in under ten minutes.

Julian’s stage presence, pace and masterful economy of language (ie: says a lot in just a few words) have all earned him a spot as one of the most viewed TED Talks ever. 

This is an episode for: speakers, sound/audio nerds and anyone just wanting to communicate more effectively.

What’s in the Spice Cabinet? 

Watch Julian Treasure’s famous 2013 TED Talk:

• How to speak so that people will want to listen

Check out Julian’s books and other work on communications and sound research

• Here

Keep going down the rabbit hole! Julian’s 4 other TED Talks:

• The 4 Ways sound affects us (2009)

• Shh! Sound health in 8 steps (2010)

• 5 Ways to listen better (2011)

• Why architects need to use their ears (2012)

Julian’s walkout song? (according to Molly)

• The Sounds of Silence - Simon & Garfunkel