Our last agency visit of the year was to El Camp, a unique co-working space that houses the ad agency Ignited, along with a bunch of other creative and marketing companies. Compared to all other agencies we went to, I thought that El Camp definitely had a outstanding core competency being a co-working facility. The space itself was warm and inviting just like a "summer camp". Although I've never been to one, I'd imagine it be exactly like the inside of El Camp - decorated with ropes coming from the ceiling, open spaces, a big fireplace and cozy couches, all topped off with a dark wood finish.
For our session, we had the opportunity to hear from Michael Weiss, the VP of Marketing at Creative Circle. I've never really been a strong public speaker - so M-School has definitely helped me gain more confidence in my speaking skills. Michael Weiss went deeper into the tricks of presenting. The most important thing I learned was that a presentation is NOT about you. Any presentation you give will always be for your audience. Therefore, everything you do from graphics on your slides to the way that you talk and move on stage, is for the audience to enjoy and take in. I've been in presentations where I was half asleep and ones where I was fully engaged. I've never really thought about how these presenters might have affected me with the way that they presented though.
Weiss talked about how most times the presenter believes that they are Luke Skywalker. However, in reality the presenter is Yoda and the audience is Luke Skywalker because they are going through a change in their life, a journey which you guide them through. This analogy reminded me of The Hero's Journey which we learned about in Cross Content Creation. Who would've known that you're audience is going through some sort of adventure when you are presenting to them?
Taking this insight into our M4G projects, we began to think about how we can craft our final presentations into a story - one that will interest the audience. Going into the professional world, I think that this information is also very useful to keep in mind. Marketing is 90% presentation - and therefore I'll have to learn how to be more comfortable and confident on stage.