Presenting Creative Work – A masterclass with Tom Evans
Pitching titan Tom Evans joined us at The Canopy Studio on 25 February for a masterclass on Presenting Creative Work. Armed with the benefit of Tom’s hard-earned experience, would we be able to prepare and present a polished 5 minute pitch with the pressure on?
On Tuesday 25 February we welcomed a titan of the design industry to The Canopy Studio, as Tom Evans joined us for a masterclass on Presenting Creative Work.
Having spent over 20 years pitching, presenting and mentoring for some of Britain’s best known agencies to some of the world’s biggest brands, Tom is a master of the masterclass, and we were hoping that some of his calm, considered and seemingly unflappable style might rub off on us.
First task of the day was to analyse and write down our hopes and fears when it came to presenting, the idea being that by the end of the day we would have fulfilled these hopes and perhaps even conquered our fears. Amongst our team, a number of common themes emerged, the fear of mid-pitch brain freeze, of being thrown by an unfamiliar question, and a general fear of public speaking. Our hopes were to gain confidence, an ability to think on our feet and learn some new tips that we could take into client pitches or internal presentations.
Our first task from a presenting perspective was to recite the alphabet whilst evenly distributing eye contact around the room. The importance of eye contact is crucial when it comes to building a rapport with an audience, and the ability to do this whilst relying information proved trickier than might have been imagined, as a number of us stuttered, stumbled or just plain forgot the alphabet when put on the spot.
Following our only partially successful attempts to recite the alphabet before a live studio audience, we spent the rest of the morning absorbing Tom’s advice on how to structure a presentation, thinking carefully about the narrative, the structure and how best to break up information to make it easy for the audience to absorb. Tom gave us tips on the set up, the struggle and the solution, made us think about the ‘Why’s”, find the purpose in any presentation, and how as an agency we could help our clients achieve this.
After absorbing a number of fascinating insights, it was time to put what we’d learned into practice, as we were given an hour or so to prepare a 5 minute presentation to the rest of the attendees. Subject matters ranged from “When do we stop growing up?” to Adidas Originals, the importance of relationships, and how to sell books in the digital age. Each offer a fascinating insight into the subject, and a demonstration of a variety of presenting styles that encapsulated the diverse personalities of our team.
Thank you Tom.