Lecture

Leeds College of Art

Introduction to Presentation Skills

1st March 2017 /// Rick Ferguson

• Behaviour
• Structure
• Content

Why do I want to become better at this?

• Development of communication skills - A better understanding of me and other people, which could develop different partnerships and collaborations
• Better job opportunities 
• Gain confidence in myself and have more confidence presenting my work and ideas

Albert Mehribian’s communication model on the relative importance of the different ways in which we communicate 

• The way we say the words - 38%
• Non-verbal behaviour (Body Language) - 55%
• The words we use - 7%

(%) Relative impact of how we communicate 

Behaviour 

Speed - can vary, choose when you want to speed up slightly, and slow down slightly 

Volume - can also vary, but the main consideration is that you can be heard! 

Pitch - decide where to vary the pitch, to pose a question or to emphasise words

Avoid crutch words - (so, okay, right then, moving on, um, err..)

Appropriate eye contact (could split the room into quarters, and randomly make eye contact within the quarters)

Awareness of unconscious ‘tic’s’/movements. Be aware of gestures

Structure

Bookending (Mentioning something at the start of your presentation and returning to out at the end.)

Power of Three (We only tend to be able to remember 3 main things - any more than this and our brain had difficulty coping) - Intro (including one bookend)/ First Section/ Second Section/ Third Section/ Conclusion (including bookend 2)

Content

How to decide what kind of content I might include? (And what content I might want to avoid)

• Head (where?/ what?/ how?)
• Heart (why?/ who?/ who else?)

6 Logical Levels 

(Head) > Environment 

> Behaviour

> Capabilities and Skills

> Beliefs and Values

> Identity

(Heart) > Mission/Vision 

TASK

Prepare and practice a short (1.5 - 2.5 minutes long) presentation about you

• How you will behave when delivery it
• How you will structure it
• How you will decide what content to include

Colours May Vary talk

• They stock things they'd want themselves
• The fact it's a creative hub helps the to make connections
• Colours May Vary links to the fact you don't know what you'll find when you go into the shop
• What sells? Magic pencils - they're cheap and fun
• A range of prices is good!
• You need to know what people will spend in a city as opposed to a quiet town, and how much you can charge for what it is. 
• Your product must be have strong design as well as application. The combination of design, colour, craft and process is the most important.
• Do editions! People like the fact they're buying an edition of a print/zine etc.

How to be a stockist?

• Email/bring it in
• Concept 
• Process
• How you present yourself and your work

Leeds Comic and Film Fair

This was... interesting... and really not what any of us were expecting, I don't think. It was nice being among my peers with each of our different stalls. But I don't think the clientele were what we expected. We were situated outside of the event, so quite a few people wandered around the stalls LCA had, but it was quite obvious that we weren't why they were there. Nevertheless, it was fun doing this with friends and gaining the experience of it. It has definitely still encouraged me to do more art fairs in the future, and I look forward to them.

Business Cards

I took this cat design from a previous lino cut I made, I felt it was bold, simple and eye catching.

When printing my tote bags, I felt it was also appropriate to print some business cards. I played around with the lino print I made, and a minimal colour pallet. It was important for me to make sure it was eye catching, and after several experiments, I found the white behind the lino makes it stand out the most. I also wanted to play around with the layer on photoshop by misaligning the different shapes, I was able to create some lovely overlapping. In the end, I screen printed my cards, as it was a  cheap and reasonably quick way of producing a lot in a small space of time. Screen printing them also allowed me to gain some lovely textures within the white circle.

Tote Bags

I took a lino print from my 504 module and thought it'd translate well on a tote bag. After looking into how to lino print onto fabric, for the size I planned on printing and the time I had available to do it, it was impractical. I then thought about just using the positives from my lino prints, to screen print  Which also meant I could make separate layers allowing me to use more than one colour.

Screen printing the tote bags, I found was actually quite simple. It was a bit tricky getting used to marking out the position of the screen for each tote bag and remembering to do 4 pulls instead of 1 or 2. But other than that, I found it easier than screen printing onto paper. 

I'm really happy with how they turned out, I think they were even more successful than my prints of the same lino for 504. To compliment the canvas material of the tote bag, I decided to print using a pale pink and navy blue. I felt printing with black ink would be too harsh a contrast. 

Creative Presence

Oliver Jeffers

I'd like to contact Oliver Jeffers as I'm a fan of his work. He uses mixed media throughout his picture books giving them a very traditional aesthetic whilst still being modern. Contacting him would hopefully give me a better insight into children's illustration, which will also benefit me when I come to write my COP2 essay. It would be interesting to find out how he develops his characters and composition of books, because I think this is a large contributing factor to his stories running as seamlessly as they do.  

Penguin

Within my 503 Responsive module one of my chosen briefs was form Penguin Random House. It'd be valuable to gain a better understanding of the company, as well as their selection process. I'd like to find out what they look for in their designers and individuals they collaborate with. As well as finding out how they've produced such an iconic portfolio of books they've published. 

Elizabeth Haidle

What made me particularly interested in Elizabeth Haidles' work was her application of media. The vibrancy of colours she uses is striking. The colour combinations she uses sometimes clash, but they still contribute to a coherent image. Looking at her work has inspired me to experiment more with paint, especially watercolour. 

Reflection Task

S.W.O.T

Strengths

- Enthusiasm 
- Ability to foresee the end product of a project and carry it out in a professional manner.
- Self reflection

Weaknesses
- Organisation
- Time Management 
- Confidence

Opportunities
- After Effects - Having knowledge of animation and being able to use after effects may lead to more/bigger opportunities with clients after uni.
- Collaboration with other students across different courses

Threats
- Other practitioners - competitive industry. However it's not always a bad thing, could help with more motivation with my own work and also create opportunities of collaboration.  
- Clients - Copyrighting and payment.

P.E.S.T

Political - Economic - Social - Technological

P - How government regulations may effect my business/ trade regulations/ copyright

E - Economic growth/ Exchange rate/ Inflation and interest rates

S - Consumer needs/ Attitudes towards work/ Lifestyle choices - Ethical - Choice of supporting independent businesses 

T - Technological advances/ Generational shifts