Triboro News

This week, our Interior Design Peer Tutor Andrea shares essential strategies for delivering successful presentations to prospective clients! 

Presenting to clients can be intimidating and exciting at the same time. It is important to remember that being a good communicator is a skill that will help you achieve your goals. It is also an opportunity to show clients your strengths and knowledge. Read below for a few tips to consider when presenting projects to clients.

Before your presentation:

• First impressions matter and will help you close the deal.
  • Dress according to the occasion.
  • Be punctual.
  • Greet client(s).
• Presentations are divided into three components:
  • Visual
    • Rely on images to create a connection to what you are saying. Use few words or short sentences and keep a consistent structure.
  • Spoken
    • Where is the meeting taking place? Will it be online, at your or the client’s office, in a conference room?
    • Think about the purpose of the presentation (status, research, sketches, selling an idea, etc.)
    • How much time do you have?
  • Printed/Digital version
• Be prepared for the meeting, and take some time to know your client.
  • Identify to whom you will be presenting.

While presenting:

• Be aware of your body language and posture.
• Keep eye contact.
• Use hand gestures that match your verbal delivery.
• Stay on point and focus on what matters to your client.
• Be prepared and practice your speech. Do not memorize it.
• Avoid using words such as kind of, sort of, like, and just, since it shows hesitation.
• Watch for nonverbal clues.
• Express yourself clearly and confidently. Believe in your design solution. It is hard to persuade others if you do not think that your idea is good.
• Give the client talking points. Be specific when responding to the client’s questions. This helps create partnership.
• Use images that speak to the audience.

Your message:

• Keep it simple. Clean narratives give you flexibility; therefore, it is important to keep the presentation as conversational as possible.
• Use simple words. Speak your client’s language.
• Structure your presentation like a story by reminding people of the status quo and then revealing the path to a better design. Then, set up a conflict that needs to be resolved. You could use stories, analogies, and even humor to connect on an emotional level with your client.

Time:

• Do not rush.
• Adjust the time to process and tell your client what is important about what you are showing.
• Good presentations should take less than 20 minutes.
• Use as many slides as you need if you are presenting a single message on each slide.
• One well-known formulation for PowerPoint presentations is the 10/20/30 rule. This rule dictates that you should use about ten slides for a twenty-minute presentation, and each slide should utilize thirty-point font. In other words, each slide should be about two minutes in length.
• PechaKucha’s 20x20 presentation format. PechaKucha means “chit chat” in Japanese. This is a storytelling format where a presenter shows 20 slides for 20 seconds of commentary each (6 minutes and 40 seconds total). The PechaKucha format can be used in business presentations to clients or staff, as well as in education settings.

Concluding your presentation:

• Restate the problem/design challenge and include how your solution solves it. Remind your client what they want in the first place and tell them that this design does that.
• Say why the solution is important.
• Ask the client about their role in moving the project forward.

After your conclusion:

• State the next steps and agree on who is responsible for what and when.
• Thank your client for their time/opportunity.

Presenting Previous Projects Tips:

• Tailor your past projects to the client's needs. 
• Limit the examples to 3 or 4.
• Address what the problem/issues were in general terms and explain how you solved them.
• Explain how your design solutions work in line with the client’s requirements.

Presenting a Design Contract/Proposal Tips:

• Always review the proposal with the client.
• Do not be vague. Set expectations clearly (costs, time, and design scope).

Communication During Design Phases:

• Keep your client informed.
• Do not make the process vague since this leads to mistrust.

We all know the feeling; reading through an assignment feeling yourself sink into confusion and despair with each passing line. You reach the end with a pit in your stomach—no idea how to accomplish what is being asked of you. Thoughts condense like a dense fog in your mind.

Why can't I understand this? Am I not smart enough to understand? What's wrong with me?

Fog thickens in your mind, pulling you down into a valley of despair. We all have internal monologues like this; the voice of an inner saboteur who waits in the background telling us a story about ourselves that breathes life into our greatest fears.

If I can offer one piece of advice, do not give power to this voice. When it pops into your head telling tales of incompetence, speak up and remind yourself that you have everything you need within you to succeed. There is no shame in being confused. College-level academics are rigorous, and it takes time to build the stamina to meet them. Seeking help is advocating for yourself, and you deserve to be advocated for.

Now it's time to get specific. Take a moment to look back and discover what exactly is causing you trouble. Start a habit when reading through assignments in the LMS of making two lists. The first lists the deliverables needed to complete the assignment, such as a two-page paper comparing two historic art movements that use at least ten academic sources and three images of artworks from each period; The second list is made up of questions. What art movements do I want to examine? Where can I find academic sources? How do I format the paper?

Some of these questions you may already have the answer for. Amazing! For the unanswered questions, seek help. Reach out to your professors or make an appointment with the Student Learning Center (SLC). Don't be afraid to ask follow-up questions. Remember, you are the measure of success. You are seeking help so your questions can be answered, and you understand. Learning is a process. Step boldly into it and take charge. You have everything within you to succeed.

by Kristal Montgomery

The first week of the term is already over, and a lot has happened since the new year. Tensions are high and anticipating writing assignments can cause us to feel overwhelmed. How do we tackle writing an art history research paper when everything can seem so new and unclear? 

The Student Learning Center (SLC) has partnered up with the Liberal Arts Department to bring you Ready, Study Gogh! Mining Art History, a weekly peer-facilitated gathering that can bring some ease of mind to the complexities of writing research papers for art history classes. These weekly gatherings will meet every Monday at 12:00 p.m. MT via Zoom and will be facilitated by Ryan Hruska, a peer tutor and student with familiarity in topics of art history, researching, and writing. 

From brainstorming ideas and to writing your conclusion, each  week will focus on a different aspect of the writing process that builds up from the previous weeks. Grab some lunch (or don't) and join other students as we work together to reclaim a foothold in art history! 

Join via Zoom: https://rmcad.zoom.us/j/93101287481

I've never been one for New Year's resolutions. They sound great in theory, but too often I forget about any resolutions I make after a couple of weeks. At that point, what is the point? This year, however, I wanted to set some goals in order to have something concrete to look forward to and work towards. After the challenges and upheaval of 2020, there's something hopeful about the possibilities of a new year (even if we're still dealing with the pandemic). 

I recently came across this NPR article on creating habits, and I realized that many of my previous New Year's resolutions were too ambitious. The article features tips from a new book by B.J. Fogg called Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything. The key to developing lasting habits, according to Fogg, is to start small. For example, one of my goals this year is to devote more time to my mental health, so I've committed to doing a one minute breathing exercise per day. Even on busy days, I should be able to squeeze in one minute of breathing! This New York Times article also provides some useful advice on making resolutions that last. 

Many other resources exist to help you achieve your goals, whether they're New Year's resolutions or not. Relying on others to help keep you on track is a great tactic. If your goals are related to academics or art, the Student Learning Center tutors can work with you to help you achieve them. To schedule an appointment, you can email us at learning@rmcad.edu or self-schedule at rmcad.mywconline.com. 

Have any resolutions you'd like to share? Comment below!