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Marjan Sarab presentation classes some years ago, she was nervous about the content, because other PhD students were from technical departments and she was there talking about urban heritage, quite unrelated to subjects like nanosilicas or innovative engines. When she got their feedback, however, it was all about body language. Loes was very enthusiastic, maybe too enthusiastic, which was a little distracting to the audience. So, the content was clear, but the way it was told needed further attention.
About the author Ana Pereira Roders: graduated as an architect at the University Lusíada (Portugal), with a specialization in Urban and Architectural Rehabilitation. Since 2004, she has worked at Eindhoven University of Technology as a guest PhD researcher (2004-2007), postdoctoral researcher (2009) and assistant professor (2009- present).
Loes Veldpaus is currently a PhD student in Cultural Heritage and Sustainability at the Department of the Built Environment at Eindhoven University of Technology. She graduated from the same university as an architect (MSc.).
The Importance of Storytelling
“Presenting is all about telling your story to your audience”, argues Marjan Sarab. In this article she gives useful information on how to make a presentation more appealing by using a story as its base.
Imagination! It is the most distinct power that a human being possesses. As a child, I was obsessed with books, stories and movies. They could take me one step beyond. Spontaneously, after studying urban design and planning for a year, I started to use my knowledge of storytelling to present my work, since the presentation makes up half of the grade for each course. As I gain more experience, I understand that, although a clear and attractive design of a poster, presentation or booklet is very important, it is not the most important aspect of representing an idea. A very good design needs an even better explanation. No matter the type of your audience (reader, listener or viewer) you need one important element: an attractive story. Each type of presentation has its own requirements and always needs certain skills, but there is one common skill
in all of them, the one that can make the biggest difference, and that is the story. Stories have been around as long as language has existed. We can even say that stories are necessary to humans, to feed their hunger for experiencing and imagining. Nevertheless, stories are also very personal and intimate; through a story we reveal information that, at some level, means we are sharing ourselves. Stories are of great importance to presentations for two reasons: first, the people in the audience experience a creative process taking place in their presence and they begin to be a part of that creative process. Second, storytellers bring their own personality and character to a story. In the case of architecture, the character of the design is the one that forms the story. In most of the presentations by students, there is a good organization; general overview, research, analysis, result, design concept and renderings. Then they start reporting: ‘I did . . .’, ‘I think . . .’, ‘I designed . . .’, rather than presenting: ‘The building’, ‘The house’ or ‘The design’. To me, it seems to be too much about them and too little about the design itself. The harsh truth is that people are not there for you, but for your design and you through your design. The solution to this common mistake is very simple: do not give a lecture about your experience of doing something, but about the experience you would like to give to your audience through your design. The first thing to do is to break up the common organization of the presentation. It is no longer necessary to introduce a