LAST HURDLE IS ALL ABOUT RAISING YOUR GAME, NO MATTER WHAT LEVEL PRESENTER YOU ARE RIGHT NOW. IF YOU’RE STRUGGLING, YOU’RE PROBABLY MISSING THE FUNDAMENTALS. THAT’S A QUICK FIX. GOING FROM GOOD TO GREAT IS AS MUCH ABOUT THINKING LIKE A CLIENT AS IT IS A CREATIVE PERSON. WHAT I PROVIDE IS AN ACCELERATED LEARNING CURVE FOR EVERY LEVEL.

TO SELL WORK YOU HAVE TO WORK AT SELLING
You can read a book or watch a video about presentation skills. Both have value. But until you apply that knowledge you’ll only get marginally better. It would be like taking driving lessons without a car.
 

THE WORKSHOP:  TEACHING CREATIVES TO SELL CREATIVELY
The Last Hurdle two-day workshop is challenging and fun. I come to your agency, we commandeer a conference room with a big TV and hang out a DO NOT DISTURB sign. Then we lock the door and work on everything. Like how to engage an audience, how to build trust, how to defend work against a barrage of tough (okay, sometimes dumb) questions. We talk about getting the most out of your personal presentation style and how to lay out an idea so that it’s clear and concise. It’s a hands-on, stand-and-deliver, come-out-better presentation-a-thon.

ONE-TO-ONE TRAINING
For more senior creatives, I offer one-to-one sessions. Creative director to creative director. It’s like having a personal trainer who knows exactly what muscles to work on because he spent years playing the same sport. Whether you just want a presentation skills tune-up or help framing a big campaign or new business pitch, I can come to you, you can come to me (think Bed & Breakfast, charming town, Chesapeake Bay) or we can schedule a few Skype sessions.

PHONE PRESENTATIONS / ALL LEVELS, ALL DEPARTMENTS
If you present the same way over the phone as you do in person, more work will die. In this one-day workshop, you’ll learn how to compensate for lack of visual contact and keep an audience fully engaged. We cover everything from how to take control, eliminating distractions, stopping clients from looking ahead in the deck, keeping the conversation focused, replacing body language with descriptive verbal language, phone decks and more. Without these skills, you might as well put yourself on mute.
 

TEAM AND NEW BUSINESS TRAINING / SENIOR CREATIVES, AE’S AND PLANNERS
Team training is all about selling big campaigns and winning new business pitches.  Presenting in silos is a common practice for most agencies. Do your part and sit down. The Last Hurdle team workshop breaks that old habit. Account people, planners and creatives learn how to build cumulative impact. It’s a wingman approach designed to increase team trust and effectiveness. Real world scenarios are played out. Curveballs are thrown in. In two days, teams learn how to focus the message, deliver a common storyline, and present in a more unified, compelling way.
 

CLIENT TRAINING / ADVERTISING MANAGERS AND MARKETING DEPARTMENTS
There’s no sense in having good sellers if you don’t have good buyers. Great creative work is a two-way street. Good input yields good output. Bad input results in a lot of reconcepting and handwringing. Nobody enjoys that. Last Hurdle client workshops are designed around getting the most engaging and effective creative work out of your agency. It’s an opportunity for clients to gain a perspective from the other side the table: the creative person’s side. Subjects include: How to write a creative brief that inspires brilliant thinking. How to evaluate creative work. And how to give effective creative feedback. It’s eye-opening, interactive and, believe it or not, fun.