The Mediaweek Academy will host its seventh session exploring storytelling and presenting skills.
Global leadership and marketing consultant Rowena Millward will lead the session, featuring a Legend of the industry sharing their career development wisdom and a Superstar discussing their insights.
This month’s Mediaweek Academy Legend is Rose Herceg, president of Australia and New Zealand at WPP, with Superstar speaker Sam Geer, managing director at Initiative.
Geer has been with the agency for five years, starting as chief strategy officer in 2018 before stepping up to managing director in 2020. Before Initiative, he was at UM Australia as Sydney strategy director, national strategy director, and MediaCom based in New York.
Geer spoke to Mediaweek about the key to storytelling and presenting skills, overcoming creative and mental blocks and revealed his interesting career path before getting into media.
Geer revealed his career in media began after quite a unique career change. “I was a professional dancer straight out of school, and after a few years, I lamented to my girlfriend at the time that I wasn’t really using my brain too much and wanted a different career.
“Her entire family worked in media and suggested I give it a crack – the next day, I interviewed for a role on the NSW Gov account and started in the industry the following day!’ he said, noting a special shout-out to Lucas and Anna Coles who gave him his first industry opportunity.
The key to success in terms of storytelling and presenting skills
Initiative has had quite a successful year with significant client and campaign wins and industry recognition – notably being crowned Campaign’s Global Agency of the Year.
Reflecting on the agency’s success, Geer noted that media is an extremely complex craft that requires a significant amount of detailed analysis.
“Too many agencies seem to apologise for this, but if you’re investing millions of dollars on a client’s behalf across hundreds of potential channels, formats and audiences, then complexity is should not only be welcomed but embraced,” he said.
“I believe a lot of Initiative’s success has been due to the clarity of storytelling that we can communicate through that complexity,” Geer shared.
“Clarity of thought breeds trust; and trust unlocks your ability to bring courageous ideas to market – something we have become famous for.”
Overcoming creative or mental blocks
With the influx of client and campaign wins of the last year, and many likely in the works, experiencing creative and mental block here and there would not be out of the ordinary.
Geer shared that the Initiative team overcomes this by sharing the challenge.
“At Initiative, no brief is one person’s responsibility to crack on their own in a vacuum of pressure. We are exceptional at leaning on each other and bringing people from disparate teams, crafts and backgrounds together to help crack a brief or solve a problem,” he said.
Reflecting on his time working in New York, Geer shared that there were times when he felt like the work was always on his shoulders to solve any problem that arose.
“It was completely isolating. It is that feeling we never want anyone to have at Initiative, so we believe that together, anything can be achieved,” he added.
Industry advice on storytelling and presenting
Geer shared that the goal for every presentation should be applause. He explained: “We need to start holding ourselves to a higher standard. Saying the right words in the right order (aka your script) will not win you a pitch or sell an idea.”
“Clients buy people and how you say things, not what you say.”
Geer added: “Each of us has our own unique and powerful style of presenting – learn what yours is, hone its idiosyncrasies and make them your superpower!”
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Top image: Sam Geer