Crafting Stunning Visual Stories: Insights from Presentation Designer Emily Schneider
Emily Schneider, a passionate visual storyteller and presentation designer, joins the podcast to share her insights on transforming complex content into captivating presentations. With nearly two decades of experience in marketing and branding, Emily emphasizes the importance of intentional design choices, simplicity, and understanding the audience's needs to effectively communicate messages. She recounts her creative journey, which began with designing her Sweet 16 invitation, igniting a lifelong love for design and storytelling. Throughout the conversation, Emily highlights the value of staying curious and asking questions, which has been pivotal in her growth as a creative professional. Listeners will gain practical tips on crafting powerful presentations and learn how to blend storytelling with design to create engaging visual narratives.
Emily Schneider's expertise in presentation design shines through in a rich conversation about the intersection of storytelling and visual communication. With two decades of experience in marketing, Schneider passionately articulates her journey from a creative spark ignited by designing her Sweet 16 invitation to becoming a sought-after presentation designer. She emphasizes that her work is about more than aesthetics; it’s about empowering individuals and organizations to convey their messages effectively and meaningfully. Schneider believes that every presentation is an opportunity to connect with an audience, making it crucial to design with intention and clarity.
The episode explores the fundamental elements of creating captivating presentations, including understanding the target audience and the importance of crafting a coherent narrative. Schneider outlines her process of collaborating with clients, where she guides them to distill their complex ideas into visually engaging content. She provides practical advice on overcoming common pitfalls, such as using excessive text or inconsistent design elements that can detract from the message. Instead, she advocates for simplicity, ensuring that each slide serves a purpose and enhances the overall storytelling experience.
Schneider also addresses the evolving landscape of technology in presentation design, discussing the role of AI tools and how they can complement the creative process. However, she firmly asserts that the essence of impactful presentations lies in the human element—authentic connections and storytelling that resonate with audiences. As she aspires to leave a legacy of creativity and empowerment, Schneider inspires listeners to embrace their unique voices and become confident storytellers in their own right. This episode serves as both a guide and a source of inspiration for anyone looking to enhance their presentation skills and engage their audience on a deeper level.
Takeaways:
- Curiosity drives creativity; never stop asking questions to deepen your understanding.
- Simplicity and intentionality in design elevate presentations, making them more digestible and engaging.
- A successful presentation should focus on the audience's needs and desired outcomes from the start.
- Balancing creativity with clear communication is essential to convey complex ideas effectively.
- Utilizing visual elements strategically enhances storytelling, making presentations memorable and impactful.
- Building connections through presentations is about authenticity, trust, and emotional engagement with the audience.
Links referenced in this episode:
Transcript
Meet Emily Schneider.
Host:Emily is a visual storyteller passionate about presentation design, specializing in transforming complex content into captivating presentations that seamlessly blend storytelling and eye catching design.
Host:Emily brings two decades of marketing and branding experience.
Host:Her strategic collaboration with clients ensures that their messages come to life through beautiful, impactful visuals.
Host:Emily's journey began with a Sweet 16 invitation, igniting a love for design that has flourished into a thriving creative career dedicated to empowering clients to deliver their messages confidently.
Host:She invites you to join her in exploring the exciting world of design presentation and discovering her unique approach to crafting stunning visual stories in PowerPoint.
Host:Let's delve into what she does best.
Host:We welcome Emily to the podcast.
Host:Well, Emily, welcome to the podcast.
Host:How you doing today?
Emily Schneider:I'm great.
Emily Schneider:Thanks for having me.
Host:So good to have you on.
Host:Looking forward to talking to you.
Emily Schneider:Same.
Host:So let me ask you my favorite question for all my guests.
Host:What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?
Emily Schneider:That's.
Emily Schneider:Wow, that's like a shocker.
Emily Schneider:What's the best piece of advice I've ever received?
Emily Schneider:If you're perfect.
Emily Schneider:If you're.
Emily Schneider:If you're perfect at one thing, be perfect at never giving up.
Host:Oh, cool.
Host:I like that.
Host:Who told you that?
Emily Schneider:Yeah, one of my health coaches, actually.
Host:Cool.
Host:Very neat.
Emily Schneider:Yeah.
Host:Always love those little, those little life lessons we kind of live by.
Host:It's always.
Emily Schneider:Yes.
Emily Schneider:That like, applies to everything and, and more.
Host:It does.
Host:I'm curious, as you think about your life, who are some people who serve to be an inspiration for you?
Emily Schneider:Oh, that's.
Emily Schneider:I love that question too.
Emily Schneider:My kids, for sure.
Emily Schneider:Even though they're like, so innocent and young, they keep me inspired and motivated and just so curious by their curiosity.
Emily Schneider:My parents, I've been lucky enough to work with a lot of amazing mentors along the way and some coaches and just people who really are curious and open to conversations and questions and kind of like when you find a good gem, you know it.
Emily Schneider:And so stay staying true with them.
Emily Schneider:I just had an amazing conversation with a client who is transitioning away from the company she's currently at and just, you know, kind of saying it was like, goodbye for now until she figures out her next thing.
Emily Schneider:But like, you know, once you're connected with good people, it's hard to leave them.
Host:So, so, so very true.
Host:Yeah, I love that.
Emily Schneider:Yeah.
Host:So tell us about your journey from the Sweet 16 invitation that sparked you into this creative journey that you're on right now.
Emily Schneider:Yes.
Emily Schneider:So I've always been a person who was creatively Curious about how the world works.
Emily Schneider:I didn't obviously have a term for that, but my mom used to say I was the.
Emily Schneider:I broke things because I like to see how things worked.
Emily Schneider:I like to touch them.
Emily Schneider:I'm actually like fidgeting with something right now too, because the idea of how parts come together and keeping my mind and my body connected were so important to me.
Emily Schneider:And so my sweet sixteen invitation, I mean, what.
Emily Schneider:I don't know, it was like 30 something years ago and computers were just coming out.
Emily Schneider:I just, you know, we had just gotten some update or some new machine that had some kind of draw esque program and I was really excited to build something.
Emily Schneider:But what I remember most about it and what, what was that pivotal moment was when I printed that first draft and sharing it with my parents and how their smiles and their.
Emily Schneider:The joy that kind of radiated from them of not only what it was.
Emily Schneider:And like, obviously this, this moment in my life was, you know, kind of a.
Emily Schneider:A big moment to turn 16, but also just that I made something and that I was so proud of it and that yet it was still quirky and questionable fonts and colors these days.
Emily Schneider:But looking back, it was the idea that I built something that I took the time to craft something with love and with intention that brought people together, that made them happy, that invited everybody into this inclusive space.
Emily Schneider:And that was a special event.
Emily Schneider:And it was that moment and, and just hearing, you know, the feedback or the excitement around not just my birthday, but the fact that I made this thing and wow, you know, and I loved that.
Emily Schneider:And so it started my journey.
Emily Schneider:I always loved art.
Emily Schneider:There was something about it.
Emily Schneider:Again, I was somebody who saw the world as simple shapes and broke it down.
Emily Schneider:I didn't know that, but that's just what I did.
Emily Schneider:And so when I got into art and then when I learned about graphic design or graphics on the computer, it was a perfect, perfect fit for me because it allowed me to take shapes and forms and make things.
Emily Schneider:You know, I mean, Drawing 101 is about breaking down shapes and forms and bodies or still lives into simple, you know, basic shapes and then adding and layering and building these beautiful stories.
Emily Schneider:So that started my career, got me really interested.
Emily Schneider:I studied visual communications at the University of Kansas, graduated with a BFA and a minor in art history.
Emily Schneider:Again, understanding the why and the purpose and intention behind how things are made and trends and just how people saw the world was so interesting to me.
Emily Schneider:I worked in the agency world for almost 15 years.
Emily Schneider:Loved the fast pace, the culture, the Environment, the creativity, just the collaboration was just so huge.
Emily Schneider:I'm actually still super tight with some of my first co workers just because of the hours that went into building campaigns and brainstorming together and getting silly to get, you know, to release all these juices.
Emily Schneider:And then I found myself outside of the agency world and at eight and a half months pregnant, actually I was laid off from a startup and it.
Emily Schneider:And I've never looked back.
Emily Schneider:I decided that I was never going back to where I was, but I didn't know what that meant moving forward.
Emily Schneider:I had a mentor who was kind of willing to bet on me.
Emily Schneider:He hired me for whatever I needed or he was willing to give me 40 hours of work a week.
Emily Schneider:So he kind of took, took that fear out or that I had like that safety net of like, okay, I know I can work.
Emily Schneider:And that was five years ago.
Emily Schneider:And ever since then I've explored what it's like to be a general creative designer.
Emily Schneider:And then in January, I niched myself to just do presentation work when I realized that that is my zone of genius.
Emily Schneider: has and I'm excited for what: Emily Schneider:Yep.
Emily Schneider:And going back to your first question, I just have been perfect at never giving up.
Emily Schneider:And it's been the best, the best journey ever.
Host:I love that.
Host:I'm curious.
Host:I do a lot of presentations myself and my goal is always to try to make something unique and different and creative.
Host:So as you think about a presentation, what are some of the key elements that go into making a presentation captivating and effective?
Emily Schneider:Yes, it's going to be.
Emily Schneider:Be intentional with your design choices or what your story is.
Emily Schneider:It's going to be being simple and being consistent.
Emily Schneider:And so when you can start by knowing your audience and what you want them to think, feel and do, when you think about that, before you even think about what you're saying, it's so critical.
Emily Schneider:It sets you up to tell the right story.
Emily Schneider:And then when you craft your narrative again, it's keeping that in mind, but it's walking them through that story.
Emily Schneider:It's giving them the right information.
Emily Schneider:Not all the information, just the right information that they need.
Emily Schneider:Because if we over communicate, we think we're creating credibility, but actually we're creating confusion.
Emily Schneider:And then it's designing with again, simplicity and intentionality and consistency.
Emily Schneider:And when you can bring those Three parts together.
Emily Schneider:Your delivery is kind of a no brainer.
Emily Schneider:You've captivated your audience, you've engaged them, you've made it easy for them to understand.
Emily Schneider:You're making information digestible and understandable and memorable.
Emily Schneider:And people feel that.
Emily Schneider:And you create that credibility, that authenticity.
Emily Schneider:You create this brand for yourself, this Persona, and people will stay engaged and they want to listen.
Emily Schneider:There's so much neuroscience and, and interesting facts, but it's really about that simplicity, that consistency and that intentionality once you know who you're talking to and why you're there.
Host:So I just had to do a dissertation presentation defending that and had to do it, condense all of my three years of work down into 20 minutes.
Host:And it was hard.
Host:It is hard.
Host:So how do you help people transform complex content into visually appealing, appealing and easily understandable presentation?
Emily Schneider:It's part of, it's part of my process with my clients.
Emily Schneider:So I actually make them walk me through their slides step, you know, go through what their presentation is going to be.
Emily Schneider:I ask them questions of who are they talking to, where are they talking to, what is this meeting about, what are their end goals?
Emily Schneider:Right.
Emily Schneider:I don't write the content, but I'll, I want to make sure that it's set up for success.
Emily Schneider:And if they're not ready, then they go back and they write it and then we come and work together.
Emily Schneider:But having them walk me through their presentation and each slide in individually allows me to really kind of, we create this brainstorming or this dialogue of like, okay, this is what the slide is about.
Emily Schneider:Should, should this be the only thing on the slide?
Emily Schneider:Should it be an illustration?
Emily Schneider:Are we doing data or what should we highlight?
Emily Schneider:And we start to have that, you know, open dialog as they're explaining it to me.
Emily Schneider:I'm sort of brainstorming and sketching and bringing ideas back so I can understand what those key points are and so that we can really focus in on those.
Emily Schneider:And so that is how I first set it up.
Emily Schneider:And then I, you know, it's a process.
Emily Schneider:Then we digest those.
Emily Schneider:You know, we start with a few slides, we digest them and make sure it's understanding.
Emily Schneider:A lot of times clients know what they want to say.
Emily Schneider:They, they're saying too much or they just need a space to kind of work through it with somebody else as an outsider.
Emily Schneider:And once they can start to do that and then bring those visualizations, whether it's leveraging, you know, cleaning up the headline, treatment placement, having consistent brand and colors and fonts and treatments, you know, Stylizing things, designing your charts, creating an icon story, creating graphics, those kind of things, they really help to take words away and empower the slides to be that beautiful, harmonious background music to this amazing conversation that they're leading.
Host:I love that.
Host:Sounds like what you're talking about too is how do you tell the story most effectively?
Host:So can you give me an example of how you have worked with a particular project or client to successfully blend storytelling and your presentation style into.
Host:Into a cohesive, powerful presentation?
Emily Schneider:Yeah.
Emily Schneider:So again, I think it's about understanding their content and what they're trying to say.
Emily Schneider:So I worked with a cryptocurrency startup, finance startup.
Emily Schneider:They had this.
Emily Schneider:They have a lot of numbers, they had a lot of data, they had some trends that they needed to show, right.
Emily Schneider:But it was about understanding what was important on that slide.
Emily Schneider:What are those key numbers or things that need to be repeated or need and then what needs to stand out.
Emily Schneider:And instead of just taking their Word doc, it was digesting their Word doc into again, simple concepts or simple buckets so that we could really articulate the key things.
Emily Schneider:And so we took some.
Emily Schneider:I took a Word document and we made this beautiful 15 slide presentation which had flow charts and data and infographics and you know, just listing their, what their like key their portfolio examples.
Emily Schneider:Right.
Emily Schneider:Instead of just having a bulleted list, it was designing them and stylizing the text so that you had a short headline or you had a subhead and then you had a little descriptor and then you had an icon that was easily, you know, connected to it.
Emily Schneider:And it's, it's bringing to life, to your point, that story with the balance of visuals and design that really helps to elevate that experience for both the presenter and the audience.
Host:This is a general question.
Host:I know this is, this is different.
Host:Everybody, is there a.
Host:Would you would say a perfect length for a presentation?
Host:Because, you know, sometimes we, we live in a television age now where our attention spans are kind of shorter.
Host:Is there like, what do you think is an ideal length for a presentation?
Emily Schneider:So I actually don't like go like, I don't have the answer to that.
Emily Schneider:My approach is less information on a slide and more slides is actually more engaging because the more you flip through and you change that, the more people know that there's something new that they're going to listen to or they like re look at it, right?
Emily Schneider:If you have a slide that has all this information and you're sitting on it for a long time, people tune out we're used, we are in an attention seeking economy.
Emily Schneider:So you need to figure out how to stay engaged and that can be through animation.
Emily Schneider:But animation is kind of like a 2.0 version of a lot.
Emily Schneider:You know, for a lot of presenters, they're not comfortable.
Emily Schneider:So I just build multiple slides.
Emily Schneider:Keeping one to two concepts per slide are key things really helps.
Emily Schneider:So don't cram everything into a slide.
Emily Schneider:And that's why I say there's no right formula, because I'd rather see.
Emily Schneider:Personally, I think more slides is more impactful when they're designed right than fewer slides with too much information.
Emily Schneider:Because our brains shut down when we give the audience the right information sequence properly.
Emily Schneider:Our brains naturally put the puzzle pieces together.
Emily Schneider:So it allows that engagement and that curiosity to stay alive for both the presenter and the audience when you lay it out properly.
Host:So because we're not all creative like you are, what are some of the most common challenges you face in working with clients when you're helping design these presentations?
Emily Schneider:I mean, for most of my clients, it's that they like have too much to say and they have a hard time either cutting it, but a lot.
Emily Schneider:But they're open to dividing it up.
Emily Schneider:I will say, but like they don't want to cut it.
Emily Schneider:But it's, it's simple things of like, what I see is like too many bullets that are like run on sentences, headlines that are not punchy, that don't, that don't tell me what I'm going to hear, what I'm going to take away.
Emily Schneider:Right.
Emily Schneider:I need our brains want to know what's going to happen so that we can stay engaged.
Emily Schneider:Because if you, if you share too much, you lose us.
Emily Schneider:We, we tune out.
Emily Schneider:It's not being consistent with fonts and colors or choices.
Emily Schneider:It's having different styles.
Emily Schneider:Not, not just like a bar chart and a pie chart, but it's like all these different colors and every time I'm talking about a product, it's like represented differently and it's all over the place.
Emily Schneider:Like that's really hard to notice.
Emily Schneider:And, but, and we see that.
Emily Schneider:But when you can be consistent, I mean even just keeping your page number and your logos in the same spot, it creates a really simple brand standard and it lets people know that you've taken the time and you care about what you're sharing.
Emily Schneider:When you put too much in, when things look messy, it seems messy.
Emily Schneider:And again, we, it's harder to stay engaged when it doesn't feel like the person presenting has taken the time to really articulate for that audience.
Host:I'm sure you've done hundreds of thousands of presentations.
Host:Is there one that stands out because it really impacted you in a meaningful way?
Emily Schneider:You know, they're all so different and so fun.
Emily Schneider:So I do a lot of corporate stuff.
Emily Schneider:I definitely have worked with non profits or just, you know, more do good, more do good brands.
Emily Schneider:But for, for me, it's not necessarily about the content, it's more about the people I work with.
Emily Schneider:I love helping somebody who is like, I don't get it, but I'm so appreciative that you do or that wants to.
Emily Schneider:You know, I, I don't work via email.
Emily Schneider:Like, I mean, I'll schedule meetings but like, I don't ask clients to write emails to give me feedback because what they're saying and my interpretation might be different.
Emily Schneider:So I like to get on calls.
Emily Schneider:So it's so helpful to like work through that creative process and working with a lot of finance and tech and, you know, pharma clients, they love getting on a creative brainstorm because it's totally different and it's outside their box.
Emily Schneider:But when I can bring something to life and the smile on the other end of my client saying, you get it, I get it, they're going to get it.
Emily Schneider:Like that is so powerful for me.
Emily Schneider:I love that my zone of genius of being a presentation designer in PowerPoint specifically allows me to help shine somebody else's light brighter and bring them more confidence.
Emily Schneider:It just touches back on my core values and it's such a win win.
Host:So I've used PowerPoint, I've even used Prizy at one point that seemed like that was gonna be the new tool, but it seems like it's kind of faded as you look at the landscape of technology and what's coming down the pike.
Host:Is there some tool that you see that's going to transform how we do presentations down the road?
Emily Schneider:I mean, yes, and they're all influencing how we do presentations.
Emily Schneider:I think it's also just our society or what we're used to seeing.
Emily Schneider:I think social media has changed the way we engage with people, but in the end we really just want to connect with people.
Emily Schneider:That's all a presentation is.
Emily Schneider:It's having an authentic conversation, creating a story, creating that connection that brings you together so it makes sense or you want to, so you trust that person, so you want to do business with them, so you want to move forward so you want to keep right that process going.
Emily Schneider:So I think that all these AI things and I use them too are great tools.
Emily Schneider:They're great supports to make it easier to synthesize.
Emily Schneider:I use AI all the time to help me edit my client's headlines.
Emily Schneider:I'm not a writer, but if they give it to me and I'm like, oh, it's just like I need like seven characters shorter.
Emily Schneider:AI does a great job of synthesizing and getting rid of those extra thus and, and you know, re rewording things just to be a little bit more eloquent.
Emily Schneider:So I think it's great.
Emily Schneider:I think I know my son over the summer saw a commercial for Copilot, who is the Microsoft AI tool.
Emily Schneider:And they, I mean the whole tagline was like, take a.
Emily Schneider:Take a 100 page deck or takes.
Emily Schneider:Take a 100 page word doc and like make it into a deck.
Emily Schneider:And he was like, oh my God, mom, are you going to lose your job?
Emily Schneider:And I was like, no.
Emily Schneider:Because one, it was cool that they actually kind of understood what I did because they don't really see me do my work.
Emily Schneider:But two, I don't think it, I don't think so.
Emily Schneider:Because again, presentations, conversations, business is all about personal connections.
Emily Schneider:And AI will never understand how to power humans to connect authentically.
Emily Schneider:They will make it easier for us to do some parts of it.
Emily Schneider:But you can't put content into an AI tool and say, build a deck.
Emily Schneider:And to know this is the thing I need to articulate and this is the power.
Emily Schneider:Right?
Emily Schneider:It can give you some ideas.
Emily Schneider:It can be a great launching start.
Emily Schneider:It can be a starting point.
Emily Schneider:You know, PowerPoint itself has amazing templates.
Emily Schneider:There's a great, there's a lot of resources online.
Emily Schneider:There's.
Emily Schneider:You can buy PowerPoint templates.
Emily Schneider:Are they built for easy use?
Emily Schneider:I can't answer that because I don't know, let's use them.
Emily Schneider:But they don't.
Emily Schneider:You know, they say here goes your headline and here goes the thing, but your content is not cookie cutter.
Emily Schneider:And they become cookie cutter, if that makes sense.
Emily Schneider:And so it's never going to be a one size fits all.
Emily Schneider:And so again, that's why I, that's where I think my light shines, is I am a strategic visual storyteller.
Emily Schneider:So I make customers presentations.
Emily Schneider:I will do templates.
Emily Schneider:But templates, again, are the same idea.
Emily Schneider:They're a cookie cutter.
Emily Schneider:Like, if you have a template, it's a great starting point, but it doesn't always get those really big strategic thoughts and ideas into concise and impactful stories.
Host:If you were coaching someone on being a better storyteller, what advice would you have for them.
Emily Schneider:The first, the first two things are plan, get ahead of it so you can craft your story and get offline and start to outline what you want to say.
Emily Schneider:I like post it notes in a Sharpie because you can't erase it.
Emily Schneider:You can't, you know you can but like, and you can move the parts around like it's part of creating that dialogue.
Emily Schneider:There's a beautiful analogy I use where I have a five year old and she loves to read.
Emily Schneider:She don't know how to read.
Emily Schneider:But why does she love reading?
Emily Schneider:Because the power of a strong story with visuals that create empathy, that tell us, you know, tell that connection, that give hints at how and what is happening really do drive the understanding of who we are and what's happening.
Emily Schneider:And so I think it's really powerful to plan ahead and start offline so that you can craft your story with the right visual intent to support your voiceover.
Host:Listening you talk about this seems to give you such joy.
Host:What is the most enjoyable part of what you do?
Emily Schneider:Oh, it's being able to connect directly with the person who was impacted by the presentation.
Emily Schneider:So one of the things that I really struggled with in the agency world was I love designing these amazing campaigns for big companies, but I never saw how that consumer engaged or felt when they saw that piece, that campaign or that what it didn't make them buy a product.
Emily Schneider:But with a presentation, that decision maker, that person who is going to present, who is owns the company, who is the cfo, who needs to tell their story.
Emily Schneider:When they see that, they're more confident and it's their smiles and their appreciation for you get it?
Emily Schneider:You got it.
Emily Schneider:And now I can go do my job.
Emily Schneider:It's the best.
Host:That's awesome.
Host:If you were coaching someone who was like you 16 years old, creative type, want to do something like you're doing, what advice would you have for that 16 year old who wants to get into your, your role, your business?
Emily Schneider:Yeah.
Emily Schneider:Keep asking a lot of questions, stay super curious and just keep exploring.
Emily Schneider:Like I never, I didn't know that this thing that I do even existed when I was 16.
Emily Schneider:Right.
Emily Schneider:But I knew that there was something very interesting about designing or working and making art on a computer because I didn't have to clean up after and I could, you know, kind of shut it down.
Emily Schneider:But it takes a lot of.
Emily Schneider:It just takes time and it takes practice and it takes, you know, raising your hand and saying, I don't get it.
Emily Schneider:Can you help me or can I learn from you or what do you got for me?
Emily Schneider:So I think it's, it's about staying curious and just keep, keep keeping the hustle alive.
Host:If you were looking at what to study in school, if I was going to do this more, what course would be more hopeful, helpful for people going into this?
Host:Would it be marketing?
Host:Would it be creative design?
Host:Is there a particular.
Emily Schneider:Yeah, I think it's more.
Emily Schneider:I think for me my differentiation I can say, right, because I only know my path is that I did study fine arts so I have that understanding of what of, of how visuals tell stories and then it's marketing and communications are something that I actually also studied but it wasn't my focus because I think marketing and communications are a little bit different.
Emily Schneider:It could be more analytical, it could be more relationship based but from a presentation design standpoint it's that strategy and understanding how art moves or works or how to stand up and take feedback and make edits and be collaborative at least.
Emily Schneider:Again from my experience in my marketing and communications classes, it wasn't the same.
Emily Schneider:It was go do this and then come back in the fine art world.
Emily Schneider:In my school it was a lot of do the work and then let's talk about it and let's learn from it and let's build together.
Emily Schneider:So I think that that really has helped my.
Host:When you, when you talked about creativity, I'm curious how do you balance creativity with the need to clearly communicate and be concise your message.
Host:You can be really creative but only you get the creativity.
Host:So how do you make sure that you're being creative is also being clear in communication and also in concise in your messaging?
Emily Schneider:You know that's such a good, that's such a good question and I don't know if I have like the right answer.
Emily Schneider:I can say for me, me it's just the balance of I've always been this creative, quirky, very kind of outgoing, having the world like I said, like in these simple and complex, taking these complex concepts and simplifying them.
Emily Schneider:But I also love the strategy and the, the like left side brain of like how things work and the function and the form.
Emily Schneider:And so for me that collaboration is that strategic design.
Emily Schneider:I think it's working and understanding and it's asking a lot of questions and getting curious.
Emily Schneider:Like I didn't really realize the neuroscience behind how presentations work from an audience standpoint and what that means.
Emily Schneider:And I've been reading and I've been asking questions and I've been part of communities, I'm part like I mentioned my health coach Like, I'm part of a health community and I realized like, oh my God, that's helped me stay healthy and mentally and physically.
Emily Schneider:Right.
Emily Schneider:But then I'm also now part of a presentation community because there's like minded people who will share information and it's gold when they're, when you find people who are doing things that are similar to you and you can bounce ideas off of and not like be, you know, it's not that we're competing, we're growing together and nobody's gonna take work away.
Emily Schneider:I actually share work with people because I'm not right always for every project.
Emily Schneider:I have a marketing group now too.
Emily Schneider:I have an entrepreneurs group, a couple of them.
Emily Schneider:Because again, when you find people that are doing like minded things, it makes it so, so much easier to figure out or to ask for help or to say, oh, I never even thought about it like that.
Emily Schneider:Tell me how you do that.
Emily Schneider:I'm going to give it a try.
Emily Schneider:So I think, I think there's that combination for sure.
Host:So I kind of hear you saying it's good to always stay curious, keep asking questions because the more you do that, the more you really can get down, make sure your creativity is clearly communicating the message you want to kind of get to in the end.
Emily Schneider:Sounds like, yeah.
Emily Schneider:I mean it kind of brings back to this passport.
Emily Schneider:When I first started designing or going on my own, I always thought I needed to show up to every meeting, like totally buttoned up perfectly, like blowing them out of the water and like, kind of like I knew it all and like they should be wowed and what I've learned and like when you ask like, who is my inspiration?
Emily Schneider:It's my kids who are curious, who don't, who like ask questions because they don't know.
Emily Schneider:And their innocence doesn't mean that they're being rude or mean.
Emily Schneider:It's just they don't get it and they want to know.
Emily Schneider:And so when I shifted from protecting myself and being like, I know it all and I'm going to show up and I'm going to be the most amazing designer you ever work with to, to, I know my stuff, but if we work together, it's going to be even better.
Emily Schneider:Let me show you my screen.
Emily Schneider:Let's do it together.
Emily Schneider:I've done the best I can, but I need help because this wasn't clear.
Emily Schneider:It's, it's opened the door to make my work so much better.
Emily Schneider:I think that shift has been so powerful.
Emily Schneider:So yeah, that curiosity, yeah, that curiosity is really, I mean, for Me, it's just like now it's like I don't know how to not be curious to a point of fault.
Emily Schneider:Like sometimes right where you're like, can't I just like, be settled?
Emily Schneider:Like, why do I always have to be like, what if, what if?
Emily Schneider:But the what ifs are like to me, what drive me?
Emily Schneider:I mean, they overwhelm me and then they drive me and then they overwhelm me.
Emily Schneider:But isn't that life?
Emily Schneider:It's all about dualities.
Host:So it is.
Host:So, being curious, I have to ask.
Host:The story of the chicken behind you.
Emily Schneider:That is a good one.
Emily Schneider:It's just actually it was part of my husband's Halloween costume from like before we got married.
Emily Schneider:And it currently houses our checkbooks.
Emily Schneider:And it's got a Ruth Bader Ginsburg esque or collar.
Emily Schneider:I don't know.
Emily Schneider:I think it's got some old refrigerator pictures.
Emily Schneider:It's just something that like keeps ending up and I don't know why it's still there, but it's there and it's.
Emily Schneider:It's going to be here for a couple more months and then I'm actually in the process of changing up my whole office scheme.
Emily Schneider:So I think that's going to go.
Emily Schneider:But I feel like it's too conversational.
Emily Schneider:Maybe I need to keep it.
Emily Schneider:But yeah, it has nothing to do with me.
Emily Schneider:It's just a really, A really great container and it shows my quirkiness.
Emily Schneider:Right?
Emily Schneider:I'm not this like structured, perfect, stylized person.
Emily Schneider:I've got, I've got.
Emily Schneider:I'm unique, I'm special.
Emily Schneider:I.
Emily Schneider:I'm not perfect, but.
Emily Schneider:But I've got my own style and I think that that might reflect it.
Host:Well, that's awesome.
Host:So I gotta ask you my other favorite question.
Host:What do you want your legacy to be?
Emily Schneider:Oh, I want my legacy to be that I am.
Emily Schneider:I actually have this mission to be a magical badass.
Emily Schneider:So I want to.
Emily Schneider:It's like a unicorn butler.
Emily Schneider:I want to like, can I like, just read it?
Emily Schneider:I feel like that, like makes sure.
Host:Yeah, go ahead.
Emily Schneider:So I want to be a magical badass.
Emily Schneider:It's like a unicorn, but even cooler and better.
Emily Schneider:Rooted in love and kindness, I aim to sprinkle joy wherever I go while making a tangible impact.
Emily Schneider:My mission?
Emily Schneider:Empowering people to competently share their uniquely beautiful superpowers.
Emily Schneider:Through my work, I design visually stunning presentations that not only tell stories, but but also build trust, credibility, and authentic connection.
Emily Schneider:Spotlighting our strengths.
Emily Schneider:I'm a firm believer that empowering others to shine bright enables them to make meaningful contributions to the world, both personally and professionally.
Host:Wow, that's really nice.
Host:I like that.
Emily Schneider:So, yeah, so that, that is my, my, my, my legacy is to be a magical badass, but really it's about spreading joy and sprinkling that for others to pick up and do it, do it as well.
Host:Great.
Host:As you wrap up our conversation, it's been a phenomenal conversation.
Host:What key takeaways you want to leave with my audience?
Emily Schneider:I think it's the idea we've talked a lot about being curious, right?
Emily Schneider:Staying true to who you are.
Emily Schneider:And then it's about simplicity and consistency and intentionality.
Emily Schneider:And I apply those to everything, not just my design work.
Emily Schneider:Again, in my like minded communities and my curiosity stay being simple, asking a lot of questions and being consistent, consistent with that really has paid dividends in my life and my work.
Host:Is there anything I haven't asked you that I should have asked you?
Emily Schneider:Oh, I don't know.
Emily Schneider:I mean, you asked about the chicken.
Emily Schneider:I think that that like covers it up.
Host:Kind of had to ask about the chicken because the chickens is there saying ask about me?
Emily Schneider:Yeah, I know, right?
Emily Schneider:It's just, I gotta fix it.
Host:What?
Host:Can people find you and connect with you on social media?
Emily Schneider:Social media?
Emily Schneider:The best place to find me is on LinkedIn, Emily, under my name, Emily Schneider.
Emily Schneider:I'm also on Instagram, currently under MZ719.
Emily Schneider:But my website is also a great spot to learn more about me, my work and how I help others, which is iamelyschnider.com so if you're looking for.
Host:A creative personal help with your presentations, contact Emily.
Host:She's got the ideas to help you bring out your story and be a great storyteller.
Emily Schneider:Yeah.
Emily Schneider:Thank you so much.
Host:Well, thank you, Emily, for being a part of the podcast and providing such great content.
Host:Blessings on what you do and continue to shine bright and sparkle as you go and help people bring out their ideas and live their best self.
Emily Schneider:Well, thank you so much.
Emily Schneider:It was such a pleasure to chat with you today too.
