Dr. Gala True

Turning a research  presentation into an interactive workshop

The first project was to transform what had been an academic research presentation into an interactive workshop.  

I still remember the power of her work as she gave voice to the personal narratives of veterans through art such as you see here. Those stories conveyed everything one needed to know about the importance of her work.  

So we remixed the talk.  Instead of the stories being one part, they became scattered throughout as continual reminders about why what they were doing was important. The opening, transitions, the close, ever 7 or 8 minutes there was another story to be shared.

The results were good enough that 6 months later she called me to help with another project, one in which her friend was the lead.  Ostensibly it was a reporting back on VA funding for pilot project work with veterans on the edge. But really it was a competition for the next round of funding, 300k/year for the next 3 years.

We got together and transformed what had been a statistics focused report on the characteristics of the people they served into personal stories about the lives they had transformed. 6 weeks later, they got their funding, all $900k. 

Here's how she described working with me:

"I have worked with Andrew twice-- once on my own and once with a colleague. In both cases, he quickly absorbed the essence of what I wanted to convey and helped transform both the slides and presentation from a stiff, typical academic talk into a compelling story. He imparted tips and tricks about creating and giving presentations that I'll be using for the rest of my career. 

The first time I worked with Andrew, I was struggling to pull together a presentation and materials for a virtual workshop I was leading. With his help, I was able to create engaging slides and exercises that were incredibly well-received by the attendees. I am not sure how the workshop would have turned out without his coaching! 

When a research colleague and I were developing slides for an important presentation of our work to leadership at our organization, I suggested we enlist Andrew's help. Once again, he elevated everything about our presentation and it was a complete success.

I hope to continue to work with Andrew and benefit from his coaching, because I know I will learn something new every time."