Engaging your audience during presentations

Argyle socks aren't the problem.

From NXT LVL contributor, Matt Box.

---

In a world where everything’s starting to look the same - the brands, the decks, even the LinkedIn posts (especially the comment section… thank you, AI bots 🥴) - the only real differentiator left is you. Clients don’t buy frameworks, they buy people. Sedge always says it: people buy from people. So, if you want to make your presentations memorable, win the client or land the job, you’ve got to bring some personality to the room.

In the early days of McKinsey, consultants were required to wear such generic clothes that memos were sent out internally to warn of the dangers of distracting clients with “Argyle socks”. I suspect that if your presentation is so boring that an Argyle sock is a suitable distraction, maybe the socks aren’t the problem…

I’ve been pitching my entire career, so here are a few field-tested ways to make your next presentation sound more you - and less like the PowerPoint equivalent of beige wallpaper.