Presentation Summit 2022: Conversation with Lori Chollar

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      Lori Chollar is co-founder and CEO of TLC Creative Services, Inc. a design studio focusing on presentations, and live and virtual events. Her multi-faceted design background includes traditional graphic and print design, apparel and tattoo design (the temporary kind!), and a full range of presentation, template, and multimedia design.

Building from a formal degree in graphic design to a thriving freelance business, her company with her husband Troy, has grown into a successful corporate design studio. Lori is passionate about good design and good business. Some of her favorite pastimes include critiquing letter spacing and punctuation on public signage, painting and creating in her new craft room (recent empty nester), and enjoying quiet moments on a tropical island.

In this conversation, Lori talks about her participation at the upcoming Presentation Summit 2022, being held on location in San Diego, CA, and virtually this year from October 9 to 12, 2022.

Indezine.com is the official media partner for the Presentation Summit.

Geetesh: Lori, you are delivering two sessions at this year’s Presentation Summit conference. Can you tell us more about attendee takeaways from your How to B.A.R.F. All Over Your Slides and Single-Slide Stories sessions?

Lori: My goodness, my topics are a bit diverse! While I’ll be speaking about slide design in both sessions, there is a distinct difference between the two.

In my Single-Slide Stories session, we’ll explore the concepts of storytelling and messaging which usually refer to presentation structure, flow, and content. However, sometimes presentation designers don’t play a role in the message crafting and storytelling beginnings of a presentation. Every slide tells its own story, and we can take those storytelling and messaging principles and apply them to each slide from a design point of view. We’ll talk about reading and understanding the slide content to find and fix storytelling breakdowns and misses. Ultimately, we’ll end up discussing content and flow consistency and how important it is – ask my team and they’ll tell you I’m a consistency cop!

I’m also very passionate about design and collaboration. Like avocados are to guacamole, so brainstorming is to slide design. Brainstorming isn’t something you only do at the beginning of a project – brainstorming is (should be) integrated throughout the entire process. In my How to B.A.R.F. All Over Your Slides session, we’ll use the B.A.R.F. technique to think outside of the box (or avocado, I suppose) so we can design, create, makeover, and/or edit with a fresh perspective and some creative ideas! We’ll look at real-world examples of how our team at TLC Creative applied this technique and then do some in-person group brainstorming and have some fun. Attendees will certainly walk away with a memorable acronym and hopefully lots of inspiration to think outside the box.!)

Geetesh: Your sessions are so different and innovative, and almost outside the box in concept. Is it the same for your design work? Where do you go to collect your ideas and gain inspiration?

Lori: In college, one of my design professors took our class through a brainstorming exercise that forever changed my thinking and cemented my path into the design industry. Thinking outside the box, being creative, collaborating with our team to push ourselves to present unique solutions, this all makes me so happy! In design work, my personal goal and goal for our company is to always put our best foot forward (or in this case, our best brain cells) in simply being creative. We conceptualize multiple ideas, with everyone contributing, and we’re not shy about combining those ideas to make a better idea. We encourage a different point of view – stepping back and looking at the design task at hand from a different perspective or angle.

Where do we get our inspiration? We keep tabs on design articles, blogs, and books. Many of us have an inspiration collection whether it be hand drawn in a sketchbook, a collection of images in a file folder, or organized digitally. And yes, we “Google” for inspiration too, but we don’t infringe on copyright (seriously, don’t do that!). I’m personally obsessed with billboards and signage iconography. The former constantly gives me layout and design ideas. The latter often cracks me up as I look at wayfinding icons, for example, and question whether baggage claim is ahead or that’s where the luggage roller skating rink is. The point is, I seek out design inspiration just as much as I’m attracted to it. You can be inspired by a book cover (if it’s an art or design book, be sure to read it too!), a TV commercial, or a painting hanging in an art museum. Innovation is derived from inspiration.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog post or content are those of the authors or the interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company.