VCU news

By Tom Gresham

Peter Coughter, a professor in the VCU Brandcenter, structures his classes like a series of conversations. He wants students to be comfortable enough to openly exchange ideas, creating what former student Charles Hodges called “a community of opinions.”

The atmosphere matches the principles that Coughter, a sought-after teacher of presentation skills, espouses for his clients and his pupils. When giving a presentation, you should radiate expertise without being authoritative. You should encourage engagement with your audience without enforcing it. You should create a natural moment of connection and not a nakedly orchestrated episode of audience manipulation.

Coughter’s widely known and well-regarded mastery of the traits of a sterling presentation is now packaged between two covers. Earlier this year, Coughter’s book, “The Art of the Pitch: Persuasion and Presentation Skills that Win Business,” was published by Palgrave Macmillan.

The book mixes advice and guidance with instructive anecdotes from Coughter’s own career and the careers of other advertising industry veterans, including a number of titans from the field. “The Art of the Pitch” shows readers how to hone their presentation style, how to organize and practice a presentation and how to connect emotionally with an audience.

Coughter, who also serves as president of Coughter & Company, which consults with leading advertising agencies around the world, did not emerge into the advertising profession with a natural flair for presentations. Instead, he worked hard to improve that skill, which he recognized as critical to success in just about any profession. Eventually, he was so adept that he was teaching others how to do it.

Now, in addition to his teaching at the VCU Brandcenter, he travels around the country and abroad to consult and teach presentation skills to professionals looking for a competitive edge.

According to Coughter, one of the biggest mistakes that people commonly make when they give a presentation is that they mimic someone they have seen before. They have an idea of what a powerful presenter looks and sounds like. They are convinced that they need to imitate this self-generated myth, and they try to inhabit it.

Instead, people should be themselves, harnessing their best attributes to connect with their audience. This means being vulnerable, Coughter said, which goes against the instincts of many of those working in the business world.

Coughter said transparency is a key tool that he teaches students.

“People up there learn to reveal who they are,” Coughter said. “We’re afraid to do that, but we really need to do that. When we show who we are, that’s how we succeed.”

Hodges learned presentation skills from Coughter in a classroom at the VCU Brandcenter. Hodges, who is now a copywriter at Wieden + Kennedy, said one of the best qualities of Coughter’s presentation method is its authenticity. “It’s about you being comfortable, so that you can let other people be comfortable and then you can engage in your ideas,” Hodges said.

“It’s a genuine thing,” Hodges said. “You’re not trying to hide anything. It really allows the work to be shown in the best possible light. You’re not just trying to sell something. It helps create a certain integrity in the creative product.”

William Roberts-Foster, a recent VCU Brandcenter graduate, said Coughter has a gift for reading people – for understanding the nuances of their personalities. That proves invaluable when he’s helping students learn to show their best qualities to an audience.

“He always gives you something to think about that you never would have thought about without him,” Roberts-Foster said. “He sees things a bit differently.”

Coughter said he views presentations “as an artful expression of your ideas and who you are. That seems to resonate with people.”

Coughter’s belief in authenticity and engagement helps explain the very special ire that he holds for the ubiquitous Powerpoint presentation, which he calls “a malodorous practice” that “has beset the business world for the past 25 years.”

Instead of the conversation and genuine exchange of ideas that Coughter favors, Powerpoint leads to robotic and emotionally distant lectures. Instead of preparation and practice, Coughter said, presenters simply type everything they know into slide show decks and then read them aloud while their audience silently reads over the same words.

When Coughter encounters professionals who have been trained for years to create Powerpoint slides as a crutch and matter of habit, he tries to steer them in a different direction. He encourages them to take their audience on a journey or to teach them something they did not already know or to show them something familiar in a completely different light.

“I suggest they should spend that time thinking about how they can inspire their audience,” Coughter said. “Because a presentation can be an opportunity to inspire someone. That to me is a lofty goal. That’s the noble part of this.”

Coughter is a big believer in the ultimate necessity of practice and preparation. For that reason, he drills VCU Brandcenter students to treat presentations with the importance they deserve, practicing them diligently and leaving no gaps in their knowledge of the topic at hand.

In the classroom, the emphasis on preparation and authenticity translates to transformed students.

“They grow confidence and see that it’s OK to be who they are,” Coughter said. “They learn to express themselves in powerful ways.”

Hodges agreed, saying “You can see people change in his class. He creates an environment where people are comfortable taking risks. So, if something doesn’t work, he doesn’t say it sucks. He helps you understand why it didn’t work and then helps you figure out what might work better.”

As Coughter noted, presentations intimidate many people, making the importance of a comfortable setting in the classroom essential. It’s important that “no one loses their dignity,” he said.

“He is very caring, extremely caring,” Hodges said. “Also he practices what he preaches. He is always himself. He’s very truthful, very funny.”

Hodges said the presentation skills he learned from Coughter have been essential in his career. As a creative in the advertising industry, he is presenting ideas every day – to creative partners, creative directors, executive creative directors and, of course, clients.

Roberts-Foster said Coughter is an especially useful resource to the VCU Brandcenter because of the nature of branding and marketing communications. Advertising professionals are not selling physical products, he said.

“What I can do is give you ideas,” Roberts-Foster said. “It’s an intangible output. And so it really comes down to can I convince you that this is the best idea for you. He helps us learn to do that.”