• 
• 

After the success of the inaugural Chromacon in 2013, artist and creative entrepreneur Allan Xia knew he needed support to build a sustainable structure around the creative arts festival, so he joined ART Venture.

After the success of the inaugural Chromacon in 2013, artist and creative entrepreneur Allan Xia knew he needed support to build a sustainable structure around the creative arts festival, so he joined ART Venture.

As part of the programme he worked with business and presentation coach Juliet Monaghan to help him enrol and enthuse others in his ideas. Allan and Juliet tell us how they worked together.

* ART Venture 2015 is now open for Expressions of Interest. Find out more here.

Tell us a bit about your background

Allan: I am a visual storyteller with big focus on transmedia experiences across mediums such as illustration, comics, films and videogames.  I'm also the founder of Chromacon creative arts festival and Kognika Ltd – a transmedia company developing original IP and bridging creative collaborations between New Zealand and China.

Juliet: My first career was in devising professional theatre with physical theatre company, Dramadillo. As this venture concluded I transitioned into becoming a television presenter, casting director and eventually Shortland Street TV director and documentary filmmaker. Alongside this I developed my skills as a corporate trainer adapting theatre methodologies to enhance business communications.

Why did you become involved in the ART Venture programme?

Allan: After the success of the inaugural Chromacon in 2013, I knew that I needed support in building a sustainable structure around the festival.  I found about ART Venture through Tatjana, one of the facilitators on the programme, and was lucky enough to be awarded a placement.

Juliet: I was invited to coach some of the participants who were in need of support to develop their presentation skills. The idea being that an effective entrepreneur will be extremely able to enrol and enthuse others with the ideas and projects they wish to launch. Sometimes people have great ability to generate innovative projects, but they lack the corresponding effective communication skills to present their ideas.

 
Tell us how you worked together – what did the process involve? 

Allan:We worked on weekly sessions where Juliet would help analyse weaknesses in my presentation style and help me overcome them through a series of well-designed exercises.  We would also follow that up with practicing some material I’ve written and developing better methods of communicating my ideas. I was hoping to gain a better understanding of how to communicate my ideas vocally both to smaller groups and larger crowds.

Juliet: Allan was scheduled for three one on one sessions – each roughly an hour and half long, spaced a week apart. The first session was about getting to know each other, setting some mutual goals, explaining how I work and working out what I see as the most immediate challenges in his delivery style. In the second and third sessions I suggest prework or ideas for content preparation so that we can get to work quickly on the delivery skill issues. I advise on content but the main focus is on developing body language, eye contact, warmth and engagement levels, confidence and the ability to inspire, enthuse and motivate your audience through vocal techniques.

What was the most valuable part of this?

Allan: Understanding many of my weaknesses – such as speaking too fast, losing eye contact, diction, body language etc, as well as practical exercises to overcome them.

Juliet: One of the key aspects I aim to do is demystify the presenting process. The opportunity to get personal feedback on a level you would not normally receive, unless you are a professional actor, is actually quite rare. I have found that having an outside eye carefully look at all aspects of a person’s delivery and provide specific feedback with constructive steps to change patterned behaviour can make an enormous difference.  I also use video feedback which enables the person to see immediately the changes occurring when they implement the feedback.

Were there any challenges and how did you face them?

Allan: It was hard to break many of my usual speaking habits, and body language, especially when I become passionate about discussing a particular subject matter, but having an actual awareness of what I was doing wrong is very helpful.

Juliet: Allan was extremely easy to work with and displayed enormous change from week to week. He had a great attitude and said ‘Yes’ to whatever I asked of him – I couldn’t have asked for a better student. Some of his natural speech patterns were very rapid which made it hard for others to understand. This can be a tricky pattern for people change, but once Allan understood how to work with his voice and slow down, he got it immediately.
 

How has it influenced your thinking and work?

Allan: Many peers have commented that I now communicate my ideas more clearly, and I am now very conscious of how to engage others in a passionate but clear, concise manner.

Was there anything that surprised you about the outcome?

Allan: I was surprised at how obvious some of my mistakes were, once Juliet broke them down for me.  It was even more surprising to find how quickly my communication skills improved just by gaining that awareness as well as working through the simple vocal exercises.

Juliet: I didn’t have any surprises except for the speed with which Allan changed.

What are some areas you’ll continue to work on?

Allan: Always keeping my bad habits in mind and continuing to practice and build upon the strengths in my personal presentation style through exercises taught by Juliet.

When does the mentoring end, will you continue to stay in touch, or how will you continue to develop? 

Allan: Our sessions have ended, however, Juliet has left me with some very helpful documentation for constant reference to support me further.

Juliet: The programme currently offers three sessions to those participants they feel will benefit from coaching.

What’s your big idea for 2015?

Allan: Directing the next Chromacon and developing original IP’s in the realms of film and video games!

Juliet: I am hoping that next year we can offer the training in small groups of three to four people for a slightly longer session of say three hours each time. The power of group learning is tremendous especially around presentation skills. So much of what you need to do involves an audience – such as building rapport, being present and able to relate confidently. The other participants make an ideal audience to practice on, plus they also learn as they watch others change and grow.