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Put Your Best Shoe Forward: An Architect’s Guide to Presentations
There are two things you can guarantee on site: someone will always ask where the toilets are, and someone else will look down at your shoes. Yes, shoes. Not the column alignment, not the waterproofing detail, not the painstakingly coordinated MEP. Shoes.
One of my mentors swore by this trick: the state of someone’s shoes reveals everything you need to know about their work. Too clean? They’ve never been on site. Too dusty? They’ve been on site too long. Too fashionable? They’re trying to distract you from the gaps in their detail drawings. Crocs? Best not ask.
It’s unfair, but it’s also true: clients will judge us long before they hear us. The reality is for many clients, the presentation is the only part of the process they fully experience.
And our presentations are the shoes of our profession – the first, and sometimes the only, impression that matters.
Presentations Are Buildings in Miniature
Think of every presentation as a building:
- White space is circulation.
- If your text is crammed into every available millimetre, you’ve created rush-hour at Oxford Circus.
- Typography is architectural style.
- Serif or sans serif? Minimalist Helvetica is a cool glass façade; Times New Roman is the 1980s strip mall.
- Colour palette is materiality.
- Luxury hospitality calls for a cinematic, neutral finish; schools deserve playfulness and energy.
- Rhythm and alignment are structure
- If every slide has a different alignment, you’ve built yourself a wobbly tower.
When we design layouts intentionally, not just tidily, we’re not just placing drawings. We’re shaping an experience, just like we do with architecture.
The Four W’s of Presentations
- Where is this being shown?
- Online pitch? Go widescreen, keep it punchy.
- Printed report? A3/A4, detailed, able to explain itself without you in the room.
- What is the project?
- A luxury hotel needs atmosphere and experience.
- A school project thrives on colour, tactility, and brand identity.
- Who is the audience?
- Some clients care about the journey and the “wow.”
- Others care only about cost, function, and risk. (No prizes for guessing which meetings end faster.)
- Why does it matter?
- Are we selling an idea, justifying a strategy, or handing over hard data? The narrative thread depends on the “why.”
- Are we selling an idea, justifying a strategy, or handing over hard data? The narrative thread depends on the “why.”
Great presentations are stories. Remember that they’re our way of telling the client: we see you, we understand you. Yes, we do site analysis, history, climate. But if our presentation doesn’t reflect the people, their culture, their values, then it misses the point.
Design is empathy, and your presentation is the first place that empathy becomes visible.
Practical Lessons (Learned the Hard Way)
- Always spell-check in UK English. Nothing derails confidence faster than “color” instead of “colour.” It looks careless.
- Use graphics, not paragraphs. If a plan needs 200 words to explain, it’s the wrong plan.
- Be kind to your post-production team. Dumping 80 new drawings on someone the night before a pitch is like delivering a concrete truck to site at 2am. Possible, but unwise.
- Consistency is queen. Master pages, guides, and aligned grids are your scaffolding. Without them, it collapses.
- Know how to export. Interactive PDFs for smooth digital pitches, high-quality print settings for hard copies. Send the wrong one, and watch your laptop weep in front of the client.
Shoes, Slides, and Survival
At the end of the day, presentations aren’t “extras.” They are the project. The first impression of you as a designer, your team, and your practice.
A beautifully detailed plan will mean nothing if it’s buried in a slide riddled with typos, bad crops, or neon clip-art explosions. Likewise, the wrong shoes on site don’t make you less of an architect, but they do make everyone wonder how seriously you take your craft.
So, here’s my golden rule:
If you wouldn’t wear it on site, don’t put it in your slides. That means: intentional layouts, clear structure, attention to detail, and yes, always putting your best shoe forward.
Presentations are translations of our 3D designs they communicate capability, empathy and a vision that connects us to the client and builds trust and collaboration. Clients don’t just buy the building, they buy the story. And it starts the second our shoes walk into the room.
