SESSION 07
09.16.26

Recording the pitch
ART 418 · The Business of Design · How to present when nobody is in the room

Workhorse Collective

NameAbraham GarciaEmailabe@wrkhrs.co

ART 418 · Fall 2026

MeetsMon + Wed, 1:30 to 2:50TodaySession 07 · 09.16.2026
Workhorse meaninglayer.com/course/business-of-design
Recorded, not in person
Workhorse

Recording is harder than presenting in person.

People leave early

In person they stay because you are standing in front of them. On video they decide in thirty seconds. Say what the product is and what problem it solves on slide one.

Nerves show more

In person a pause is fine. On video it sounds unprepared. Practice fixes this. Editing does not.

No one bails you out

In person, if you lose your place, someone asks a question. On video it just keeps going. Know the point of every slide.

The upside

Ten minutes instead of three. Enough time to show your evidence. Ten is the limit, not the goal. Seven is fine.

"Be a scientist when you work, and a snake charmer when you present."
Mike Monteiro · 13 Ways Designers Screw Up Client Presentations
Presenting the work is part of the work. Monteiro wrote thirteen mistakes for a room with a client in it. Most of them still apply on a recording. Four get harder.
Monday's reading is his book, Design Is a Job, chapters 1 and 2.
Monteiro's thirteen
Thirteen ways designers screw up a presentation.
Before you start
1Trying to please the clientYou were hired to reach their goal, not to make them happy.
3Opening with an apologyThey will remember the apology and forget the work.
4Not setting the stageSay why they are here, what they will see, what you need from them.
In the room
2Sitting down"You'll seem more confident if you're standing up. Your voice will carry better."
7Reading a script"Be a scientist when you work, and a snake charmer when you present."
6Taking notesYou are on stage. Someone else writes.
What you say
5The real estate tour"You don't sell a house by talking about sheetrock."
9Talking about typefaces"Clients don't give a shit about typefaces. And if they do, they'll ask."
10Saying how hard you workedSell the result, not the effort.
When they talk
8Getting defensive"You are not your work and your work is not you."
11Treating questions as change requestsAnswer the question that was asked.
12Not steering the feedbackKnow what you need from them before you walk in.
13Asking "do you like it?"They did not hire you to make something they liked.
The four that get harder
Workhorse

Four of the thirteen get harder when nobody is in the room.

2 · Sitting down

Stand up anyway. A standing voice carries into a microphone the same way it carries into a room. Put the laptop on a stack of books and the camera comes up with you.

7 · Reading a script

Worse on a recording, because nobody interrupts you. A read paragraph runs the whole ten minutes. Know the point of each slide and say it in a sentence.

5 · The real estate tour

You cannot point at the screen, so you will want to describe it. Do not. They can see the slide. Tell them what it means and why you chose it.

13 · "Do you like it?"

You cannot ask, and that is a good thing. End on the ask: what you want them to agree to. Then stop talking.

Say it plainly
Say what it is before you say why.
Three thingsKevin Hale, Y Combinator
What you are making. What problem it solves. Who it is for. Get those three into the first thirty seconds and the rest of the deck can be argued with.
The mom testHale
"A great pitch is one where you can tell it to your mom and she gets it." Write two sentences before you record. Say them on slide one.
What kills itHale's list
Vague words. Two ideas tangled together. Jargon. Marketing language that the ear skips over.
One idea a slideNancy Duarte
A viewer should get the slide in three seconds. If they are reading, the slide is a teleprompter and you are competing with it.
HALE · HOW TO PITCH YOUR STARTUP · DUARTE · SLIDE:OLOGY · LINKS AT /PRACTICE/RECORDING-YOURSELF Workhorse
How the good ones do it
Six rules from people who present for a living.
Kevin HaleY Combinator
Two sentences a stranger could repeat. Big type, one point per slide, nothing to decode.
Nancy Duarteslide:ology
One idea per slide. Three seconds to get it.
Airbnb, 2009the seed deck
Every statement fits on one line. The best slide is one sentence: "We take a 10% commission on each transaction."
Sandwichlaunch films for Slack and Square
The founder on camera, the product in use, under two minutes. The person is why anyone believes the product.
Patrick WinstonMIT, How to Speak
Open with a promise: what they will know at the end that they do not know now. Not a joke.
Mike Monteirothe thirteen
Stand up. Do not describe what they can see. Explain every decision.
ALL SIX LINKED FROM /PRACTICE/RECORDING-YOURSELF Workhorse
Sound
Bad sound is what makes people stop watching.
DistanceiZotope, Wistia
Four to six inches from the mic, a little off to the side so your breath does not hit it. For you: the earbud mic at your collar, or your phone on the desk in front of you.
RoomiZotope
Soft room. Bedroom, couch, a closet with clothes in it. Not the kitchen or the bathroom. Fans, air conditioner and fridge off. Phone on silent.
LevelWistia
"Aim for 75% when setting the gain level." Test it by reading a sentence the way you will actually talk. Never let it clip.
GearWistia's cheapest tier
Your phone's voice memo app, or the earbuds you already own. That is enough. A USB mic is nice, not required.
The testbefore every take
Record ten seconds of silence. Play it back with headphones. That is what sits under your voice for ten minutes.
WISTIA · RECORDING AUDIO FOR BUSINESS VIDEO · IZOTOPE · VOICE OVER AT HOME Workhorse
Picture
Camera at eye level, light in front, plain wall behind.
HeightElgato
"Raise your laptop or webcam with a stand or a few books until the camera is roughly at eye level." A low camera films your chin and makes you look down at people.
LightElgato
A window in front of you is the easiest light there is. A window behind you makes you a silhouette. Indoors: one lamp at face height, overhead off.
BackgroundElgato
"A plain wall, a tidy bookshelf, or a neat corner." Nothing at head height behind you; a lamp or a plant will look like it is growing out of your head.
Distancearm's length
Head and shoulders in shot, a little room above your head. Look at the lens when you make the claim.
ELGATO · LOOK MORE PROFESSIONAL ON VIDEO CALLS Workhorse
The recorder
One app for everyone: Cap.
Why Capcap.so
Free and open source. Mac and Windows. Records to your machine with no time limit. Puts you in the bubble. No other free app does all four.
Set upninety seconds
Studio Mode. Source: the slide window, not the whole screen. Camera on, floating, dragged to the bottom right, made small. Mic: the earbuds.
Recordthen export
Five seconds, stop, play it back. Check the sound, the bubble, the corner. Then the real take. Export MP4, 1080p. Trim only the start and the end.
If it will not runthe only fallback
Zoom, in a meeting by yourself: share the slide window, camera on, Record to this computer. Tell me today, not Sunday.
Other appsnot for this
Tella (free six months with a school email, nice layouts) · Screen Studio (Mac, paid, polished) · Loom (free plan stops at five minutes) · PowerPoint, Keynote, Google Slides (voice only, no bubble) · OBS (does everything, takes an evening to learn)
STEPS AND LINKS: /PRACTICE/RECORDING-YOURSELF Workhorse
Ninety seconds
Eight things, in the order you set them up.
1 · Screen
Slides full screen, you in a small bubble bottom right. Keep that corner clear on every slide.
2 · Camera
Eye level. Arm's length. Head and shoulders. Wipe the lens.
3 · Light
In front of you. A window or one lamp. Overhead off.
4 · Background
Plain, a metre back. Nothing that is someone else's brand.
5 · Sound
Earbuds, close, off to the side. Soft room. Play back ten seconds of silence.
6 · Delivery
Product and problem in the first thirty seconds. Say sentences, do not read paragraphs. Ten minutes is the limit.
7 · The take
Two run-throughs, then one take. Trim only the ends. Watch it back with headphones.
8 · The file
lastname-pitch.mp4 and lastname-pitch.pdf, both on Blackboard before 1:30.
THE SAME EIGHT APPLY ON A LIVE CALL · /PRACTICE/RECORDING-YOURSELF Workhorse
One take
Record your first two minutes before you leave. It will be bad.
Two minutesslides 1 and 2
Earbuds in, Cap on, camera on. The opening and the first setup slide. Better bad here, where someone can tell you why, than at midnight on Sunday.
Listen forthe two failures
An opening that takes ninety seconds to name the product. A voice reading a paragraph instead of saying a sentence.
Thenthis weekend
Two run-throughs before the real take. One take you are willing to keep.
THE CHECKLIST IN YOUR HAND IS AT /PRACTICE/PITCH-DECK#RECORDING Workhorse
Monday
ART 418 · Session 07
Files in by 1:30.Monday is the seminar: should designers design? Before it, read Monteiro, Design Is a Job, chapters 1 and 2, and Hall, Just Enough Research, chapter 5. Watch Soleio, Designers Who Ship, assigned Sep 2, and Wen, Design Process Is Dead. Bring your problem statement printed. Nobody presents.
DUE MON SEP 21 AT 1:30 · DECK PDF + MP4, BOTH ON BLACKBOARD Workhorse