Have you stayed up past midnight perfecting your slide deck for the next day’s interview, laboring over whether to include the lobby shot or the building exterior? Your client probably won’t remember which image was up on the screen for 20 seconds, but they will remember if you spent the interview looking at the screen rather than them.
Once you’ve reached this stage, the client knows you are qualified. They’ve already read the statistics: number of LEED APs; number of certified projects; awards. What then, are they looking for?
They want to know how much you understand them, and whether working with you will be an enjoyable experience. You can demonstrate your passion through eye contact, stories, and a focus on the client.
An interview is like giving a speech – think TED talk. It’s an opportunity to engage. There is a temptation with PowerPoint to point at the screen, but that requires you to turn away from your audience (yes it’s an audience). Where you are look shows what you think is most important. Look at each person in the room to demonstrate you are present, and that you want to connect with them.
Stories are what makes successful TED talks successful, and interviews are no exception. Talk about your portfolio and team management through stories about design decisions, challenges overcome, and relationships. You can intersperse facts statistics, but only to support the stories.
Likely this project may be the only one the people in the room undertake in their entire career, and they want to know that you get them. Tease out from your RFP what they want the headline to be when the project is written up in their trade publications, and talk about what you deduce is important to them. Follow a Toastmasters rule and use the word “you” more often than “we.”
Eye contact, stories, focus on “you” all answer the question “what’s in it for me”. The day before the interview, rather than culling slides, spend your time discussing the client’s priorities, honing your stories, and practicing audience engagement. It’s about passion and chemistry. After all, they are hiring you, not your PowerPoint.