Today I went to one of the RIBA’s student edition ‘small talks’ – today’s topic, the Crit. As I’ve been out of the student world for quite some time now the idea of standing up and presenting my work has been playing on my mind somewhat. It’s something that I’ve always found quite hard. At the interim crit, it wasn’t until I was on my way to it that it suddenly dawned on me that I’d have to present everything I’d done, not just pin it up and sit back. And I thought this presentation was going to be a good place for some pointers.

The panel of speakers all brought their ideas to the room for what they feel makes for a good crit presentation. They ranged from recent graduates, to visiting tutors and they all brought something different to the conversation.

Firstly, the idea of creating a brand for yourself. Find what you like, whatever it may be, and use it. This seemed a great point, and although not everyone might fit with the idea that you’d dress entirely in red to match one of the characters in your presentation, much more subtle identities can be used. One question that arose from this thread – when did you find your style? – but all agreed that this will continue to evolve throughout your career.

Planning was another key point. Plan everything, read left to right, put things up for a reason, tell your own story. I had already planned to try to practice my story but this made me think that I need to start planning the visuals some more and how they will stand up and tell the story themselves.

Be confident. Introducing yourself at the start and saying thank you at the end are tiny things but can make a difference. Have the confidence to defend your work, but don’t waste time in pointless arguments. This is something I have experienced in practice at DQRP situations. The whole discussion can easily get into a negative spiral stuck on one point and then the whole story gets sidetracked. The bins aren’t in the right place, maybe, maybe not, but letting this turn into an argument isn’t going to help. It seemed a great point was made that this should be a useful discussion and you can have some fun with it. The tutors are not gods 😉

One final point that was mentioned a few times, while not entirely relating to presenting, but definitely related to the challenge of making it through architecture school, was that you should be sure to look after your well-being. Don’t wait until later to get the sleep, or eat properly, or take time out. This is something I wish I had realised more during my degree as I think my entire university experience would have been helped, and would have had an impact in the years following too.

Overall I found that the range of speakers all brought something of their own into the discussion, and although it was somewhat disappointing that it was an entirely male panel, I came away feeling like I had been give some great pointers for my next crit.