Season 4 - Is this Mike On with Mike Robertson - Episode 39

Wisdom of Friends with Kal Aras

Mike Robertson is creativity in a loud suit. As a professional speaker, he draws on a lifetime of chasing one creative rabbit after another: music, magic, writing, acting, graphic design, painting. All those paths unite in his unique approach to speaking while incorporating innovative and surprising visuals.

“I didn’t use any slides at all when I began speaking,” Mike says. “I felt the same way about PowerPoint as everyone else does; it’s boring, repetitive, and distracting. But then I began thinking that—with all my graphic design experience—I could at least make slides that were nice-looking.”

They were more than just nice-looking. Mike quickly noticed something almost unprecedented: he put a slide on the screen and the audience…burst into applause!

“I knew that didn’t happen very often, so I continued to expand what I was doing, incorporating more creative use of fonts, colors, backgrounds, and even some magic techniques.”

The result quickly made Mike’s reputation in the National Speakers Association, and led to him creating slides for many top speakers in the USA and Australia.

Mike has written four books, including The Pizza, The Peach, & The Platypus, an accompaniment to his signature keynote speech on creativity, The Art of Readiness. He lives in Austin with his wife of 30 years, Lisa, a talented videographer whose documentary on electric football just had its first public showing. They have one daughter, Lindsey, a writer and performer in Los Angeles.

Mike Robertson believes that life is an art project and he tries to add an interesting page/color/melody to his own life every single day.

Show Notes:

Mike Robertson - Website