Simple, but effective. It’s also a great chance to follow up with more questions, ask for contacts or add them on LinkedIn etc. You’d be surprised how often this is overlooked – and might result in you missing a future opportunity.
TIPS FOR CRITS
Whether you’re meeting a fellow creative online, their office or the pub, make sure you’ve got the basics covered before saying hello.
BE ON TIME
Creatives are notoriously bad at time keeping – just ask any account manager who’s ever organised a creative review – but if you’ve been booked in, it’ll only be some sort of emergency that means they’ll be delayed in meeting you.
If you’re meeting in person, that means you should be on time, or a few minutes early, because being 15/20 minutes early doesn’t mean you’ll get seen sooner. You’ll just be hanging around reception.
If you’re dialling in to a meeting, the same etiquette applies. I freak out if they start a meeting 5 mins early. That’s the optimum coffee/loo break moment. Just join the meeting at the time agreed and you’ll be fine.
Though if you’re one minute late. All hell may break loose.
TAILOR YOUR BOOK
An important – but often overlooked – process is choosing what you show. Think about the agency/creative you’re showing work to. Are they integrated? Do they do social and digital ideas? Whatever they do, make sure you’re showing them things that appeal to them. Don’t assume every agency does everything. Choosing the right work for them gives you a better chance for them to see how they might fit in with their agency.
TIMING IS EVERYTHING
A creative’s time is precious, so make sure you’re making the most of it. If they’ve only got 30 minutes to give you a crit, don’t get them watching lots of 2 minute mood films. As with tailoring your book above, be clever what you show and know what you want to get from the meeting. Perhaps you’ve got a bunch of strategies you’d like to share, a D&AD Student Awards Brief that could do with some sparkle, or you can just keep asking questions instead. Use that meeting effectively and make every second count.
BRING HEADPHONES
Ok, so this only applies to in-person meet-ups, but you’d be surprised how many times you won’t do a crit in a quiet place. From pubs to parks, canteens to open plan offices, it could be noisy, or you could be the one causing a scene in a library…
DON'T RELY ON THE WIFI
Again, if you’re not at your desk staring at them through a screen, you’ might find some creatives take you out of office for book crits. So make sure everything is available offline. The last thing you want it to spend half you crit either struggling to get online, or waiting for stuff to load. You can use something like a cache plugin if you use a WordPress site. But better still, use something like Keynote or Powerpoint. A PDF will even do if you don’t have any moving images.
MAKE NOTES
Creatives will be giving you loads of information throughout your crit. Be it agency contacts or tweaks on your work, you definitely won’t be able to remember everything. It’s also good for reference. One agency may like one campaign, another hated it. Just make sure if you see them again, you’ve taken note or which way around it is.
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