Presentation Thinking™

You’re Invited…to Presentation Party Time!  Presentation Party Time is a deep-dive type episode dedicated to a specific project so that we can understand the inception, development and execution of the presentation process.  For this episode, it’s a sales deck GhostRanch worked on with Scott Hull + Associates —an artist agency helping get creatives hired. And in an age of GenAI, this is a super in...

Mikey’s Resource Roundup: AI for presentations, Better comms for managers & a Brad Pitt throwback. In this short n sweet episode, Mikey clues us in to the Presentation Thinking beat with an article he just read, a course he just took and—naturally—one of his favorite movie clips of all time. This is a Spice Cabinet-esque episode that’s chock-full of goodies on how AI can best help to create po...

Hayley Langsdorf is an artist that uses Sharpies to illustrate big ideas from board rooms and beyond. She is a self-described “live scribe” for events, meetings and conferences.  Hayley’s 2019 TED Talk, “Drawing out our collective intelligence", draws out—literally—the power of the pen. As humans, we’re all moved by story; and when visuals are added, it’s extra memorable.  Even simple figures...

If you are interested in presentation design, you might already know Mike Parkinson—founder of Billion Dollar Graphics , speaker, trainer and self-described “visualization and graphics geek”.  Mike joins Mikey to chat about how he got into such a niche business, his “M&M” approach, visual storytelling through data and, of course, how AI is shaping the design landscape.  In Mike’s realization t...

After exploring WHAT Visual Storytelling is with Creative Director Allie Wilson in Episode #166, we thought it’d be useful to establish exactly HOW to achieve successful Visual Storytelling. What are the “rules” to implement in each of your slides? In this episode, Molly sources data directly from presentation designers of GhostRanch to inform several clear “rules” for visual storytelling—keeping...

We finally got around to talking about who some refer to as the “father of storytelling”—and the 3 Act Structure—the one and only Aristotle. In this “Book Club”-esque episode, Mikey and Molly read “Poetics”—an exploration of genre and the elements that make a great story all that it is.  Film buffs and students of storytelling have been examining it for years and we’re here to make our own Present...

Social scientist Christopher Cummings takes the TED stage with his talk “The dark magic of communication: how we manipulate others” to show us that communication is like magic—and magic can be used for good or evil. ( Dun dun dunnnnnn!) What kind of “dark magic” could we be talking about? As a social scientist and health/risk communicator, part of Christopher’s job is assessing risk and just how d...

B2B folks everywhere: You’ve probably heard of “visual storytelling” and how important it can be for your brand and for your presentations.  However, like many a buzzword, we’ve seen the phrase thrown around so much, we fear its true meaning is often confused with a focus on style, rather than substance. Visual storytelling goes beyond decoration, embellishment and off-brand AI imagery. True visua...

experience of all varieties (we’re talking Oracle, Q2 and more).  The throughline of her work? Communication is everything—and she joins the pod to share her perspective on how these soft skills (like presentations!) have evolved and shifted with the growth of product management in general.  From establishing clear and consistent messaging to selling a vision, April doles out many a word of wisdom...

At this point in our storytelling journey, Mikey and Molly have learned a lot about the “science” of storytelling and why our brains click so well with remembering (and being moved by) narrative.  However, journalist, author and teacher Will Storr’s 2018 TED Talk “The Science of Storytelling” presents something we haven’t heard yet.  From understanding how our eyes are constantly evaluating for ch...

The one where Mikey and Molly embody their role as “students of storytelling” by taking Aaron Sorkin’s Masterclass on screenwriting.   Aaron’s writing is literally award-winning—think A Few Good Men, The Social Network, The West Wing —so this online class seemed like a more affordable option than film school. We dig into Aaron’s teaching style, his reverence for Aristotle and what can be gleaned i...

COMING THIS SUMMER to Park City, Utah—GhostRanch’s Story Camp retreat is now open to the public!!  What is it? Story Camp is a small but mighty micro retreat this July 22-24th, 2025. No huge hotel crowds, we’re talking 40-50 people. Who is it for? It’s for anyone that wants to level up their presentation, storytelling and soft skills.  In fact, soft skills pay bills is part of the hypothesis that...

Elliott Rayner is a story nerd, just like us. Elliott’s “Hero’s Journey” begins in sports marketing, pivots into product marketing and lands himself as the current CMO for OWOW , a creative marketing agency. Along the way, he’s accrued a variety of storytelling skills and honed in on the science behind why storytelling clicks so well in our human brains. This science and the elements required to m...

Drag queen Pattie Gonia hits the TED stage to let us know that joy is a useful and tangible way to take action against climate change.  Mikey and Molly analyze the stage, screen and story elements of Pattie’s TED Talk and are thoroughly impressed with the sparse but strategic visuals (her dress is enough to look at!) and the measured pace with which Pattie delivers.  Pattie walks through perfect e...

This episode was recorded before the Delta crash in Toronto on February 17th, 2025. We are extremely grateful that everyone is okay. Delta made a surprising appearance at CES 2025 (Consumer Technology Show)—a tradeshow typically showcasing explicitly tech brands and the latest consumer innovation. With The Sphere in Las Vegas as its setting, Delta’s CEO Ed Bastian delivered a memorable pep rally c...

Collette Ramage is a PMM expert and career coach with some seasoned presentation chops. Molly met Collette as her teacher for a Product Marketing Alliance certification course and knew we had to ask her aboard the ‘cast.  Every Product Marketer’s journey is different but not many begin in biomedical science! Interested in the technical aspects of business, Collette found her way to a marketing tra...

Messaging expert Emma Stratton joins the ‘cast to discuss her book, Make it Punchy , her POV on strategic messaging and how you can stop dreading writing it.  As an English major that started in editing and later B2C copywriting, Emma arrived in the B2B tech space wondering where all the creativity had gone. (And how all this jargon showed up!) Make it Punchy serves as a humorous workbook with fra...

Hattie the PMM took tech layoffs seriously and then made herself irreplaceable. Now, she’s on a mission to support other product marketers to do the same thing. Helping demystify and prove massive value to the often misunderstood “product marketing” space, Hattie has successfully branded herself on LinkedIn as “Hattie the PMM”—talk about a genius use of keywords!  Hattie was kind enough to join us...

Nvidia has long since been an inspirer of innovation with software and hardware that serves as a starting point for tech and gaming communities around the world.  Of course, they’ve been pioneers in AI as well.  CEO Jensen Huang’s keynote address at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) was called to our attention as an outstanding presentation and start-of-the-year launch for various new Nvidia product...

Throughout 2025, we’ll be exploring the path towards Presentation Excellence. One of the first steps to achieving such rare air is getting messaging buy-in. Without it, messaging adaption can never happen and it will have a huge impact on presentations throughout your organization.  Steve Earl, Executive Director of GhostRanch, has a rich enterprise tech background which afforded him the experienc...

Motivation researcher Ayelet Fishbach’s TED Talk, How to set the right goals and stay motivated, is the perfect TED Talk to kickoff your 2025 and hold fast to your resolutions.  With over a decade of experience in the “motivational psychology” space, Fishbach makes a compelling case for motivation not being a muscle you can exercise, but rather a series of factors that can be customized to help ke...

Like any good end-of-year episode, this is our 2024 “Wrapped”.  Mikey and Molly share the common themes that emerged this year in their journey with Presentation Thinking and what’s in store for 2025.  Some foot-notes: Pitchin’ Ain’t Easy: We took a deep dive into the, ahem, “Shark Tank” of the startup/venture capital world and learned about pitching.  Delivery Matters! We talked to a vocal coach...

Mikey and Molly return from visiting London for the Product Marketing Alliance ( PMA ) Summit and discuss the MYRIAD of amazing presentation formats they encountered.  From an all day training course to breakout sessions to a reel for the GhostRanch booth, presentations were everywhere and it’s clear this preferred B2B medium isn’t going anywhere. As presentation creators, it’s helpful to keep tab...

When we last spoke to Andrea Pacini in Episode #77 , he had just published his book, Confident Presenter (which you can get a free copy of through the link in the Spice Cabinet!).  Now, Andrea has been awarded “Best Virtual Speaker” from the Speaker Awards 2024 and “Best Presentation Skills Training Specialist in the UK”—to name just a few of the accolades.  Andrea returns to the ‘cast to dig deep...

Tom Fishburne has never stopped drawing. From doodling as a kid to creating comics throughout Harvard Business School, Tom knows the power of visual communication and humor.  Now, with years of marketing experience and as the creator of Marketoonist , Tom’s entire company vision is to help businesses communicate better through visual storytelling and a bit of comedic relief.  Mikey and Molly chat...