Presentation Thinking™

Description If you know the name “Brené Brown”, chances are you associate the word “vulnerability” with it.  Brené’s 2010 TED Talk, “The Power of vulnerability” , became one of the most-viewed TED Talks ever—and it launched her into a higher level of recognition in her career.  A self-titled “storyteller researcher” with a social work background, Brené studies human connection and what commonaliti...

Apple has long-since stood out in the tech world in its product announcements and presentations. Steve Jobs’ keynotes created a genuine “ you had to be there” atmosphere and set the bar high for the brand story that Apple was to embody. The loss of Steve Jobs and arrival of COVID forced them into a more produced, pre-recorded format, one such event premiering in September of this year.   Mikey and...

As certified TED Talk enthusiasts and amateur speaker coaches, Mikey and I thoroughly enjoyed Catherine Molloy’s 2022 TED Talk on conscious communication, “ Think before you speak, hacking the secret of communication .”  Catherine Molloy is a communications expert who walks the walk in her delivery. There are intentional pauses, NO talking from the screen or talk track and plenty of great storytel...

In our effort to practice what we preach (and spread the good word of presentation design), co-host Mikey Mioduski has embarked on a quest to the TED Talk stage.  For every keynote he gives, we give ourselves the opportunity to peel back the curtain into his thought process, training and delivery of a talk.  In August, Mikey presented at the Go-To-Market Alliance in San Diego and he debuted his “B...

What makes a good speaker a REFERABLE speaker? That’s the question that Michael Port and Andrew Davis set out to answer in their 2021 book, The Referable Speaker . As presentation enthusiasts and aspiring speakers ourselves, Mikey and I made our way through this book for another Book Club episode—and we highly recommend it.  Port & Davis share their journeys to becoming public speakers, as wel...

Forgive us, for we have sinned—with the 5 Deadly Sins of Presenting Creative work! Blurting, Ad Whispering, Wanderlust, Telepathy & Impalement. After years of experience in presenting creative work, author and presentation pro Kerry Feuerman (who we spoke with last episode !) has witnessed everything—from the nitpicky to the nuclear—that could go wrong in a presentation room.  It’s what inspir...

Kerry Feuerman is a presentation professional.  Having worked in advertising and presented creative work for a majority of his career, he’s well-suited to give presentations on, well, GIVING presentations. After receiving an amazing workshop at GhostRanch Story Camp in July of 2023, we knew we needed to learn more from Kerry’s experience. We discuss the power that a presenter has, what’s at stake...

David Christian is a historian who knows how to keep the “Big Picture” in mind. In fact, he coined the concept of “Big History” , which examines universal patterns from the Big Bang to the present day.  Continuing our series on breaking down some of the most-viewed TED Talks of all time, David’s 2011 TED Talk, The History of Our World in 18 Minutes , boasts the kind of title you just HAD to click...

As a remote agency, the GhostRanch “Rancheros” rarely give presentations in-person. But at this year’s Story Camp in Boulder, Colorado, all of that changed.  On Day 1, we brought in Presentation Skills training specialist Kerry Feuerman to give his incredible workshop on “The 5 Deadly Sins of Presenting Creative Work”. And on Day 2, we practiced presenting in front of him. (Eeep!) Creative Directo...

If you’ve ever done a “Wonder Woman” pose before an interview, you might have Amy Cuddy to thank.  Her 2012 TED Talk, Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are , is one of the most popular TEDs of all time and for good reason. Cuddy’s research on non-verbal communication AKA body language includes an impressive string of books, studies and teaching at incredible universities.  Interested in how com...

UX Design—”User Experience”—is such a vital part of how anyone interacts with the internet or an app. It facilitates a user’s journey through using any product or interface. It’s more than simply changing the color of a site or adding bells and whistles—it’s world-building.  And UX Designer Daijah Reese fully endorses this notion through her work experience. Daijah joins the pod to discuss storyte...

Andrea Pacini is a “Jack of all Trades” in the presentation world: An author, speaker, entrepreneur and Presentation Coach, we couldn’t have been more honored when he reached out to join the pod!  With his book, Confident Presenter, being released on July 18th, we revisit key components that make a speaker confident and what makes a good presentation GREAT—including message, visuals & delivery...

If you’re a product marketer you know that Problem Slides and Solution Slides are important.  You have to clearly convey what the problem is in your industry, the pain points and then have your product or service swoop in as the magical “Good Witch” to solve all those issues.  It’s A LOT to convey in just two slides—but they’re also two of the most important opportunities for you to tell a memorab...

If you’ve ever seen a movie, you know that music is a huge component of its storytelling. (Duh??) The "score" that a film composer creates can add emphasis, emotion, suspense and basically evoke whatever feeling they want!  Piggybacking off of our recent TWIST episode on the same topic, Molly watches and discusses several TED Talks about what makes scores great, the music theory behind i...

It’s no secret that we love a good PIXAR story on this podcast.  PIXAR’s “22 Rules of Storytelling” adds yet another piece to the list of incredible storytelling strategies and resources that PIXAR provides us.  First put together by a former PIXAR writer, Emma Coats, these snippets of storytelling strategy are chock full of important life lessons, creative process advice and—obviously!—presentati...

Last month, GhostRanch Technical Director Steve Sheets put on an amazing workshop called “Presentation Design for the NON Designer.”   So we brought Steve on the ‘cast to discuss the making of a workshop and his behind-the-scenes building process.  “Presentation Design for the NON Designer” is a 2.5 hour collaborative “class” where people who work in presentations but want to level-up their design...

It’s Graduation Season and that means Pomp & Circumstance, free graduation party food and, of course, commencement speeches.  And speeches are a kind of PRESENTATION.  Steve Jobs’ Stanford 2005 Commencement speech is widely regarded as one of the best. But what makes it so powerful? What kind of story devices does he use?  And how did he come up with this stunning Carpe-Diem-esque quote: “Reme...

If you know Rick Altman, you’ve probably had a good time with him—and discussed PowerPoint and/or tennis.  Rick is the founder of the annual Presentation Summit , one of the first conferences to focus fully around PowerPoint, and it’s been going strong for over two decades now. Though the summit topics would later grow to include speaking, presenting and other kinds of storytelling, the community...

Steve Earl knows that getting to the “starting line” of a presentation is all part of the marathon—NOT a sprint.  As a seasoned Product Marketer for the likes of Oracle (and marathon runner himself!), Steve joins the pod to discuss his formula for ensuring you have all the information you need to set yourself up for success BEFORE even opening PowerPoint.  We all know the Blank Page syndrome can k...

Shark Tank is the reality show where passionate entrepreneurs pitch their product to a group of wealthy “sharks”—well-known Venture Capitalists—in hopes of investment funds and expert business guidance.   It has televised hundreds of pitches and amounted to MILLIONS of investor capital.  While this high stakes pitch environment isn’t necessarily the norm, the pitch structure and presentation of ea...

Brand collaborations are such a cool way to expand a brand’s story and messaging. They can be powerful, strategic and often hilarious—we all know that Doritos x Taco Bell collab brought us a now staple item on the fast food menu. But did you know that Burger King famously created a “Day Without a Whopper” with the purpose of directing folks to McDonald’s to raise money for the McD’s charity? Why w...

We all know the phrase “Death by PowerPoint.” Too much text, too many bullets, over-produced animations—the list that incurs such a phenomena is endless.  David JP Phillips is a Swedish communication expert whose name went viral with his 2014 TED Talk, “How to avoid death by PowerPoint.”   In it, David walks us through 5 easy-to-employ design fixes backed by clear psychological science that can tr...

It’s Mikey’s birthday and he’s officially *shhhh* ~over the hill~.  So we thought, “What better way to celebrate than to put him in the hot seat and fire off the 40 Reasons Mikey Loves Being a Presentation Designer” ? A totally normal tradition, right!? From getting to meet incredible people to honing storytelling skills to getting onsite event experience—there’s so much to love about this special...

Rain Bennett is a storyteller in all that he does: filmmaking, writing, being a story coach and even TikTok-ing—which is how we got connected to this jack of all trades!  Rain’s perspective on the power of finding your personal story is enough to level-up anything you’re working on or get inspired to start something new. He is strategic in connecting people’s passions to their skills and leveragin...

Chris Lynch is the CMO of Mindtickle and he’s also a presentation connoisseur.  With a background at Oracle in product marketing, presentations were a daily part of his job. That’s why Chris views them as such an important opportunity for business storytellers.  This episode hones in on Chris’s creative process in developing presentations because, yes, they deserve a creative process just like any...