Presentation Thinking: Recent Episodes

GhostRanch Communications

Mikey and his presentation pals in and out of GhostRanch Communications have officially embarked upon a quest to become better storytellers. As we dive into this journey, tugging every thread to step up our presentation game along the way, we will be sharing our findings, right here on this special little podcast we call Presentation Thinking™ — we'd love for you to join us.

New episodes every Thursday morning (US time).

Presented by GhostRanch Communications, a presentation design agency. Head to GhostRanch.com to punch up your pitch today.

Mohamed Danawi is many things—an artist, Founder and Director of IlloZoo, professor at SCAD—but if you were to ask one of his current students, they’d say he’s just “Mo.”

SCAD alumni and GhostRanch Creative Director Allie Wilson joins the ‘cast with Mikey and Mohamed for an amazing conversation around art, visual storytelling, design trends and how to be authentic in your art.

Mohamed’s experience teaching over the years has given him a unique perspective with how the arts department has evolved, the growth of illustration and the challenges “teaching” creative mediums. Visual communication is powerful—it can both take away from and enhance a story. So we especially loved how he typically requires students to “present” their projects in class.

This is an episode for: art & design students, storytellers of all kinds and SCAD fans.

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Porter Gale has a couple of TED Talks and they’re both about looking at everyday human connection as a form of networking.

As Head of Marketing for Virgin America from 2007-2011, Porter traveled a lot for work. On these countless plane rides, she found opportunities of connecting with interesting people and even on occasion people that would affect her work, become her friend or simply inspire her.

Now an author, investor, speaker and CMO, Porter Gale’s career clearly flourished from such a casual approach to networking.

As we’re about to read her book (Your Network is Your Net Worth), Mikey and I watched two of Porter’s TED Talks and found them as perfect examples of having a simple concept, minimal slides or visuals and a compelling way to frame your story.
This is an episode for: People that hate small talk, networking nerds and fans of our TED Talkin’ series.

What's in the Spice Cabinet??

Need some networking inspo? WATCH Porter’s TED Talks!

TEDx Presidio Your Business in a hyper-connected consumer, employee world (2013)
TEDxLaJolla - Conversations with 4C - the Power of Spontaneity (2012)

Read her book along with us! Episode coming soon.

Your Network is Your Net Worth: Unlock the Hidden Power of Connections for Wealth, Success and Happiness in the Digital Age

What’s Porter’s Walkout Song (according to us)?

Here Comes the Rain Again - Eurythmics, Annie Lennox, Dave Stewart
The Rainbow Connection - Kermit the Frog

Need some PowerPoint TLC?

We have a new offering! You can now book some of our Technical Director, Steve Sheets’ time! We’re talking several hours of 1:1 screen-sharing with whatever design question, PowerPoint hack or presentation advice you need. Email molly@ghostranch.com if you’re interested.

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Your Network Is Your Net Worth: Unlock the Hidden Power of Connections for Wealth, Success, and Happiness in the Digital Age

Mike Raab is good at starting things.

Executive Director of Northwestern University’s “The Garage”, an entrepreneurial community and startup hub, Mike is known in the startup community for his smart mentorship and mantra, “manufacturing serendipity.”

Mike is also the co-author of Founded: The No B.S. Guide for Student Entrepreneurs.

With a background in television and film, Mike’s journey to startup and ventures is unique. He joins Mikey and Molly (Mike, Mikey & Molly!) for a conversation around storytelling, pitch decks and what risks are worth taking.

This is an episode for: entrepreneurs, startup nerds and anyone that’s made a pitch deck.

What's in the Spice Cabinet??

Learn more about Northwestern University’s “The Garage”!

Want to read Mike and Melissa Kaufman’s book?

Pick up a copy of Founded: The No B.S. Guide for Student Entrepreneurs

Mike’s walkout song?

Mikey’s suggestion, inspired by Chicago-centered Hulu show, The Bear: Jesus, etc. by Wilco

Where to follow Mike?

LinkedIn!

Parting Pitch advice?

"I think the most important thing is just to get confident in the presentation and the pitch that you put together in a way that feels comfortable to you, not in what other people are telling you to do, including myself.

So I'd say that's one of the most important things so that when you're actually delivering it, you believe it yourself and you're excited to share it with others."

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What with Inside Out 2 around the corner (June 14th!), we wanted to bring back a “Presentation Preferred” crowd favorite and RE RELEASE this gem of an episode going through PIXAR’s 22 Rules for Storytelling.

This is an episode for: Disney & PIXAR fans, presenters, speakers and anyone feeling stuck in their creative process.

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!—presentation applications.
We brought friends of the Ranch Emily Pantoja and Asha Alaji-Sharif, our resident “Disney adults”, to really connect all 22 dots to the Presentation Thinking world.

What's in the Spice Cabinet?

Read em and weep: PIXAR’s “22 Rules of Storytelling” by Emma Coats
Disney/PIXAR walkout songs??
Asha - “Nobody Like U” from Turning Red
Emily - “Married Life” theme from UP
Molly - “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” from Toy Story
*Molly says James Taylor sings this but it’s actually Randy Newman!!
You like PIXAR Story stuff? Same.
We talked about PIXAR animator Matthew Luhn’s amazing talk on this episode, “Why do PIXAR movies make us cry? (Animator Matthew Luhn talks storytelling in business)”
“The Art Of” book series takes a deep dive into specific PIXAR & Disney films and series!
Spiderman: Into The Spiderverse - The Art Of the Movie
The Art of “Turning Red”
The Art of “The Last of Us”
Emily’s advice for more creative inspo?
Check out the proverbial DVD extras - search Behind the Scenes, The Making Of and Interviews of movies and pieces of media that you LOVE!
Check out PIXAR Artists’ Projects with PIXAR Spark Shorts!

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Tom Fowler—CEO, Venture Capitalist expert and startup mentor—is the person you want in your corner.

Tom spoke to us about the VC & startup world, creating pitch decks and presentation skills and we loved getting to know his unique breadth of experience in sports performance, investing and even theater (!).

Most importantly, he walks us through—slide-by-slide—his ideal format for the perfect Pitch Deck to break through all the noisy advice out there. (Well, Tom said there’s no such thing as the perfect Pitch Deck, but this breakdown will get you pretty dang close).

This is an episode for: Startup founders, folks in the VC world and anyone that’s had to pitch something.

What's in the Spice Cabinet??

Want to get in touch with Tom about taking your company to the next level? Or just talk startup shop?

You can find him on LinkedIn

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What happens in Vegas…gets directly recorded onto our podcast!

Mikey’s back from Las Vegas to spill the beans on all things Event Tech Live, an annual event for event marketing that brings in all sorts of new ideas and technology for the event industry to continue to be cutting edge.

From learning about prioritizing the attendee experience to humanizing events, we learned that events are their own kind of presentations and as always—tell a story when done well.
This is an episode for: event marketers, planners, presenters and anyone curious about emerging technology for events.

What's in the Spice Cabinet?

Find Event Tech Live and follow their next events (London is next!) here

Who does Mikey want to see at the Sphere?

The Rolling Stones

Some other event pros to check out from this event?

Event Specialists (Event Tech Hub)
RingCentral Events
Dahlia El Gazzar

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Julie Terberg, Presentation Design expert and the woman who co-wrote THE book on PowerPoint templates (among others), joins the pod!

With a background in industrial design and graphics, Julie designed slides pre-PowerPoint on physical slides before becoming an expert in the software.

Terberg has developed several online courses, published books on developing PowerPoint templates. appeared at the conference circuit regularly and also holds status as a Microsoft MVP.

Julie has taken on creative challenges throughout her presentation work such as her “Makeover Maven” series and designing a Slide-A-Day.

Julie’s work around visual design and presenting has changed the game. Let’s hear her story.

This is an episode for: Presentation nerds, design experts and fans of Julie.

What's in the Spice Cabinet??

Find more of Julie’s work on her site, Design to Present.

She’s got a new whitepaper on choosing fonts for PowerPoint coming out soon!

Keep an eye on her site + LinkedIn

Favorite presenters?

Temple Grandin
Nigel Holmes
Guy Kawasaki
Nancy Duarte

Does Guy Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 PowerPoint Rule still stand?

“No. [What's what's updated about it?] Like I was saying earlier, well, every presentation is different. And you need to present based on your topic, your content, and your audience. And so less is more. Don't follow any guidance for numbers of words.

Who should attend the Presentation Summit? (an in-person and online conference for presentation people!)

“If you’re involved in the presentation space in any way, it’s a great conference. And you’re gonna meet all these people—you have no idea how many people kinda work in this niche industry.”

Julie’s walkout song?

Hell N Back - Bakar

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Paul Graham’s blog post, “Do things that don’t scale”, has largely been heralded as the best advice given for startups—maybe ever? But what can we takeaway from it as presenters?

As the founder of renowned accelerator Y Combinator, people trust Paul and are still talking about this post over ten years later. (A big deal for today’s Age of Information).

Mikey and Molly dive into the many conversations around doing things that don’t scale, what that means, and how presentation people might be able to implement it into their day-to-day as well.
This is an episode for: Presenters, founders, anyone running their own business and startup enthusiasts.

What's in the Spice Cabinet??

Catch up on Paul’s famous blog post “Do things that don’t scale” here

Learn more about Paul Graham
Learn more about Y Combinator

We love all these conversations about it

(Podcast) Tropical MBA’s “#749 Do things that don’t scale”
(Video) This YouTube video from Academy of Project Management
(Podcast) Startups for the Rest of Us Episode #687

Need custom illustration

Our very own NoNo Flores that does our podcast episode artwork is amazingly talented

Paul’s walkout song (according to Molly and Mikey)

Zero to Hero - Hercules
Go Your Own Way - Fleetwood Mac

All brought to you by GhostRanch Communications. Send us an email!

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GuyKawasaki is an amazing marketer, creator and thinker. (If you don’t follow him already, do it here!)

His 2005 blog post, The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint, provided advice for startups on how to pitch to VCs—but it blew up because it resonated with presenters of all kinds.

As presentation enthusiasts, it’s about time we checked it out and see what still holds up.

This is a shorter, “micro” episode where Molly goes through Guy’s advice and examines how the 10/20/30 PowerPoint rule is still useful today.
This is an episode for: People that have to pitch, VCs & anyone that creates PowerPoint presentations.

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If you couldn’t already tell from some of our Shark Tank episodes, we love the startup and Venture Capital world.

There’s truly no passion that matches that of a founder on a mission.

Alicia Syrett—a VC herself, author and business leader—knows this and wants YOUR passion to come to fruition. Her short n sweet TED talk at TEDx Fulton Street from 2018 is a perfect guide with simple Do’s and Don’ts to get a ‘yes’ at your next pitch.

With a clean presentation style and confident stage presence, Alicia guides us through the top 5 reasons investors say ‘no’—and how to avoid them.

This is an episode for: Founders, people that pitch & anyone that is a fan of the startup world.

What's in the Spice Cabinet??

WATCH Alicia’s TED Talk for yourself

Why VCs and Angel Investors say no to entrepreneurs

Check out more from Alicia Syrett:

Read her book, MentHER: Guide for Women Entrepreneurs
She’s the CEO of Pantegrion Capital, a pre-seed and early stage startup investment firm
Alicia is a regular on CNBC’s “Power Pitch” and MSNBC’s “Your Business” power pitch segment

Mikey and Molly’s take on Alicia’s Walkout song?

Don’t Stop Me Now - Queen
Nobody But Me - Isley Brothers

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What we’ll hear about:

How Tamara’s MA and start in publishing set her up to be a standout storyteller and award-winning Product Marketing leader.
Tamara’s emphasis on career intentionality and personal positioning.
“Write your purpose in pen, but your path in pencil.”
The ‘good time’ journal: Notice the activities that give you energy.
Tamara’s path to speaking, including mentorship along the way from Oli Gardner who has a new company, Outline!
First mistake most people make is to introduce themselves again. Don't do that! Come out on stage, start with a strong statement or question!
Does she use notes? Nope! “I just practice until I feel I can give the talk.” The day of, it’s all about amping yourself up.
Tamara’s process for building a new keynote.

Tamara’s reads:

Fourth Wing — Tamara’s fiction obsession. “my dragon book”— a masterclass in storytelling
April Dunford’s positioning book Obviously Awesome
Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice by Clayton M. Christensen

Check out PMM camp!

A community built for (and by) product marketing leaders. Join the newsletter for camper connections!

Must eats in Vancouver:

Savio Volpe
Nightingale

Walkout song:

Walking on Sunshine - Katrina and the Waves

Tamara’s closing quote:

“As much time and effort as you put into thinking about your company and your product and how you’ll position and sell that, I would say, try to put an equal amount into thinking of yourself as the product, and I think you’ll be pretty surprised by the outcome of that.”

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We know that presentations are used across all kinds of industries but did you know they’re important in the medical world as well??

General surgery resident physician TJ Schaid joins the ‘cast to discuss his experience presenting research at various conferences around the world throughout his residency. Turns out, these medical presentations can play a big part of any surgeon’s journey!

From presenting dense data within a handful of slides (or clicks) to challenging existing practices, TJ offers so much insight in how to present to a niche group of experts—as an expert himself, of course.

This is an episode for: presentation designers, aspiring speakers and startups in the science and medical field.

What's in the Spice Cabinet??

Fave movie??

Good Will Hunting—how do you like them apples?

TJ’s operating Pandora station?

ODESZA radio

Walkout song??

Ozzy Osbourne’s Crazy Train

Any advice to fellow and future presenters?

One thing I didn't mention that was really helpful for me during during my talks is to frequently reorient the audience when you're presenting pretty dense stuff. So when you throw up a slide, and you've got a bunch of data on a slide, yeah, they might understand the graph, they might understand the data. But the WHY it matters if you can, throughout the presentation, just a statement here and there, after these data. And multiple times, maybe four or five times, you say, “Okay, and now remember, we talked about this problem, you know, in the background earlier on, this is why this matters.” Keeping them reoriented, even these people that see data and numbers and science and experiments and know medicine, helping reorient them to the point of the data throughout the presentation, not just waiting to the conclusion, I find very helpful.

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Marisa Renee Lee is a speaker, an entrepreneur, an author and “grief advocate.”

Having lost her mom to breast cancer and struggled with infertility, Lee has alchemized her experiences into a NYT Bestselling book, Grief is Love: Living with Loss.

Marisa joins us to share how she presents and speaks on such vulnerable topics, how grief can show up at work and how you can support colleagues experiencing grief.

In sharing her personal stories and experiences, Marisa is helping to break the stigma around these heavy subjects and offers new ways to approach grief in both work and life.

This is an episode for: aspiring speakers, writers and anyone that is dealing with grief.

What's in the Spice Cabinet??

Want more of Marisa’s work? (Or hire her as a speaker?)

Check out her site, here.
Follow Marisa on LinkedIn & Instagram—she’s got something in the works with Al Roker…

Gift a loved one (or yourself) going through grief her book:

Grief is Love: Living with Loss

One of Marisa’s favorite speakers?

Geoffrey Canada, founder of the Harlem Children’s Zone and writer of Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence (among other books)

Other inspiration?

Poetry! Specifically the Sufi poet, Hafiz. Read their collection of poems, The Gift
Maggie Smith’s writing—no, not Dame Maggie Smith

Marisa’s walkout song?

She’ll get back to you ;)

Parting words of advice for Presentation Nation?

“My biggest piece of advice is to keep at it and just do the thing. You know, don't get distracted by imposter syndrome or feeling like it's too late or comparison. You know, don't get lost on social media looking at all of these people who've accomplished things that you haven't done yet that you want to do. Instead just focus on doing the damn thing. Like just ignore the noise.”

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Marcus Andrews knows how to craft a good narrative. In fact, we’d argue he heavily contributed to developing the concept of Narrative Design when working in product marketing at HubSpot.

Now as a Narrative Designer at Pendo, he joins us for a conversation around crafting a memorable narrative, what frameworks to use (or not) and how to create your own category. We exchange presentation experience stories and offer insight into what separates a good speaker from a great one.

Having recently completed PMA’s Narrative Design course led by Marcus, Mikey and I were excited to meet the teacher and bring our learnings to life in this conversation.

This is an episode for: Product marketers, aspiring speakers, narrative designers and storytellers of all backgrounds.

What's in the Spice Cabinet??

Book reccos?
Words Like Loaded Pistols - Sam Leith
Get certified—Take the PMA Narrative Design course for yourself!
Speakers to get inspired by?
MLK—GhostRanch wrote a lil blog on that in January
Tune into the pod that Marcus started (but no longer hosts)
Product Marketing Experts
Join this year’s user conference from Pendo, Pendomonium
Marcus’s Walkout Song??
Intergalactic - Beastie Boys
Follow Marcus on LinkedIn!
Final thoughts for the PrezThinkers?
I hope if you're listening to this you know, you take this stuff seriously and invest in it and have fun with it because I think it's worth it. And it's cool that you know— the world needs more people making good sides, building good presentations. Most of them are still real bad.

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Presentation Nation, by our 110th episode, you may well be aware that we worship at the stage of presentations.

And as Mikey Mioduski, co-host of the pod and founder of GhostRanch Communications, has started to speak at more and more events, we feel it only right to dissect the ins and outs of his preparation, execution and how many laughs he got while speaking.

His latest speaker appearance was at the Product Marketing Alliance Summit in Austin, TX and it was all about embracing the power of presentations! Mikey and Molly discuss this recent experience, how the nerves change with new content to present and how to craft a good hook.

Have YOU spoken at an event (or are going to soon) and would like to talk to us about your presentation preparation, nerves and, of course, walkout song??

Let us know at molly@ghostranch.com.

This is an episode for: aspiring speakers, presenters or anyone that has to do public speaking against their will.

What's in the Spice Cabinet??

Mikey’s walkout song for this event (if he had gotten one)?
We Found Love - Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris
Are you working on putting together a talk?
Women Talk Design is coming out with a new book, called Present Yourself, to help with building a speaker presence and story
OR join their 8 week collaborative course by the same title—starting in April!
You need to know about the upcoming Solar Eclipse this April 8th
Join our Lunch n Learn on Breaker Slides
March 27th, 12pm EST, LIVE on LinkedIn
Mikey’s fave Sportscenter commercials:
Steph Curry
Abby Wambach
Birds

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If you’re a presenter, you might have noticed that the conference speaker circuit is a male-dominated space.

With Women Talk Design, founders Danielle Barnes and Christina Wodtke set about to change that. Originally starting as a directory for women and non-binary presenters to find and learn from one another, Women Talk Design now offers a wide range of resources, workshops and most recently—a book! (You can pre-order Present Yourself: Proven strategies for authentic and impactful public speaking here!)

CEO and co-author Danielle Barnes joins the pod to discuss their journey in starting this organization, writing the book, and experience as a speaker.

After fan-girling over Women Talk Design’s work for months now, this was such a special episode to finally have a conversation and connect over the impact of creating a presentation community.

This is an episode for: entrepreneurs, aspiring speakers and presenters from any walk of life!

What's in the Spice Cabinet??

Follow Women Talk Design’s work here
Pre-order the book, Present Yourself: Proven strategies for authentic and impactful public speaking, here!
Officially out March 11th!
Join Women Talk Design’s 2 month “Present Yourself” workshop (starting in April) here.
Recommended resources for public speaking?
Nancy Duarte’s work
Dan Roam’s frameworks for thinking about story and presentation
Priya Parker’s The Art of Gathering: How we meet and why it matters
Danielle’s podcast pick?
We Can Do Hard Things
Danielle’s Walkout Song??
Neverending Story - Limahl
Confident - Demi Lovato (not Selena Gomez, whoops!)
Find Danielle on LinkedIn
Parting piece of advice for #PresentationNation?
“Someone out there needs to hear what you have to say.”

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Personal experiences can power professional growth.

No one may know this better than Harvey Lee, a product marketer, speaker, former Rock n Roll roadie and now author of Backstage Pass: A Business Book that’s Far From Conventional.

We had the pleasure of chatting with Harvey about his book and how his background in the music industry helped later propel him into the world of product marketing.

From wild stories on the road to how Harvey likes to prepare for a new presentation, our conversation was full of professional and personal nuggets of advice, wisdom and hilarity.

This is an episode for: Product marketers, speakers, writers and music fans of any kind.

What's in the Spice Cabinet??

Get ahold of Harvey’s book, Backstage Pass, here
Don’t forget to save the playlist companion for a proper soundtrack to the story
Sign up for Harvey’s newsletter here
Follow Harvey on LinkedIn
Read “How do you write a powerful personal story (Even when you don’t have a story to tell)?” (blog post by Harvey)
Who to follow, according to Harvey?
Category Pirates
Read their book, Snow Leopard: How Legendary Writers Create a Category of One
Marketers to follow on LinkedIn: Scott Galloway & Mark Ritson
Harvey’s book pile:
Music related
Lives of Brian - Brian Johnson
Loud - Tana Douglas
Biz Books
Anything by Ann Handley
Anything April Dunford!
Presentation/PowerPoint tips?
Keep animations, media and video to a minimum so you don’t risk tech-gone-wrong stories
Save everything offline
PowerPoint pet-peeve?
Fonts.
What’s Harvey’s walkout song?
Back in Black - AC/DC

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None

Many Coloradans are familiar with the New Belgium Brewery founding story—where Jeff Lebesch and Kim Jordan return from a life-changing bike trip across Belgium inspired to create their own Belgian style beers for the masses.

In addition to their famous “Fat Tire” ale, New Belgium also created new categories and precedents among brewery business. They have been innovating in sustainable brewing practices since the 90s and upholding an exceptional company culture well before it was trendy.

Mikey and Molly are joined by local beer enthusiast and GhostRanch Creative Director Jeff Carter AKA @Brew_Kid_on_the_Block, to discuss the Ft. Collins brewery’s impact on brews, on business and an amazing interview with Founder Kim Jordan on Guy Raz’s How I Built This.

This is an episode for: Founders, Innovators and anyone in business creating their own category.

What's in the Spice Cabinet??

Check out the How I Built This interview with New Belgium founder Kim Jordan here.
If you’re a brew enthusiast like our Jeff, give him a follow @Brew_Kid_on_the_Block.
Jeff’s fave local breweries?
Halfway Crooks - Atlanta, GA
Cohesion Brewing - Denver, CO
Mliko shots available!
WeldWerks Brewing - Greeley, CO
Beers Jeff can’t live without:
Montucky
Westvleteren Brewery - A monk’s brewery in Belgium that brews the #1 beer in the world.
Ranchero Allie does the graphic design for Lincoln + South Brewing in SC!
Want more New Belgium?

Check out this TED Talk from New Belgium Environmental and Sustainability Officer, “The Power of Culture in Driving Sustainability”

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Micah Kohne has some of the most well-rounded marketing skills around.

A web designer extraordinaire with a graphic design background, Micah has also dabbled in marketing, sales and co-founded his own business, Hype Legal, for “solutions-driven legal marketing.”

Their speciality is building websites for lawyers, so Micah has also presented at various legal conferences—where a little graphic design would go a long way.

In this episode, we talk (web design) shop, finding a niche and differentiating yourself.

Ahem, we may be biased because Micah designed the GhostRanch website, but if you’re in need of some web design—look no further.
This is an episode for: graphic designers, web designers, founders and anyone that’s worked in the legal world.

What's in the Spice Cabinet??

Check out Micah’s work and get in touch if you need web design at Hype Legal
Micah’s advice on getting inspo? Keep an “Inspiration folder” for anytime you see art, design, websites, etc. that you like.
One of his favorite sites at the moment?
Grain & Mortar, a web & branding agency in Nebraska
Fave podcast?
Hardcore History—the stuff they DON’T teach you in school
Fave film? (He’s a film buff)
Memento by Christopher Nolan
Least favorite design trend?
DROP SHADOWS—knock em off!
Follow Micah on LinkedIn!
Micah’s walkout song?
Anything Radiohead. Something off OK Computer.

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Actor, producer and Harvard grad Yara Shahidi presents a familiar story in a new way with her 2023 TED Talk, “Let Curiosity Lead”.

We’ve all heard about the importance of re-discovering our child-like curiosity and wonder. Shahidi puts a fresh spin on that story with her personal journey of juggling both her Harvard education and acting career (she’s the star of Black-ish and Grown-ish) as equally important catalysts for learning about herself.

Shahidi illustrates that “honoring our distractions” can help create rupture, change and discovery—for both ourselves and the world.

Although Yara may only be 23 years old at the time of this talk, there’s a lot to learn from her presentation, her story and her “commitment to curiosity.”
This is an episode for: Creativity gurus, presenters and Yara Shahidi fans.

What's in the Spice Cabinet??

WATCH Yara’s 2023 TED Talk and be inspired!
With an eye for art and a passion for academia, we couldn’t help but think that Yara’s fashion choice was significant. So we sent the Rancheros on a goose chase and learned that her shirt was designed by Grace Wales Bonner featuring beautiful artwork by Lubaina Himid. Here’s an awesome article with the two in conversation
READ more about Yara’s production company, 7th Sun Productions and other projects
Keep up with her on the ‘gram!

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Mikey and I read April Dunford’s latest book, Sales Pitch: How to Craft a Story to Stand Out and Win, and to no surprise to anyone familiar with her work—it was hilarious, accessible and whip-smart insightful.

Dunford offers a fresh perspective on applying narrative to sales and flips the current advice on its head emphasizing that buying can actually be harder than selling.

One of the biggest takeaways? Shift the focus from your features to your “Differentiated Value”. She all but guarantees that you’ll sell more.

What book should we read next?

This is an episode for: Startups, sales folks or anyone who’s had to work on positioning.

What's in the Spice Cabinet??

Get your own copy of April’s latest book, Sales Pitch: How to Craft a Story to Stand Out and Win

Want more of April?

She’s got a newsletter, a podcast—she’s got it all!

April’s walkout song?

Mikey’s guess: ”Limelight” by Rush

Molly’s guess: “That Don’t Impress Me Much” by Shania Twain

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When Narrative Strategist and film nerd Asha Alaji-Sharif started to think about the Best and Worst films of 2023, she noticed a pattern.

What common factors make for a memorable movie? And can those factors be applied to brand storytelling as well?

That’s what we explore in this episode with “The Good Story Checklist”.

How does The Little Mermaid remake create the perfect character development combined with mise-en-scene (visuals) while Winnie the Pooh: Blood & Honey painfully misses every mark?
This is an episode for: storytelling enthusiasts, copywriters, brand messagers and movie lovers.

What's in the Spice Cabinet??

Follow @AshaTalks on TikTok, duh!
And check out her videos for BEST and WORST films of 2023. (Comment if you agree or not!)
Asha’s FAVE film that follows the “Good Story Checklist” perfectly? Everything Everywhere All At Once. What’s yours??
Reach out to us! Molly@ghostranch.com or @MollyPresents on Instagram. We’re here for all your storytelling thoughts and rambling. :)

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In September of 2013, Diana Nyad became the first person to swim unassisted in open water across the Florida Straits from Cuba to Florida. It was an epic feat, and one she returned to at age sixty after a failed attempt in her 20s.

A few months later, she gives an aptly titled TED Talk called “Never, ever give up”.

Her story is one on never giving up, facing the odds and beating the ego. Nyad’s experience fits perfectly into a 3-act hero’s journey and we break down how she really leverages that to her benefit.

With no visual aids, Nyad’s storytelling skills really shine through. Presenters everywhere can learn from her pacing, tone and delivery.

This is an episode for: presenters, motivational speakers and swimming enthusiasts.

What’s in the Spice Cabinet??

Watch Diana Nyad’s 2013 TED Talk, “Never, ever give up.”

Want Nyad’s story in movie-form?

Queue up Nyad on Netflix

Our interpretation of Nyad’s walkout song??

Chan Chan - Buena Vista Social Club
The Impossible Dream - Frank Sinatra

Follow us on Instagram!

Our handle is now @MollyPresents

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Entrepreneurs and startups everywhere love following Shark Tank—the reality show where passionate pitchers bring their product to a group of wealthy “sharks”—well-known Venture Capitalists—in hopes of investment funds and expert business guidance.

Continuing from Episode 69, we break down another great round of pitches from 2023, “3 Biggest deals Season 14”.

Oogiebear had all of the sharks fighting over an investment, Collars & Co. showed a lesson in what NOT to do and Legacy Shave knew exactly how to tell their story.

While this high stakes pitch environment isn’t the norm, the pitch structure and presentation of each product or service is well-worth examining—and learning from.

This is an episode for: entrepreneurs, presenters and people that love Shark Tank.

What’s in the Spice Cabinet??

Checkout the 3 pitch products:

Oogiebear
Collars & Co.
Legacy Shave

Mikey talks my ear off about wassail, a holiday drink you might be enjoying as you tune in.

Keep an eye on PoolSnacks.com, one of many in Mikey’s random domain collection.

You have a favorite Shark Tank episode or pitch you want us to dissect?

Email me! molly@ghostranch.com
DM me! @mollypresents on Instagram

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For our hundredth episode of Presentation Thinking AKA the Storyteller’s Study Club AKA Pitchin’ Ain’t Easy, we’re reflecting on our ~metaphorical~ hero’s journey thus far.

We’ve learned so much about storytelling, presenting, speaking, product marketing, design and, of course, podcasting throughout the last two years.

From meeting fellow presentation nerds online to growing our audience over 3x the amount from the previous year, we feel more and more like true story experts primed to help presenters and product marketers everywhere. (You may hear us say “um” and “like” but hey, we know our way around a story framework. We’re learning!)

While we can check off the “centenary” milestone, we’ve got a lot more of our plot to play out! Buckle up—let’s keep pitchin’.
This is an episode for: friends of the pod, story nerds and anyone who produces their own (or wants to!) podcast.

What's in the Spice Cabinet??

Next up on the book club reading list?
Dan Roam - Back of the Napkin
April Dunford - Sales Pitch: How to Craft a Story to Standout and Win
Matt Abrahams - Think Faster Talk Smarter
Dream Guests
Mikey still wants to go deeper down this Steph Curry incident, would LOVE to talk to someone from Under Armour, Nike or the Curry team
OG AirBnb pitch deck creators (the founders)Melanie Perkins from Canva - check out her “How I Built This” episode!
Nancy Duarte! Dr. Carmen Simon! (We love you guys!)
Pantone color of the year - Peach Fuzz!
What’s our Episode 100 walkout song??
I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) - The Proclaimers
Money Ain’t a Thing - Jay Z & Jermaine Dupri

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The Back of the Napkin (Expanded Edition): Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures

None

Tis the season for SKOs (Sales KickOffs)!

After years in various roles in B2B marketing most recently the Director of Product Marketing at RingCentral, Ashima calls herself a “Product Storyteller.”

We discuss her path into product marketing management and the necessary elements needed for SKOs to really be a success. In fact, she even wrote a blog about it—"6 Tips & Tricks to Survive (and Thrive) SKO 2024 as a PMM."

From aligning on goals to building a memorable agenda, SKOs really can be FUN and we’re here to help you through it.

This is an episode for: product marketers, sales teams and anyone in need of SKO inspiration.

What’s in the Spice Cabinet??

Folks planning for SKOs - you need this blog, "6 Tips & Tricks to Survive (and Thrive) SKO 2024 as a PMM.”

Keep up with Ashima on her site!

Ashima’s favorite coffee table book?

The Advertising Concept Book: Think Now, Design Later by Pete Barry

Product Marketing Leaders to follow:

CEO of Wynter, Peep Laja
Jason Oakley - has a great newsletter

Fave SKO memory?

“None that I can share out loud. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas…that’ll tell you how much fun you can have at an SKO.”

Ashima’s presentation preparation practice

“I feel confident when I've practiced my presentation, because I don't want to have to rely on the confidence monitors. I try my best to because then you look more natural, right?”

Walkout song?

Taylor Swift - Shake it Off

What does “Presentation Thinking” mean to you?

“Really, it's not just about creating slides, right? It is empowering everyone to communicate more effectively and telling a story not just through words, but through visuals. And I always look at presentations as the slides support the speaker, like really, everyone's eyes should be on the speaker—glancing at the slides—but you should be commanding the room and the presence. You know, your energy, your story, the way that you tell it should be commanding, and the presentation is the backup dancer.”

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Advertising Concept Book 3E: Think Now, Design Later

“Presentation Summit” is the annual presentation party—a place where all things PowerPoint, presentation design and speaker inspiration come together.

Created by our friend Rick Altman, we’ve had several Rancheros from GhostRanch attend this annual conference that’s turned into a community. What they bring back is not only fresh insights but hilarious stories—and we wanted to highlight them on the ‘cast.

GhostRanch Presentation Designers Ashante DuJour and Breece Justice are now “PreSum” alum and they're here to share their experiences, favorite speakers and most useful takeaways for you.

This is an episode for: speakers, presentation designers and the Presentation Summit fam.

What's in the Spice Cabinet??

Do YOU want to join the Presentation Party??

Checkout Presentation Summit HERE

People, books & more that will give you ~Presentation Inspiration~

Dr. Carmen Simon
Dr. Sheila Robinson
Richard Goring & Ingrid Mendel at BrightCarbon
Julie Terberg
(BOOK) Dan Roam’s Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems & Selling Ideas with Pictures
(VIDEO) Create Accessible Presentations with Stephy Hogan

Ashante & Breece’s Walkout songs??

Ashante - The The’s “This is the Day”
Breece - Matt & Kim’s “Daylight”

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The Back of the Napkin (Expanded Edition): Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures

Having started a career in broadcast journalism, VP of Marketing Garrett Denney knows how to communicate effectively.

When we met Garrett as the MC for a Product Marketing Alliance event in New York, we knew he was a natural presenter.

So when he shifted into the tech and marketing world, what skills did he take with him?

Through his role as a Product Marketing Manager and now VP of Marketing at Crayon, Garrett shares the lessons he’s learned, the importance of leaning into presentation soft skills and how to get ready for SKO season.

This is an episode for: Product Marketers, broadcast media nerds and Bon Iver fans.

What's in the Spice Cabinet?

Keep up with Garrett on LinkedIn

Reading reccos?

April Dunford’s Sales Pitch: How to craft a story to stand out and win
Patrick Lencioni - Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Exec

What’s the ‘Hype Cycle’?

Gartner gets into it here
AI specific example

Garrett’s walkout song?

Anything Lord Huron OR
This midwestern guy loves Bon Iver so “Skinny Love”

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The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive: A Leadership Fable

It’s Thanksgiving here in the United States but we didn’t want to miss an opportunity to create a special (and short) holiday episode in which Mikey and Molly riff on everything they’re thankful for within our podcast and presentation world.

From our mascot, Shakespeare, to the pilgrims who invented PowerPoint (just kidding), we run through our “Favorites” short-list.

We are especially appreciative for our weekly episode art illustrator, NoNo Flores—an unbelievably talented artist.

And we’d be nowhere without our audio editor Will Kommor who has graciously edited out Mikey & Molly’s “ums” and “likes” for almost 100 episodes now.

Friends of the Ranch, let’s gather round the table.

Spice Cabinet

PresentationThinking.com the website is no longer! We’re consolidating our episodes onto the GhostRanch Communications site HERE. Otherwise, listen anywhere you tune into podcasts via Anchor.
Check out illustrator NoNo’s work HERE!
Need some audio or media help? Will’s your guy.

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Kaarin Howard is a B2B marketing professional passionate about building webinars, among other strategic content, for your ICP (Ideal Customer Profile).

With a background in marketing events and launching startups, she came into the B2B marketing world ready to wear the 5 (or 50!) hats typically thrust upon them.

When Mikey and Kaarin connected on the popular marketing forum, Exit Five, we were excited to hear about the success of her and her team’s webinars.

What are key components to consider? How can we collaborate and leverage partnerships? And how do you build intentional, authentic content—not just for the sake of putting out content?

This is an episode for: B2B marketers looking to freshen up their content, brand strategists and Shrek fans.

What's in the Spice Cabinet??

Do you need a B2B marketer community? Check out Dave Gerhardt’s Exit Five!
Kaarin’s walkout song?
Smash Mouth’s “All Star”
Where to find Kaarin?
LinkedIn
104 Marketers you should be following on LinkedIn
Have kids that need some night time chill meditation?
Put on Bedtime Explorers
Non-work related listening
Andrew Huberman’s Huberman Lab podcast
Regrets from my 20s (Kaarin’s friend!)
Parting advice from Kaarin:
“Test everything. If you have an idea, but you don't know, you don't have, the data—just do it and see if it works. And if it doesn't, that's totally fine. Like, ideally, you didn't lose a lot of money on it. But you know, test and test and figure it out and just run with what what is working.”

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Elizabeth Gilbert, author of viral memoir Eat, Pray, Love acknowledges in her 2009 TED Talk that her best work might very well be behind her. As an artist, however, she’s stuck with the challenge of “topping” her last work.

Why are artists and creative people burdened with these crazy-making tropes? In ancient Greece and Rome, “genius” referred to the divine entity that visited artists—not the artist themselves.

Gilbert challenges us to reframe the narrative around creativity—putting less of the burden on the individual and moreso on the energetic creative spirit that exists in all of us.

This is an episode for: Speakers working on a new presentation, Eat, Pray, Love fans, artists and anyone working through a creative block.

What's in the Spice Cabinet?

WATCH Elizabeth Gilbert’s 2009 TED Talk,“Your Elusive Creative Genius”

Elizabeth’s walkout song?

(Molly’s pick) Like a Prayer - Madonna
(Mikey’s pick) Gin and Juice - Snoop Dogg LOL

Want more Elizabeth Gilbert?

Check her site here!
Or go watch Julia Roberts eat pizza in Eat, Pray Love(the movie)

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Startup hubs are an amazing place for community, innovation and inspiration.

Few know this better than Jenna Blaszczykiewicz, the Senior Director of Marketing for global innovation hub based in Chicago, 1871. Jenna started her career in architecture design, shifted to the tech space and now merges all of that with marketing.

Jenna is brilliant at identifying new opportunities for narrative strategy and offering that to both 1871 and many of the startups that come through its doors.

In this conversation, we chat about the Jobs to be Done framework, the intersection of tech & design and story strategy for pitch decks.

This is an episode for: storytellers, founders and startup nerds.

What's sizzlin' in the Spice Cabinet??

Where to follow Jenna? LinkedIn!
Where to follow 1871?
Sign up for their newsletter for fresh insights & new events.
FOLLOW along on Instagram, YouTube & LinkedIn
Where does Jenna get inspo?
“I would say my biggest influence truly is the outside world. I'm an explorer of thought. And you know, I'm influenced by a local art show just as much as an article in The New York Times or something like that.”
Jenna’s a TikToker. Her favorite trend right now?
The RIDICULOUS Harry Potter remix that’s making the rounds. Magical or bizarre—you decide.
Jenna’s Walkout song?
Paul Simon - “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes”
(Molly’s pick) Black Marble - “A Great Design”
Parting words of inspiration?
“Love what you do. I think everybody loves to see somebody when they're sharing an idea that has meaning within them for that topic—and they're kind of basically giving you a snapshot of those emotions while they're giving the presentation. And I think that if you can make yourself fall in love with the content you're producing, whether it's an element of it doesn't have to be the whole thing. You can almost attach itself to the authenticity and be sort of like a conduit to really want what you're saying. And I think that amplifies the messaging. And I think it creates a lasting impact.”

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15 slide decks, 2 designers and a couple of days—What is it like to work on-site as a presentation designer??

GhostRanch designer Tamara Jarvi is here to share her experience with us! Tamara recently joined a GhostRanch client at an amazing event to help pull off over a dozen decks she and her team worked on.

From last-minute edits and additions to fonts breaking down from PC to Macs, we discuss what she learned and why this kind of in-person experience is beneficial to any designer.

This is an episode for: presentation designers or aspiring designers, people that work live events and anyone that enjoys a good interview.

What's in the Spice Cabinet?

Tamara’s walkout song??
1, 2 Step by Ciara
Tamara’s podcast reccos?
Think Fast, Talk Smart - conversations on professional life and creativity from Stanford professor Matt Abrahams
My Favorite Murder - self-explanatory
The Quickie for Designers - design inspo and insights!
Fave designer?
Scotty Russell - he’s got a podcast too!
Advice for other designers wanting to go on-site?
“I found that people want to trust you because well, they don't really have time not to. So basically, they want to trust your expertise. So pretty much just show up like the badass that you are and do your best. Give your best answers and it'll go well.”

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From Abercrombie & Fitch to Twitter, companies around the globe have rebranded again and again—for better or worse.

Mikey & Molly dive into the good, the bad and the ugly of rebrands to understand WHY a company might rebrand and analyze the opportunities for shifting a brand story.

While a simple logo change might be the perfect design update to keep up with the times, swapping a little blue bird recognized around the globe with a black ‘X’ could lose billions in brand recognition. (Not that we’re calling anyone out…)
This is an episode for: Brand messagers, narrative strategists & people still calling Twitter…Twitter.

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Every year, TechCrunch brings out some of the most impressive innovators to their “Startup Battlefield”—a competition for startups to win up to $100,000 and serious clout.

Lucky for us, the 6 finalists (out of over 200+ startups!) are filmed and available online for us to hyper-analyze their pitch decks—so that’s exactly what Mikey and Molly did.

We get particularly into Biotics AI, which (spoiler alert) became the WINNER and is doing amazing things with AI to detect abnormalities in ultrasounds during pregnancies.

Startup competitions are always a great place to get inspired, motivated and challenge juuust how much information you can pack into 6 minutes and a handful of slides.
This is an episode for: Startup enthusiasts, tech nerds and anyone who could learn from pitching.

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Paleoanthropologist Genevieve von Petzinger is entranced by the engraved signs and symbols found in caves all over the world. She has spent years researching this ancient visual communication and in her 2015 TED Talk, Why are these 32 symbols found in ancient caves all over Europe?, von Petzinger shares what she’s learned.

Her research catalogs the first ever collection of 32 signs and, stunningly, tracks the same symbols across countries throughout a 30,000 year period starting with the ice age.

Mikey and Molly analyze Genevieve’s presentation and reflect on the evolution of what “Presentation Thinking” is all about—visual communication and storytelling.

This is an episode for: speakers, scientists, communication nerds & cave drawing enthusiasts.

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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 commonalities exist for all of us. When her discoveries around vulnerability expose her own issues with being vulnerable, it changes the trajectory of her studies forever.

Mikey & Molly sift through the details of what it is about Brené’s TED Talk that makes it so memorable, strategic and, well, vulnerable.

This is an episode for: Professional speakers, therapists and Brené Brown fans.

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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 Molly dig into what makes people follow Apple presentations more than any other brand, the pros of pre-cording and what was SO good and once-in-a-lifetime about Steve’s in-person 2007 presentation introducing the iPhone.

This is an episode for: Apple loyalists, tech nerds and brand storytellers.

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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 storytelling moments.

Catherine believes that through intentional communication and mindful awareness of our body language, we can solve a lot of the world’s problems.

We go through this TED Talkin’ episode and give you 3 things we loved and 3 things we’d do differently for Catherine’s talk.

This is an episode for: body language nerds, TED Talk enthusiasts and professional speakers looking to level-up.

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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 “Bump, Set, Spike” keynote—a talk to help master both Problem & Solution Slides. There were volleyball metaphors, great feedback, likely a few pieces to leave behind and even the making of a “Signature Bit.”

If you geek out on dissecting and discussing presentation iteration, this one’s for you.

This is an episode for: speakers, product marketers & anyone looking to refine their own presentation.

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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 well as Michael’s story in creating Heroic Public Speaking, a speaking university. But it’s more than that—they break down the business of hiring speakers, how to actually grow your network and make your speech SO good that it becomes referable.

If you’re currently a speaker, or want to make a career out of being a speaker, this book (and this episode! is for you.

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The Referable Speaker: Your Guide to Building a Sustainable Speaking Career—No Fame Required

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 inspired him to write this book, The 5 Deadly Sins of Presenting Creative Workso that we can all learn and level-up from others’ mistakes.

Mikey and I sit down with Creative Directors Jeff Carter and Lindsay Hadley—book club style—to compare Kerry’s sins to our own experience and discuss how Kerry’s “sin” metaphor so brilliantly delivers this advice.

This is an episode for: Creatives in advertising, speakers in general & presentation bookworms.

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The Five Deadly Sins of Presenting Creative Work

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 and how everyone can implement some easy tactics to win over the next room (or Zoom) you present in.

We also chat about his book, The 5 Deadly Sins of Presenting Creative Work. (More on that in a “Book Club” episode of the pod later).

If you give presentations at ALL in work or your personal life, this is for you.

This is an episode for: presenters, creatives and anyone in advertising.

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The Five Deadly Sins of Presenting Creative Work

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 on. His impressive presentation takes you on a journey that starts several billion years before humanity—and closes with why it all matters.

Mikey and I analyze how David can convey such dense subject matter to a mainstream audience in a short amount of time, and what other presenters might learn from it.
This is an episode for: Presenters who have to to convey complex ideas, history and science nerds.

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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 Director Allie Wilson, Designer Asha Alaji-Sharif & Director of Account Management and Growth Kelsey Jones join Molly to discuss how Kerry’s advice helped them through this process.

We go through each of Kerry’s 5 Deadly Sins and what we learned from presenting in-person since…well, maybe the pandemic.

This is an episode for: people that present in-person, speakers and anyone who presents creative work.

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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 communication shows up in power dynamics, she was one of the first to term ‘Power Poses’ such as a Wonder Woman pose—simply putting your hands on your hips and standing up strong for two minutes—and seeing how that affected one’s performance in a subsequent interview.

The results show that we can, indeed, fake it til we make it through body language.
This is an episode for: People that have to speak frequently, body language nerds & and anyone deep in a job search.

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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 storytelling through UX design, its ever-evolving nature, her experience working at Google and how her international relations background brings a fresh flavor to this computer-centric career path.

Bonus - her cousin Asha also joins to bring in a holistic graphic design/illustrator perspective!

This is an episode for: product designers, developers and UX designers (or anyone interested in pursuing it!)

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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.

After years of helping entrepreneurs get their ideas off the ground with his company, Ideas on Stage UK, Andrea has so much wisdom (and funny stories) to share.

Sign up to take advantage of Andrea’s book launch deal (we’re talking a 99 cent book!?) on July 18th HERE!
This is an episode for: Speakers, entrepreneurs and anyone a bit wary of public speaking.

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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 memorable story.

Creative Directors Jeff Carter & Lindsay Hadley from GhostRanch join the pod to discuss their expertise in these areas, as well as the Lunch N Learns they’re hosting on the same topics. (Hint, hint—register here!)

With clear yet bold design strategies, you can ‘wow’ an audience AND have them take action afterwards.

This is an episode for: Product Marketers, Brand messaging folks and Anyone with a pitch deck.

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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 it and how it alters our viewing experience.

We also apply some of the patterns of creating a memorable score to similar principles of Presentation Thinking.

This is an episode for: Movie Buffs, Music Theory Nerds and anyone that utilizes music/media for their presentations.

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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!—presentation applications.

We brought GhostRanch Designers Emily Pantoja and Asha Alaji-Sharif, our resident “Disney adults”, to really connect all 22 dots to the Presentation Thinking world.
This is an episode for: Disney & PIXAR fans, presenters, speakers and anyone feeling stuck in their creative process.

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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 & PowerPoint skills can come off mute to ask questions and learn together. (We’re hoping to do this workshop quarterly!)

From the massive amount of sticky notes overtaking his desk to the day-of presentation, we’re spilling all the deets of what went into this labor of love.

If you’re thinking about creating a workshop or webinar, this is for you.

This episode is (also) for: Presenters, Webinar-givers and anyone looking to teach.

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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:

“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

Mikey breaks it down and shares how you, too, might make an impact with your next toast speech.
This is an episode for: Speakers, speech writers, and anyone in need of a bit of inspiration.

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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 has remained relatively small—and that’s intentional.

Rick is a connector; skilled at bringing together all kinds of people. But he remains steadfast in his belief that greater authenticity with presenters and attendees alike can be achieved without big conference bells and whistles.

We sat down to chat about how he got here, what goes into the planning for such an event and what it was like to build the first-ever PowerPoint centered community.
This is an episode for: Event planners, PowerPoint nerds and fans of PreSum!

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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 kill any project. Deeply understanding you AND your audience’s “who”, “what” and “why”can make everything that follows smoother (not to mention more effective).

This is an episode for: Product marketers, Sales Enablers, B2B presentation junkies and anyone who’s struggled with the “Blank Page” syndrome in a project.

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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 each product or service is well-worth examining—and learning from.

We brought in Project Manager & lifelong Shark Tank fan Carly McKay who grew up watching these pitches to dissect four outstanding pitches—including a crowd favorite, Scrub Daddy.

This is an episode for: entrepreneurs, presenters and people that love Shark Tank (and Scrub Daddy!).

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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 would they do that??

After our latest TWIST episode (This Week In Storytelling) on the subject, we wanted to bring in a presenter and product marketer perspective on what we can learn from these collaborations and how you can lean into other brands’ stories to tell your own.

This is an episode for: copywriters, speakers, product marketers & people that geek out on advertising

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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 transform any deck you’re currently working on. While they remain simple concepts to use within the software, they're ACCESSIBLE to even the non-designer. Plus, the public’s general feelings towards PowerPoint tell us they’re needed more than ever.

WOW your boss the way David wow-ed this TED audience by making sure your projects are following his methods to avoid the all-too-common office outcome of “Death by PowerPoint.”

This is an episode for: People that make presentations, speakers and sales teams that have to use the same deck over and over again.

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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 specialty niche space. (Umm, you may have heard us mention walkout songs??)

If you find yourself interested in the intersection between Design, Business & Storytelling, we hope this episode can push you further down the path of exploration.

This is an episode for: Current presentation designers, Aspiring designers and Speakers that appreciate all that goes into putting together events.

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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 leveraging unique experiences to any advantage.

We talk about Rain’s personal journey, documenting others’ stories and even get into his new book, 6 Second Stories: Maximize Your Impact in Minimal Time.

This is an episode for: Creatives, speakers, entrepreneurs and anyone in need of a bit of inspiration.

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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 other project! And when crafted strategically, they can really set your organization apart.

Listen to the full episode over at Product Marketing Insider!

This is an episode for: product marketers, creatives and people that work with presentations regularly.

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Ever wonder who works behind the scenes of a teleprompter? Or who even uses teleprompting anymore??

As it turns out, a lot of people - including Oprah!

In this special interview episode, we sit down with Jill Richardson of K2 Productions to chat about her decade-long experience working as a teleprompter.

From high profile corporate events to celebs, she has seen—and helped put on—hundreds of presentations and events. Jill’s perspective on what makes speakers memorable is super valuable and her stories from being a part of live events are hilarious.
This is an episode for: public speakers, frequent conference-goers and presentation perfectionists.

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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian writer whose 2009 TED Talk has over 33 MILLION views—and we all know that a well-viewed TED Talk is a clear indication of an effective speaker.

Titled “The Danger of a Single Story”, Chimamanda’s talk illustrates both the power and the burden that stories can have. Growing up only reading books by American/British authors, it took her many years to learn that African characters can also exist in literature. Representation matters but also WHO is telling the story, WHERE it’s told, and so on. Media plays a powerful role in how countries portray other peoples—and when only one side of the story is told, stereotypes are formed.

Adichie’s talk puts into practice her own advice. She peppers the 18 minutes with at least six personal stories where she both experienced and fell victim to the “single story.”

Mikey and I analyze this expert display of storytelling and humanizing oneself to make a more powerful impact on an audience.

This is an episode for: Writers, speakers, people that care about breaking stereotypes and TED Talk enthusiasts.

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It’s time to practice what we preach—with Mikey’s first keynote speaker experience!

We were so excited when Product Marketing Alliance asked Mikey to give a keynote talk at their recent Product Marketing Summit in NYC.

But what topics to fit into a 30 minute pre-lunch slot?? Demo vignettes, of course!

As part of Mikey’s Road to the TED Talk journey, this episode dives into the content, deck creation, preparation, nerves and all—featuring some pre-talk and post-talk clips.
This is an episode for: speakers, wannabe speakers & people that have to give demos regularly.

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Having worn an abundance of hats, Jen Jones leads with true empathy for her teams as the CMO for CommerceTools.

As part of our collaborative series with the Product Marketing Alliance, Mikey got to interview Jen on Product Marketing Life—check it out here!

For this episode, we pull out her super quotable highlights on networking, capitalizing on storytelling opportunities and her journey to the role of CMO.

With better empathy and understanding of what our sales, marketing and surrounding teams experience on the day-to-day, we can quickly find solutions and lead more efficiently.

This is an episode for: Product Marketers, Marketing Leaders, Sales Enablers & Aspiring CMOs.

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We were lucky enough to collaborate with the Product Marketing Life Podcast where Mikey interviewed personal hero and incredible Product Marketing Manager, Esther Yoon from RingCentral.

(If you like this episode, tune into the full ‘sode over there and give Product Marketing Alliance a follow!)

We really dig into the amazing takeaways with quotable highlights from that conversation and—you guessed it—paint a hero’s journey with Esther’s story.

This is an episode for: Product Marketers, Visual Storytellers & anyone who’s a leader in their work.

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Jonathan Pitts knows how to collaborate with an audience.

An improv performer, expert and teacher for over 15 years, working in various environments, giving workshops and speaking to different audiences has kinda been his job.

If you know improv, you know the “Yes, and…” approach can be applied to many aspects of work and life—that’s especially true for presenters.

With an upcoming workshop called “Improv and Storytelling”, Jonathan helps us explore the intersection of improv and storytelling and how he interacts with the audience to achieve his story or purpose onstage.

This is an episode for: presenters, people that have to do public speaking and fans of Second City.

Full show notes here.

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Rukma Sen is always looking to find a good story.

Whether she’s being the rockstar Product Marketing Manager for Google that she is or working through her “Five Why” framework, Rukma is passionate about creating “human to human” messaging.

Having studied English Literature in college, our conversation circled around finding the story in every project, product marketing insights and tips for public speaking and presentations. (Spoiler: she’s a pro!)

This is an episode for: product marketers, public speakers and fellow bookworms.

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Advertisers have been vying for your attention (and paying big bucks for airtime) ever since the Super Bowl began.

So what sticks out in 2023 and how can a brand tell its story in a memorable way? What’s cringe and what’s catchy?

Creative Director and ad guru Jeff Thomas joins us to go through “milestone” ads over the years, groundbreaking storytelling strategies and what our faves were from this past Sunday!

This is an episode for: Creative ad enthusiasts, brand storytellers & people that watch the Super Bowl for the ads

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What’s the forecast say for presentations in 2023? Rainy with a sprinkle of G Slides?

GhostRanch Creative Director Allie Wilson and Kelsey Jones, Director of Account Management, join Presentation Thinking to get their presentation meteorology skills on!

They’re experts in what they highlight as the “Three C’s” to look out for: Cohesion, Composability & Continued Learning.

Tune in for some fresh ideas to bring to your team and how to keep up in the rapidly evolving presentation and visual storytelling space.

This is an episode for: team leaders, presentation experts and folks that get pumped about brand storytelling.

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Boris Hristov was destined to improve the world of presentations.

Following his exposure to presentations with the all-too-common “Death by PowerPoint” phenomenon, he would later found his presentation agency called 356 Labs. With the arrival of the pandemic, they created the Present to Succeed conference, the world’s largest gathering for presentation skills.

We’ve been longtime fans of 356 Labs, we’ve attended the conference and NOW—Boris joins us to chat presentations, catering to your audience & what it means to produce such a massively awesome event.

This is an episode for: presentation skills nerds, public speakers and (hybrid!) event producers.

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Ever wonder if there’s ONE thing you need to be doing to improve your presentations? The Rancheros have answers.

When GhostRanch retreated to Palm Springs for a “Winter Workation” last week, we did hot-seat style interviews!

From art director to designer to technical director, we got advice that people (like you!) can easily implement to level-up their presentations. And for good measure, we asked a bunch of silly random stuff too.

Similar to our “What GhostRanch Learned at StoryCamp” (#32) episode, this is an episode for: Presentation designers, aspiring or current speakers and friends of the Ranch.

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Tony Fadell might not be a name you know, but it’s attached to products used around the world.

Starting his career at Apple with Steve Jobs and designing the early iPod, Fadell later went on to invent the Google Nest smart thermostat.

His TED Talk, The First Secret of Great Design, illustrates how breaking habituation is the first step in observing everyday problems around us that innovators can solve. What aren’t you noticing? And how can its design serve us better?

Mikey and Molly analyze this TED Talk and what we can learn from its content, Tony’s execution and, of course, the slides.

This is an episode for: TED Talk enthusiasts, engineers, product designers and tech nerds.

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Tamsen Webster knows how to get to the heart of things, or rather—the Red Thread.

A strategic messaging expert and TED Talk aficionado, Tamsen has been working with brands and individuals to hone a talk, craft a message and get to the ROOT of a mission for almost 25 years.

Mikey and Molly are already big fans of her book, Find Your Red Thread: Make Your Big Ideas Irresistible. In this episode, we go through one of Tamsen’s fantastic tools “The Conversational Case” and we’re sure it’ll help you with your messaging and goals as much as it helped us.

This is an episode for: Strategic messaging folks, brand experts, storytellers & TED Talk enthusiasts

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You gotta fight. For your right. To paaaaaarty!! ...AND present your story exactly how you want.

The Beastie Boys Story is a documentary on Apple TV that is truly a masterclass in presenting.

Mike D & Adam Horowitz of the Beastie Boys are recorded in front of a live audience with music, visuals and even the occasional prop aiding them throughout the telling of the raucous story that is their legendary band.

From their goofy live antics, to the cinema-level visuals to the candid delivery—it’s a presentation that feels fully authentic and unique to the BBoys’ brand.

This is an episode for: presentation enthusiasts, music documentary lovers and Beastie Boys fans.

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What we learned starting a presentation podcast and where (we hope) it’s going.

This episode’s “Year in Review” peels back the curtain so we can tell you EXACTLY how many regular listeners we have, which episodes came out on top and how many nicknames Mikey has gifted the ‘cast.

It’s been a journey—From figuring out what the heck to talk about, to getting folks to interview, to avoiding over-enunciating into our microphones.

And we can’t wait to keep growing our listening community (#PresentationNation!) into the New Year.

This is an episode for: podcasters, creators & people that love Spotify Wrapped

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When Mikey is asked to return to his college Alma Mater and present to a club for business leaders, he is posed with the challenge: How do you engage & inspire young people with a presentation?

Thus began the pod’s first endeavor into a motivational presentation. We discuss the story Mikey shared, how he prepped and exactly how many laughs he got.

"Is this deck ready to pitch?" As Captain Ron says:“Best way to find out is to get her out on the ocean. If anything’s gonna happen, it’s gonna happen out there.”

Consider this one step closer on Mikey’s journey to the TED Talk stage.

This is an episode for motivational speakers, presenters & people that work with young people.

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Life is better in color - and presentations are more strategic with it, too.

Associate Creative Director Lindsay Hadley AKA our resident “Color Commentator” joins the pod to discuss palettes, Pantone and the impact color can make on any project.

How much is too much color? How do you find a memorable color combo? And what can Pantone’s Color of the Year tell us?

Join this “Color theory 101” to paint your next presentation strategically.

Episode #47 is for color nerds, designers & people that follow Pantone’s Color of the Year.

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You’ve probably heard of motivational speaker & “guru” Simon Sinek.

Mikey and Molly dive into Sinek’s early 00s TED Talk, How Great Leaders Inspire Action.

It’s inspiring, of course. It’s also a masterclass in great presentation skills.

His use of repetition, a simple diagram and even—dare we say—the lack of slides are all perfectly executed.

Whether you’re a Simon skeptic or stan, there’s a lot to take away from this famous TED Talk.

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Aimée Mazara calls herself a Visual Journalist.

Based in the Dominican Republic, her illustrations take on a dynamic watercolor-esque quality—you can feel the movement of the streets; the markets.

Focusing on everyday life scenes, Aimée tends to start conversations with locals for inspiration. Her art has even been a method for fundraising and raising awareness for a neighbor in need.

It was so much fun to hear about her process, her inspiration and hilariously—how she used PowerPoint to present the context of the “faceless doll” from the Dominican Republic to a client.

This is an episode for illustrators, storytellers and people that love Humans of New York.

Note: This episode is in English + Spanish. For English translation, listen to THIS version of the episode.

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Aimée Mazara calls herself a Visual Journalist.

Based in the Dominican Republic, her illustrations take on a dynamic watercolor-esque quality—you can feel the movement of the streets; the markets.

Focusing on everyday life scenes, Aimée tends to start conversations with locals for inspiration. Her art has even been a method for fundraising and raising awareness for a neighbor in need.

It was so much fun to hear about her process, her inspiration and hilariously—how she used PowerPoint to present the context of the “faceless doll” from the Dominican Republic to a client.

This is an episode for illustrators, storytellers and people that love Humans of New York.

Note: This episode is in English + Spanish with English translation recorded over Spanish.

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Molly reports back after attending this year’s STORY Conference in Nashville—a self-explanatory event about, well, storytelling.

This immersive conference experience took us to Neverland—complete with fairy dust, Lost Boys running around and a mermaid in the fountain.

From Narrative Strategists at NASA to the writer of Beauty and the Beast, the variety and caliber of speakers was stunning. This was the perfect place to learn how to be a better presenter, storyteller and simply get inspired.

Consider us fans of STORY and we can’t wait to see where they go next.

This is an episode for speakers, frequent conference attendees & everyone who needs a bit of inspiration.

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Illustrator Derek Abella might call himself “a silly little guy who draws”, but his creative work has garnered national and cultural significance.

With soft lines, beautiful gradients and blended shapes, Derek’s work makes otherwise hard-to-depict subjects approachable AND beautiful.

We discuss his creative journey as an artist and peel back the curtain on his process—with a lot of valuable takeaways for presenters, editorialists & creatives alike.

His work has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal & Google.

This is an episode for visual storytellers, folks in the editorial world & people that get pumped about the ~process~.

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Visual Designer Isabela Humphrey has always loved to draw, growing up surrounded by a family of creative people.

But her journey to becoming a successful designer wasn’t so straightforward.

From studying fashion design to side-hustling with card-making, Isabela is further proof that there are limitless pathways to becoming a full time illustrator.

Her clients now include Apartment Therapy, Refinery 29 & Google Play and don’t be surprised when she eventually starts her own artist agency “where it’s more like a co-op.”

Isabela’s continuous inspiration from the strong women in her family is apparent in her swoon-worthy Insta feed which you can follow here.

This is an episode for: aspiring illustrators, pro graphic designers & people that get pumped about the ~process~.

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For this episode’s “Presentation Book Club” discussing Making Numbers Count, we brought on our favorite CFO and the biggest “numbers guy” we know—Kip McCauley.

Kip and Mikey break down their takeaways from Chip Heath and Karla Starr’s 2022 book, Making Numbers Count.

How can we most effectively communicate data and numbers? It’s all about painting pictures, comparing them to human terms or translating to a more digestible scale.

This is an episode for people that deal with data, reports, and everyone who’s intimidated by it.

P.S. Kip is leading our 11/15 webinar, “Do Data, Better” on the same subject! Register here.

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Making Numbers Count: The Art and Science of Communicating Numbers

We’ve arrived at the SEVENTH and final of the 7 Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories—Rebirth.

While “rebirth” conjures up images of a phoenix rising from the ashes, we now might also think of a wilting rose in a castle or the Ghost of Christmas Past. Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast & A Christmas Carol are all familiar classics that can be considered a “rebirth” plot.

A dark shadow, menacing threats & finally, a redemption figure are key components in resolving a Rebirth story.

We’re excited to wrap up these 7 story frameworks with which you can/should start any project.

Are you (or your project) the hero that needs redeeming? The solution to overcoming the monster? The map to guide one’s Quest?

Assigning a plot and making a story out of something builds a more compelling case—and hopefully a happy ending.

It’s all here for you in Christopher Booker’s 7 Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories.

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The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories

Lianna Patch knows the power of making someone laugh.

In fact, she’s built her own business around it. Punchline Copy is one of many projects for this speaker, stand-up and professional conversion copywriter.

After Mikey saw her present in Mexico City, we did a classic cold email to get her aboard the pod—and boy, was it worth it.

From copywriting tips like her very professional “We-We" process, to bombing onstage, to running a full-on COURSE on infusing your marketing with humor, Lianna’s experience is so valuable. And hilarious.

This is an episode for speakers, wannabe speakers, copywriters & stand-ups alike.

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On its surface, The Tragedy is a story we all know well—a sad and dark string of events that ultimately lead to a hero’s doom. (Debbie downer, I know).

But for Christopher Booker’s book 7 Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories, it follows another clear plot pattern that is well worth studying. From Romeo and Juliet to Bonnie and Clyde, tragedies tell us about a hero/heroine’s run with temptations, greed, lust and hubris.

Does a brush with death ALWAYS resolve a plot? And how could they serve as cautionary tales in our presentations?

Welcome to Presentation Book Club. Let’s talk about tragedies.

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The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories

Todd Henry is an “arms dealer for the creative revolution.” And if that branded phrase of his doesn’t strike a creative chord somewhere deep inside you, well, keep moving.

An international speaker, we’ve had the privilege of hearing from Todd on both big and small stages. For this episode, he joins Presentation Thinking to chat about translating creative concepts into slides for the stage.

Author of six books, the most recent release called Daily Creative, Todd is also an expert on how to maintain prolific, brilliant and healthy work. AND he’s the host of the popular podcast, “The Accidental Creative.”

We’re big fans and constantly inspired by him—and know you will be too.

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If you think you know the “Comedy” plot structure from Christopher Booker’s The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Storiesas the “SuperBad” movie or Jim Carrey’s slapstick—you’re not wrong.

But you don’t have the full picture.

This plot structure has undergone an evolution throughout history starting with Aristophanes’ “Old Comedy” in ancient Greece to an introduction of lovers facing ridiculous obstacles until finally, Shakespeare transformed it into the kind of Comedy that we know and love today.

And, plot twist—it doesn't necessarily have to be out loud “ha-ha” funny.

While Booker’s examples might be a bit outdated, Mikey and Molly are here to apply it to relatable Rom-Coms and Judd Apatow productions that will have you questioning what IS and ISN’T a comedy story arc.

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The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories

“Voyage and Return” clocks in as the FOURTH plot of Christopher Booker’s The7 Basic Plots book, bringing you a few all-time classic stories.

While Booker walks us through the commonalities in Alice and Wonderland, Wizard of Oz & Peter Pan, Mikey and Molly applied the plot to some PIXAR favorites—Toy Story and UP!

The idea of embarking on our own ambling journey is one of the most relatable plot shapes yet. Some of the best presentations are ones that share their respective “Voyage”....and “Returns.” (Get it??)

Tune in for more storytelling breakdowns, what we can learn from the “Thrilling Escape” & a call-back to why PIXAR is always making us cry.

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The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories

Everyone enjoys a good sense of humor.

But have you ever wondered what it might do for your career? Or better yet, your next presentation??

Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas are students of silliness. Having researched and taught on the subject at Stanford, their book, Humor, Seriouslygets straight to the heart of the funny bone.

They walk us through the anatomy of funny, the psychology behind it and how to be more successful at work by being funny—all with the research and data to prove it.

Loyal listener Breece Justice joins Mikey and Molly for this book club episode comedy nerds are sure to love.

Our take? Humor, Seriously is seriously fun.

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As we continue with Christopher Booker’s The 7 Basic Plots book, “The Quest” is his third “story shape”, lending itself to some of the most epic stories of all time.

Homer’s Odyssey, Moby Dick, Lord of the Rings (kind of).

We all cheer when the hero sets out to get the prize, destroy the ring, achieve the dream—but what are the lessons learned along the way?

What are the patterns we can implement into our Presentation Thinking world?

Is The Goonies a “Quest” kind of story??

Time to set out on our own Quest journey and find out.

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The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories

This summer, a particularly special gathering for the remotely-dispersed GhostRanch team called “StoryCamp” was created to level up our collective presentation storytelling.

There was minimal structure but maximum learning with workshops, deep dives and, obviously, karaoke.

It provided both much needed in-person time (hugs!) AND a reminder for GhostRanch’s values & mission.

It’s something we’re hoping to duplicate for clients so first, we’re putting it out on the pod.

This episode brings on three “Rancheros” to rave about our shenanigans and share how this type of retreat could work for you.

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When your presentation client’s content is detail-heavy and your design is full of different animations, fonts, etc.—it can be a lot to keep track of.

After many years in the biz getting decks “client-ready”, there’s one Quality Assurance (QA) framework that Mikey and team have found provides consistent and dependable results…and that’s MTN FACES.

What’s this, you ask? An acronym, of course!

M - master
T - titles
N - notes
F - footer
A - animations
C - content (and comments)
E - edge game
S - size of the file

MTN FACES is for making your list, checking it twice and getting a flawless review from the client.

A design-forward episode.

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Richard Goring has long-since been a #PrezThinking icon of ours.

Director (and co-founder) of BrightCarbon, a trailblazing company in the Presentation design space, he’s passionate about animations, eLearning tools, webinars & consuming other podcasts and presentation paraphernalia (just like us!).

But we’ll let the prolific presenter speak for himself. A fun conversation with tips for presenting, creating online tools & the future of presentation design.

Proof that meeting your heroes is, indeed, inspiring.

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2 of Christopher Booker’s The7 Basic Plots is the tried and true Story Shape: "Rags To Riches."

From Cinderella to The Sandlot, we love cheering for the underdog moving up in the world.

But WHY and HOW is this Story Shape so effective? How can we channel Remy the Ratatouille rat in your own life??

Mikey and Molly discuss all this Bippity Boppity Boo.

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The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories

Can all stories be categorized into 7 different plots?

That’s what English journalist & writer Christopher Booker spent 34 years researching for his mega-book, The7 Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories. In honor of GhostRanch’s 7th birthday (August 2nd!), we’re excited to dive into the first plot of this 7-part series, “Overcoming the Monster.”

In a Disney context, an “Overcoming the Monster” story is the threat of perpetual winter taking over in Frozen. In our PrezThinking world, this might be “Death By PowerPoint” or bullet points.

How can these story arcs work for us? And what can we learn from applying them to work?

Let’s find out.

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The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories

Phil Charron, Executive Vice President of Think Company, is a presentation pioneer.

From helping put on PowerPoint presentations when physical slides still had to be switched manually to joining the UX design world as it was being invented, Phil truly has a holistic view of the evolution of presentations and design.

What was it like to see PowerPoint change the landscape of presentations? What’s his perspective, having been both the line-level producer AND the client? And how, exactly, did he get electrocuted helping with a presentation??

A true storyteller, Phil is chock-full of hilarious anecdotes.

Tune in for an insightful conversation on the past, present and future of the world of Presentation Thinking.

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Andy Raskin is a strategic storytelling evangelist.

For Mikey and Molly, his work was a gateway into the thriving ecosystem that is Presentation Thinking. From his in-person appearances to an online article gone viral, he emphasizes that your story IS your strategy—and it’s important to leverage it.

Learn along with us how to use your story and invite people to join in your journey.

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For our 25th “Quarter Century” episode, we brought in the reason our Presentation Thinking pod has stayed consistent—our brilliant editor, Will Kommor.

Will is an audio and editing guru, and has a lot to share about what he’s learned from Presentation Thinking, the podcasting process, and being a media editor in general. We also think that improv and podcasting might be more alike than you think…tune in for serious laughs!

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Wadsworth Williams and the Nspire team are leading the charge in developing more efficient and comfortable nasal cannulas (tubes that help deliver oxygen) for babies.

A low-cost commodity with potential for huge impact, Wadsworth has so much to say about innovation in the pediatric space, how to focus a pitch per audience while also sticking to their core mission—putting the patient first.

Receiving first prize in the Life Science & Medical Innovation Category at the VentureCat competition, designer Grace Morris also joins us to discuss how this blend of science and emotion translated into a winning deck.

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Zuri Fertility founders Blair Matthews and Giuliana Zaccardelli are on a mission to help couples everywhere who are struggling with infertility.

Voted the “Audience Favorite” of the VentureCat 2022 Startup competition, they join the 'cast to chat about how they met, mistakes they’ve made & the real-life experiences that have fueled their real-life solution—an app that helps people connect with clinics and navigate the tricky journey that is infertility.

GhostRanch designer Emily Pantoja joins as well to discuss how this project translated into a deck.

It’s a personal journey, going through infertility. In making it public, Blair and Giuliana are going to help couples everywhere.

An installment of our “Founder Series” guaranteed to inspire.

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Inside InfernoGuard’s winning pitch and one founder’s plan to prevent wildfires.

Kevin Kaspar joins Presentation Thinking to discuss his founder journey for InfernoGuard—a device that detects and reports wildfire conditions to first responders and land-owners before they get out of control.

We are lucky enough to be connected to the Northwestern University startup competition called VentureCat—even luckier that one of GhostRanch’s designers (Lola Lopez) helped to create the WINNING pitch for InfernoGuard.

We talk all things pitching (and bombing) and what the plan is for such an important device to receive funding and awareness.

Only YOU (and InfernoGuard) can prevent forest fires!

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Georgia O’Keeffe was a badass artist and desert legend. Dare we say…the Shakespeare of the Southwest?!

Writers aren’t the only ones that tell stories — there is much to be learned from the art world and Georgia’s impact on it.

In our Presentation Thinking journey, we want to understand & learn from storytellers of ALL varieties to better understand what about their work and the way they presented it is so memorable and important.

Join us in our obsession with this icon that inspired GhostRanch.

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Look Ma, we did a webinar!

We dipped our toes into the world of webinars a few weeks ago and, thanks to the creative and strategic genius of GhostRanch Creative Director Dave Sheets, it went even better than we imagined!

We zero-ed in on a hyper-specific topic—Cover Slides. What to put on them, how to cater to your audience and why it matters more than you think.

None of us had any experience in producing a webinar, so in sharing our own process of piecing this project together, we hope to help those figuring out their webinar sweet spot as well.

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If you’ve ever seen the first few minutes of the PIXAR movie UP!, you’re very aware that stories have the capacity to move you to tears.

PIXAR animator Matthew Luhn might be the one to blame for this.

Having worked on a few classics such as Toy Story, Ratatouille & The Incredibles, Luhn shares in a 2017 TED Talk what it is that makes stories like this so successful—and how we can we apply that to our own work and life.

For Mikey and Molly, this is a breakthrough episode. We’re seeing patterns in the story structures our favorites are talking about and connecting some significant dots.

A TED Talk not to be missed and a discussion that is sure to stir up your PIXAR nostalgia.

Full show notes HERE.

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Part 3, the closing chapter, of our Made to Stick book report/breakdown/book club is HERE.

Frodo is ready to destroy the ring and we’re ready to discuss the “E” and “S” in Chip & Dan Heath’s “SUCCESs” checklist for a sticky story—Emotions and Stories.

These components are so central to storytelling that many examples often go hand-in-hand. It’s a bit of a “Chicken or the Egg” debate: What comes first—the emotions or the story?

How do you appeal to someone’s self-interest? How do you spot a good story?? Why is it that we all remember Jared’s Subway story???

Brothers Heath have the answers and Mikey and Molly have the spark notes.

Listen to Part 1 on “Simplicity” HERE
Listen to Part 2 on Unexpected, Concrete and Credible HERE

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Dear listeners, welcome back to Book Club. We’re making our way through Chip & Dan Heath’s Made to Stick — a book dissecting all the factors that make certain messages and stories STICK. And there’s a lot of unpack!

So, not unlike other greats such as JRR Tolkien or the makers of Die Hard, we’ve split this into multiple parts. (Listen to Part 1 on “Simplicity” HERE!)

Part 2 covers “Unexpected”, “Concrete” and “Credible” on the SUCCESs checklist for story stickiness.

Need help in one of these areas? Tons of great examples and Heath brother-approved insight await.

“SUCCESs checklist”

Simplicity
Unexpectedness
Concreteness
Credibility
Emotions
Stories

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[Disclaimer: This is not a Nancy Duarte interview. One day it will be.]

Ever wonder what the SHAPE of a story looks like?

Our “Patron Saint of Stories” Nancy Duarte AKA CEO/Founder of Duarte, Inc. has done the research to show us just that.

In her first viral ~2008 TED Talk, Duarte shows off her analysis of several Communication Greats (ahem, Steve Jobs, MLK…) to prove there’s a science—an ebb and flow—in how information and stories are presented.

Memorable communication follows a pattern.

And for our humble Storytelling Study Club, we’re anxious to learn from those footsteps.

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This week we're working through a hyper-specific Pitch Problem and there was no better man to chat to than our Technical Director at GRC, Mr. Steve Sheets.

Efficiency-obsessed, he wants you to have an easier time editing your decks.

He wants you to befriend the Notes tool in PowerPoint.

And he wants you to have something more than a file link to share for the inevitable "Will these slides be shared afterwards?" client question arises.

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If you’re a Malcom Gladwell The Tipping Point fan, then you will definitely be interested in Made to Stick.

Brothers Chip and Dan Heath are a pair of smartie-pants siblings who have spent their lives trying to nail down the perfect recipe for why some stories are forgotten and how certain ideas STICK.

And as evidenced by this book, they’ve landed on an effective formula.

Their “SUCCESs checklist” makes up the flow for developing a Sticky Story.

Simplicity
Unexpectedness
Concreteness
Credibility
Emotions
Stories

It’s so chock-full of examples that resonate that Mikey and I decided to divvy up our chat about the book. In this episode, we discuss the first (and one of the hardest) parts of the sticky process—Simplicity.

We’ll talk about what a “Commander’s Intent” is, where it came from, and why Proverbs really are the Golden Rule.

Let’s read, together!

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Breece Justice is one of our top-notch Presentation Designers on the GhostRanch Communications team.

When a client recently entrusted her with the task of traveling to an in-person conference to ensure their high stakes keynotes went according to plan, we couldn’t wait to hear the #PresentationThinking deets.

Taking slides from a virtual setting to the stage comes with its own set of design and storytelling challenges.

From a post-COVID perspective to tactical on-site tips, “Breezy” joins the pod to share how it all went down as the “Wizard behind the curtain.”

Full show notes HERE!

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What’re the Olympics for Presentation Design?

It wasn’t in Beijing, but the TechPoint Mira Awards in Indianapolis are what Mikey calls “a rite of passage for Indy tech people.”

We’re super proud to share that Mikey’s beloved presentation agency/brainchild, GhostRanch Communications (GRC), was a nominee for the 2022 Mira Awards’ “Service Partner of the Year.”

We don’t know if he won a medal (YET!) but in this episode, we’ll get into how GRC got nominated, what he did to prepare—and how he heavily relied on a “Presentation Taper” strategy. (Trademark pending).

Basically, it’s the strategy where you “cram and plan” early and then ease off—give your mind muscle a break. Know that you know your shit.

If you’ve ever had to present to a panel or are in the process of prepping something big, this is the episode for you.

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In her 2017 viral TED Talk, “You Are Contagious”, Vanessa Van Edwards teaches us that our emotions and feelings are contagious—and what to do about it.

A human communication expert and renowned public speaker, Edwards takes us through the verbal, non-verbal and even EMOTIONAL ways that we can spread ideas, thoughts and feelings. (And, of course, we get into the structure of her talk).

So. How can we use the power of these micro-communications in our presentations? Our work in general? Our LIFE!?

As you can see, we’re excited. We’ll let Vanessa’s words and our geeking out do the rest of the talking.

Full show notes HERE!

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Fresh off the PrezThinking Reading List!

You’ve probably seen it on your philosopher college friend’s bookshelf—Malcom Gladwell’s The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference.

We wanted to revisit why this book that was written in the year 2000 caused such a scene—and what we can still takeaway from it today.

Though we do think Gladwell’s breakthrough book would be wildly different if it took into account all of the social media and influencer-esque changes of present, his core ingredients that lead to a cultural “tipping point” remain especially useful to Presentation Thinkers.

Listen here to join our Book Club and go ahead and tick it off your reading list too.

See full show notes HERE.

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For this episode, we’re kicking off a series called Founder Stories where we get to talk with founders directly. The folks that are putting pen to paper, their idea in motion, or practicing their pitch in the mirror.

To kick us off, Mikey got connected to Lisa Riggs of Spirit Sox USA.

From getting laughed at and told “no” to Trade show experiences to getting connected to the ROYAL FAMILY through a non-profit, Lisa is rocking her biz and navigating the ups and downs and continued learning.

Let’s get into it!

Spirit Sox USA

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Published in 1992, The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron has withstood the test of time. Groups around the world still actively participate in her 12 week “Creative Recovery” journey, including Molly - who shares her experience of the process with us on the pod.

Modeled after 12 step recovery programs, Julia’s setup of the book, its various journal prompts and group ethos is a Presentation Thinking lesson in of itself.

And the takeaways for anyone—creatives, founders, marketers, or any combo of those things—go DEEP.

Find out about the benefits (and the annoyance) of Morning Pages, how to go on Artist Dates and what the hell a “Creativity Contract” is.

What’s in the Spice Cabinet?

We’re so proud to tout that GhostRanch is nominated for the 23rd Annual Mira Awards honoring “Best in Tech” in Indiana!!! Look for our name under “Service Partner of the Year”. blushes
Austin Kleon - Molly describes him as a “cool artist writer doodler guy.” If you’re looking for fun and inspiring and easy to skim content, his newsletter is A+, the books are fun as hell to “read” (tons of illustrations), and I’m sure his Patreon is worth the money.
Where to find an Artist’s Way group of your own, you ask?
Here’s a list of Meetups
Online facilitator Collective Commons runs an ongoing group with a Slack channel!
A Facebook group if that’s your digital community of choice
LinkedIn (the German one seems bigger if you’re fluent!)
Julia’s advice on starting a “Creative Cluster” to Do It Yourself!
Her online video course is available HERE

Stay tuned for the PrezThinking version of this creative experience!!

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You ever take a career tangent that feels like a full 180 turn until you realize all the skills you learned up until that point are the reason you got there??

Such was the case for friend of the 'cast Molly Geoghegan upon jumping from marketing to the human rights and non-profit space—and flexing her “Presentation Thinking skills” all along the way.

In this episode, Molly returns to The Ranch (GhostRanch) to let us know what she’s been doing since the Come Sell Away podcast docked its humble ship a few years ago.

And where we're headed with all that experience now...

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Mikey and Bethany watched Matt Abrahams's, and then talk about it. Seriously, go watch his Ted Talk, the guy is a brilliant communicator, and gives a bunch of tactical tips on how to manage your public speaking anxieties.

The talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIXvKKEQQJo

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I know, it would be cooler if we had actually interviewed Canva co-founder and CEO, Melanie Perkins, for this episode. But for now, we're just going to listen to someone else's interview and talk about it. Besides, Guy Raz is pretty decent at what he does. So, this is where we are in our storytelling rabbit hole so far, we are taking in a whole ton of content and trying to figure out what it all means. This week, we listened to an amazing episode of How I Built This featuring Melanie Perkins, from back in 2019, who paints a colorful picture of her journey pitching (and pitching and pitching...) her new concept for desktop publishing, Canva, to a whole lot of investors back around 2012. Bethany and I break down what we took away from Melanie's stories and discuss some takeaways that we hope we can apply to our own approaches to pitching.

Enjoy!

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Mikey and Bethany watch Daniel Pink's Masterclass on Sales and Persuasion, and then talk about it.

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Friend of the program, André Fernandes, Director of Strategy at GhostRanch Communications, joins the show to discuss the most recent book he's pulled off of his massive stack of storytelling reads. This week, Andre gives us a Cliffs Notes view of the "granddaddy of storytelling," Joseph Campbell's 1949, "The Hero with a Thousand Faces."

Big thanks to Andre for being our proxy and digging into beasts like Campbell so can do other stuff.

Deeper down the storytelling rabbit hole we go.

Enjoy!

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Mikey and Bethany watch Judd Apatow's Masterclass teaching comedy. Well, not even the whole thing, just the chapter on pitching. It's a 13 minute chapter, and we somehow talk about it for like double that. Dig!

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Mikey introduces what is to come with Presentation Thinking, aka Adventures in Storytelling, aka Pitchin' Ain't Easy. It's a cool ten minutes and change, quickly setting up the what and why of this flavorful podcast. Let's start pulling some storytelling threads and get into this goodness!

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