Presentation Thinking

Guy Kawasaki 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.

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

• 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.”

• 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.

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.”

• 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.

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

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.”

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

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”

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.

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!

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

• 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. :) 

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

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

• 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

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.”

“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”

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”

• 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.

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.”

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)

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.”

• 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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 Work so 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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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 get your copy of Andrea’s book HERE!

This is an episode for: Speakers, entrepreneurs and anyone a bit wary of public speaking.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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! 

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!).

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

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.