Five for Friday

As a way to wrap up this week, I thought I would share five resources that I explored this week that I really liked. They run the gamut of different media and topics, from business-y to fun and food. Hopefully this will introduce you to some cool new stuff. Or maybe you already knew about some of these and want to tell me about your experience with them. And hey, if you like this sort of thing and would like to see me do one of these each week, give me a holler.

1. @matteoc teaches us how to use story structure to wow our audience
2. #headspaceonlearning is a niche I discovered in the larger Headspace ... um, space
3. Tagboard has made its way back into my go to list of apps
4. Alphabear makes me irrationally happy with its little square bears
5. 4-ingredient, tasty and quick dish

#1 The magic play book by @matteoc

I had the pleasure of watching the recording of Matteo Cassese's presentation that is part of this year's Outstanding Presentations Workshop series. I'm really sorry that I couldn't participate in the live session but my day job's network policies blocked the platform that it was being broadcast through. Sad face. I'm sharing out the slide deck below because I want to help share the magic that Matteo is creating. As good as the deck is on its own, if you ever have the chance to hear him present, DO IT!

All eight steps are important, but in the interest of time and space here I am going to just mention a couple of my favorite moments. Like a rock star, Matteo shows you how to end on a high note. Your presentation has to have that climactic peak moment. And although that is the point that marks the beginning of the end of your presentation, it doesn't mean things should go downhill from there. He has a great way of describing the summary that follows the peak as a fly over of the landscape that has been covered. And then, rather than saving the Q&As for the very end, do them before your last step. Too often the Q&As can start out energetic and then kind of end when the questions dry up and everyone is sort of leaving the room (literally or virtually or metaphorically). By saving the last step or giving them an action item to go off with to do on their own, you end on a much higher energy moment.

Playbook for a Successful Presentation: The 8 Basic Components of Every Great Speech from Matteo Cassese

#2 I'm finding some Headspace

Almost two weeks ago I started the free 10 day trial of Headspace, which has the tagline "the gym membership for your mind." I try a lot of apps ... and keep using very few. This is an exception. Not only did I finish the 10 days but I subscribed. I have some specific goals (which I will write about another time) that I am trying to focus on. But I was finding, with a very chaotic schedule these days that focus was hard to come by, which was why I originally thought I'd give Headspace a try.

This week I also discovered some great stuff on their blog. They have been focusing on learning this month which really got my ears perked up. While there are tons of great articles and podcasts, the one I'm highlighting today was from Radio Headspace entitled #36 - Introduction Headspace On Learning. The piece interviews a number of people who are lifelong learners exploring new skills in a way that I truly loved. They are doing skill swaps. So one lady who has a specific goal of wanting "to learn to make chicken juicy" because, she points out, she already knows how to make it dry, can teach someone who cooks well how to start learning how to write a story. Another man takes the group through an exercise to get them to explore drawing. The concept is great. I kept thinking, why aren't more people doing this sort of thing. I think they probably are and I am going to take a look around and report back what I find.

#3 Tag you're it

I mentioned above that I try a lot of apps and that many slip away. But sometimes, one doesn't go too far. That would be the category in which I put Tagboard. While there is a lot more to Tagboard than I will be covering here, I use it in targeted ways, even if not all the time. Actually it is inaccurate to refer to it as an app, as the website says, Tagboard is "The social and search display platform."

So, what does that mean to you? Well, it means that you can take any hashtag and get a quick search across a number of social media platforms. That's what I did after reading the Headspace blog mentioned above, for instance. I suspected, from the content I read on the blog that people would be using various social media sites to post images, comments, and other digital artifacts using the hashtag from the blog #headspaceonlearning. By typing that hashtag into the search box on Tagboard I could easily see Twitter tweets and Instagram pics and Vine videos and Facebook posts on the topic. I also use this frequently when I participate in MOOCs where the participants frequently self-organize into collaborative groups using a platform of their choice. If you want to get an overview of what is going on across different spaces around a single topic, Tagboard can be helpful. Cool, huh?

#4 Love my square bears

Those of you who have been hanging out with me for some time know that one of my areas of focus is gamification. And one of the ways I do research ... yes, it isn't all just fun and games ... is to play games and see what works and doesn't and how that can be applied to other types of experiences, mainly for learning and business communications. Anyway, one of the new games I happened upon lately is Alphabear and it was sort of love at first sight. When game designers Spry Fox tag their brand with "making happiness" they mean it. This little scrabblesque word game with its adorably costumed little bears simply makes me happy to play.

#5 Tomato and pesto chicken

I was busy this week finding all this other cool stuff and boy did I get hungry. Then I spotted this really easy ... I mean, even if you have never cooked before easy ... even if you normally burn water easy ... recipe. The video recipe can be found here. And here's a pic of my work in progress. I used a bit more pesto than in the video and I added more cheese after I snapped this but I wanted you to be able to see the ingredients better before I blanketed them with cheesy goodness. Yum!

Gotta keep my strength up for a fun day this weekend at the Maker Faire. Stay tuned!