Author: mikeswelsh

  • Last time First time

    A quick take on your #TGIF as I roll across the country in my seemingly neverending desire to be out of my comfort zone, continually having to cope and deal with new and different contexts and situations. The anxiety = uncertainty x powerlessness equation from Chip Conely’s book Emotional Equations is at work in all of us,…

  • The Magic Wand

    First, do you know when you are decking your way through a meeting with too many cooks, non-combatants, and ‘talkers’ rather than ‘contributors’? You know them; you may even be one. Folks have much to say but need help understanding how to narrate or storytell well. Some of my posts walk around the issues I…

  • The 5 Slide Rule™

    The 5 Slide Rule™ (of thumb) for planning and over-prepping for storytelling success. This is a people, process, and tools article to help anyone who needs another way to get ready potentially. What this ‘rule’ is not What the 5 Slide Rule is: Beginnings Middles and Ends. When story-making, folks often struggle with’ setting the…

  • Macro to micro views

    Macro to micro views

    Paint a picture. Zoom in and out. 30,000 feet down to street view and back. Come with me; this is a story. Some of what folks struggle with in telling a story is the story is too high level or over indexes on details. As it happens, this is an attempt to break down the…

  • Strategic Benign Neglect

    SBN (Strategic Benign Neglect) is one of the most potent techniques in life, not just in presentations and meetings. The idea is simple and powerful. Do you need to answer every question? Do you need to address everything that comes to you in any form? No. Moreover, you can acknowledge, advance, table, and defer. Acknowledging…

  • Poise, Presence, Posture

    The three ‘Ps’ can be even more challenging for folks than the content development inside the 5 Slide Rule™ rubric. As in other posts, I will attempt to break down these concepts and how they work for me as I develop a presentation process as a coping mechanism to deal with my own agoraphobia issues.

  • Who are you talking to?

    Who are you talking to?

    Who are you talking to? Sounds tense. In the world of the Five Slide Rule™ discipline, another deeply powerful practice is understanding the human (book slide), but even more fundamental is where is the human(s) in the audience.

  • How much time do you have?
  • Why have slides at all?

    Why have slides at all, especially on Monday after a Super Bowl, bolsters this idea? One of the premises of the 5 Slide Rule™ (of thumb) is first to ask if you need any slides; that does not mean you don’t need content. I wouldn’t say I like slides. NASA even attributed PowerPoint contributed to…

  • The Book Slide

    The Book Slide

    What it is, Why is it 2008, I faced a life-changing event and asked my dad for advice. He suggested keeping myself busy and focused by reading, running, or getting a dog. So, I downloaded the Audible app and listened to audiobooks while running, which helped me get through tough times. During my job at…