Monday Mash-Up ~ 2022.05.16

Recommended Reading
Creative Thinking – What’s Holding You Back?

Brian Clark was serving up great, creative content before “content marketing” was a thing. He created Copyblogger, one of my favorite sites for marketing tips.

Here’s a post by Brian from last year that I especially like. 

I say this often: Every one can deliver content that is more creative and captivating — if they learn how AND overcome mental blocks that hold them back. 

Brian breaks it down here (#10 is my favorite): 
https://copyblogger.com/mental-blocks-creative-thinking/

Presentation Tips
Five Storytelling Strategies to Make Presentations Stand Out

Thanks to my friend Les Landes for sharing this great article from Harvard Business Review.

From the article summary: Our minds are wired for story. We think in narrative and enjoy consuming content in story form. So understanding the difference between presenting and storytelling is critical to a leader’s ability to engage an audience and move them to action. Unfortunately, presentation software often gets in the way. Slides should be designed to complement a story, not to replace the storyteller. The author presents five storytelling strategies to help you stand out the next time you give a presentation.”

https://hbr.org/2022/04/what-the-best-presenters-do-differently

Recommended Viewing
The Power of Introverts

I love this TED talk by Susan Cain.

If you’re an introvert, take heart. Cain celebrates your extraordinary talents and encourages you to embrace your strengths. 

If you’re an extrovert, this video will help you understand and empathize with introverts (read the comments section, too). 

Informative and entertaining. A great presentation loaded with great storytelling.

Recommended Resource
Heartbeat is an Excellent Community Platform

When Ted Prodromou and I launched the Mastermind Book Club, we used a well known platform to host our community. That platform cost us $49/month, and we were soon going to grow to the $100/month level.

Then we discovered Heartbeat — a great communication and sharing platform that lets you host chats, live events, content, and courses under your own domain.

And the price is right. We got a lifetime deal on AppSumo.

Hearbeat is available there for a one-time fee, starting at $69. 

Here’s an overview video from AppSumo.

Wise Words
Advertising Legend Leo Burnett Said…

“The secret of all effective advertising is not the creation of new and tricky words and pictures, but one of putting familiar words and pictures into new relationships.”