Presentation Thinking™

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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