Visual Communication

6 online marketing lessons from smart businesses in my small town

By |2023-04-25T22:08:57+00:00April 25, 2023|Categories: Everyday Communication, Learning, Storytelling, Visual Communication|

About a year ago, I relocated to a small Midwestern farm town called Geneseo, Illinois. It’s a picturesque little community full of Victorian-era homes and tree-lined streets. Straight out of a Hallmark movie, you know? You really should come and visit us sometime. When my husband suggested we ditch the Chicago suburbs and move to Geneseo, [...]

Want your point to have power? Here are 7 things NOT to say.

By |2023-01-27T03:32:22+00:00January 27, 2023|Categories: Presenting, Storytelling, Visual Communication|

Lucky you! You get to speak at an industry event, corporate conference, or team meeting.  No doubt, your presentation will include a set of slides. Slides are a de facto requirement for most business presentations. You gotta have ‘em, right? Incidentally, Jill and I have decided we don’t gotta have ‘em. In Story Mode, we avoid [...]

Unspoken Loudspeakers are drowning out your message

By |2021-09-30T14:55:38+00:00September 30, 2021|Categories: Creative Confidence, Everyday Communication, Presenting, Storytelling, Visual Communication, Writing|

“What you do speaks so loudly I cannot hear what you are saying.” Ralph Waldo Emerson Shhhh! I’m trying to hear you. I really am. I know you’ve put serious thought into those words you’re trying to share right now. Whether your message is written or spoken, I know you want me to “get” what you’re [...]

Persuasion: the teeter-totter of business communication

By |2021-08-31T15:33:48+00:00August 31, 2021|Categories: Creativity, Everyday Communication, Learning, Presenting, Storytelling, Visual Communication, Writing|

As a kid on the playground, one of my favorite attractions was the teeter-totter. Maybe you called it a seesaw. A teeter-totter is a dangerous apparatus, not to be shared with anyone but a friend you can trust to keep the thing in balance. I still recall the pain and humiliation of thudding to the ground [...]

A creative entrepreneur’s pandemic journey: an illustrated tale

By |2020-10-29T14:23:48+00:00October 29, 2020|Categories: Creative Confidence, Creativity, Everyday Communication, Learning, Visual Communication|

(inspired by Laura Numeroff, one of my favorite children’s book authors; illustrations by yours truly) If you give a creative entrepreneur a moment—say, a few months of no travel and reduced client demand due to a global pandemic—she’s going to get an idea. Maybe even a bunch of ideas, thanks to her relentlessly creative partner-in-brainstorming. Let’s [...]

Stuck? A little alphabet soup will help.

By |2020-06-26T19:18:02+00:00June 29, 2020|Categories: Creativity, Everyday Communication, Storytelling, Visual Communication, Writing|

You have something to say. Well, you’re supposed to have something to say. “They” expect you to have something to say. You sit down to write. Nothing comes. A few words finally trickle out. They’re awful! &#%!@?! You are stuck. And being stuck sucks. Being stuck sets off a cacophony of mental commentary. The harder you [...]

With visual vocabulary, ZERO is a reasonable wordcount goal

By |2018-06-27T20:21:45+00:00June 27, 2018|Categories: Visual Communication|

To the delight or (more accurately) dismay of participants, when Jill Pollack and I are leading Story Mode workshops, we routinely challenge students to compress their messages down to micro length. This activity can take a few minutes, an hour, or the better part of an afternoon. But our instruction takes just a moment: You’ve compiled [...]