Motivation often comes after starting, not before. Action produces momentum.
James Clear
Happy Friday! I’m off to get my booster shot later today and hoping that goes well. Wherever you are, I hope you have a boost of goodness for your weekend. I have lots of great stuff to help get you started. Cheers!
Thanks for reading!
What I’m Listening to: Spotify lured me into the top global hits of 2021, and surprisingly, I’m liking it more than I expected to. It started with The Weekend so I’m sticking with it today.
Last week’s most clicked item:
How to Design an Online Course with a 96% Completion Rate
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PowerPoint Christmas cards to download and share
Forget decorations, snow and whatever other traditions you’re used to. I know it is holiday time when the new BrightCarbon PowerPoint Christmas cards hit the wires. They’ve been at it for a decade now and have accumulated great PowerPoint holiday cards. Don’t laugh…these are well designed and illustrate the power of PowerPoint in the right hands.
https://www.brightcarbon.com/blog/powerpoint-christmas-cards/
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Make It Stick: 4 Big Ideas About Learning
In this recorded webinar, Peter C. Brown and Mark A. McDaniel, co-authors of “Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning”, share techniques based on 10 years of cognitive psychology research for becoming more productive learners. Learn why retrieval, not review, makes learning stick, how spaced learning and mixed practice can increase learner retention, and see some studies on how these methods have been implemented in business environments.
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That Is Not How Your Brain Works
In the article, Lisa Feldman Barrett tells us to forget some scientific myths to better understand your brain and yourself. See which of these are myths you may not know are untrue.
https://nautil.us/issue/98/mind/that-is-not-how-your-brain-works
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To Be Energy-Efficient, Brains Predict Their Perceptions
Results from neural networks support the idea that brains are “prediction machines” — and that they work that way to conserve energy. When we are presented with an ambiguous image, what we perceive can depend on the context. Some neuroscientists see this as evidence that the brain assembles its perceptions from the top down using predictions about what it expects.
https://www.quantamagazine.org/to-be-energy-efficient-brains-predict-their-perceptions-20211115
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The Ultimate Virtual Engagement E-book
I recently discovered Andrew Davis and have totally gone down the rabbit hole exploring all of his great tips and enjoying his speaking/presenting style. The ebook is great, but take a few minutes to watch the video for some golden insights for your next virtual event.
https://www.akadrewdavis.com/virtual-event-engagement-video
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Podcasts
- Pay attention! How your brain decides what to focus on with Dr Anthony Harris on the Science of Learning podcast
- Brain-friendly Learning & Reducing Cognitive Load with Dr. Itiel Dror on the Speexx Exchange podcast
- Who are your learners and what do they really want? What grinds their gears, what keeps them up at night? Learn more about how personas can help with your L&D efforts on the Marketing for Learning podcast.
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Tools & Tips
- Virtual Facilitator Cards is a rich source of activities for easy, creative virtual facilitation on Zoom
- AhaSlides is a new (to me at least) tool for interactive presentations with polls, etc.
- Headliner is a slick tool for turning podcasts or snippets from them into cool shareable videos
- Synthesia might be what brings AI video to a project near you by creating AI-generated video in 50+ languages
- Fathom is a new Zoom add-in that promises to let you “never take notes during a Zoom call ever again”
Where You Can Find Me
- Learning & Development Conference – February 2nd (Online)
- Learner Engagement Summit – Available on-demand
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Mike Taylor 