As the year winds down, it is a good time to take a moment and reflect on 2017. I have an amazing number of things to be thankful for. High on that list is you and anyone else who honors me by taking the time to read the things that percolate out of my sometimes scattered brain and into this space. Thank you!
Here are just a few of the things that have “put drops in my bucket” this year:
- Continuing to speak at industry conferences and events including local ATD Chapters across the country, Ohio IDA, TLDC, private corporate events and others.
- Opening the Elearning Guild’s Design Spotlight
- Opening AND closing the Elearning Guild’s Marketing Summit
- Finally getting my first e-book out the door – a helpful roundup of my favorite free design resources.
- Making it into the top 10 episodes of the TLDCcast.
- Getting some traction with posting regularly here and working on that backlog of 49 half-baked posts sitting in my drafts folder. Being mentioned in Jane Hart’s list of Top 30 Modern Workplace Learning articles of 2017 is definitely the highlight!
Top Posts of 2017
1. My Modern Professional Learners Toolkit
This is my ‘behind the scenes’ look at what is in my modern professional learners toolkit.
https://mike-taylor.org/2017/11/24/my-modern-professional-learners-toolkit/
2. More than Just Slides: Using PowerPoint for Graphic Design
In this post, I share a few of the things I’ve designed in PowerPoint, including workbooks, tip sheets, videos, t-shirts and more. PowerPoint may not do everything, but I bet it does WAY more than you think it can.
https://mike-taylor.org/2017/07/27/using-powerpoint-for-graphic-design/
3. 3 Easy Ways to Cut Text And Upgrade Your Slides
Just about all of us build slides at some point. These are three easy things to make them better.
https://mike-taylor.org/2017/09/20/3-easy-ways-to-cut-text-and-upgrade-your-slides/
4. Presentation & E-learning Starter Kit
A collection of super useful guides for creating a presentation or e-learning course from Nancy Duarte, Cliff Atkinson, David Anderson, and yours truly.
https://mike-taylor.org/2017/12/07/presentation-e-learning-starter-kit/
5. How to Share Your E-learning Courses Using Google Cloud Platform
The retirement of free web hosting options from Dropbox and Google Drive has sent a lot of folks scrambling to find a good replacement. Google’s Cloud Platform is a good, free option.
https://mike-taylor.org/2017/11/11/google-cloud-platform/
6. My 2017 Top 10 Learning Tools
My annual update to this year’s version of Jane Hart’s Top 100 Learning Tools survey.
https://mike-taylor.org/2017/08/30/my-2017-top-10-learning-tools/
7. Just get started
Micro-learning is getting a lot of press these days. Yet it is really nothing new. Anyone can do it with whatever tools you already have – even if that is just email.
This post was one of Jane Hart’s Top 30 Favorites on Modern Workplace Learning. Be sure to check out all the others too!
https://mike-taylor.org/2017/08/21/just-get-started/
8. Free PowerPoint Visual Resume Template
A visual resume might be something to help you stand out from the crowd and this PowerPoint template will give you a big headstart on building one.
https://mike-taylor.org/2017/04/20/free-powerpoint-visual-resume-template/
9. The Art & Science of E-learning
Originally for a 7-minute ‘lightening talk’ and later expanded into an #InspirationWednesday webinar for Lectora.
https://mike-taylor.org/2017/05/04/the-art-science-of-e-learning/
10. Filling Your Design Toolkit: Premium Assets on a Shoestring Budget
Whether we realized it or not, we’re all designers. This is a collection of my favorite free sources for design assets like photos, fonts, icons and more. Grab your free copy of the e-book here.
https://mike-taylor.org/2017/12/13/free-e-book-filling-your-design-toolkit/
Mike Taylor 