4/24/2026
Editors: Rebecca Morgan & Ken Braly
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From the Editors
Like many people approaching a milestone birthday or anniversary, as we approached our 30th anniversary, we reflected on what we’d accomplished, the wonderful connections we’d made, the fabulous tips from readers we’d implemented, and the experts who’d added value to our lives.
We also assessed what we envisioned for SNN going forward. We realized we both appreciated all that SNN has provided for each of us the last 30 years, but we felt it was time for the next chapter.
So we are seeking the next steward, publisher and owner of SNN. If you’d like to explore what that would look like for you, please contact us by May 15. We’ll share details with serious inquiries.
Miscellaneous Tips
Use AI to help organize your book — Ian Griffin
I’m super-impressed with a dialog generated by Claude AI when I prompted for “development editing” suggestions for a novel I’m working on. It can be relevant for non-fiction content as well. The guidance covers everything from an “Overall Assessment” and “Structural Recommendations” to a detailed 10-point editorial plan.
To see the process, the details are spread over 15 linked posts.
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Get inspired and learn expert tips to greatly improve your slides in the “Scintillating Slides: Create Visuals as Fabulous as You Are” webshop with Rebecca Morgan, CSP, CMC, CVP, VMP. Register for half price before 5/12, and special 2-for-1 deal! |
Technology Tips
AI Agent to streamline your tasks — Julie Holmes
Built by the team behind the Shortwave email client, Tasklet is an AI agent platform that lets you describe what you want automated in plain English and the agent figures out how to do it. It can connect to your email, calendar, project management, communication tools and more.
I’m a paying user having recently subscribed after a trial and rely on it for two things.
- Inbox Triage: My emails become an avalanche while traveling, so I have it list my emails with summaries. It will tell me what’s been handled by my assistant, what needs my attention and what’s noise. I can just say “archive 1, 3, 8. Delete 2, 4, 5. Add 6 and 7 as tasks.” A 45-minute nightmare becomes a 5-minute conversation.
- Morning Messages: Every morning, it texts me with a daily briefing that combines my calendar, emails and projects, all with a touch of motivation. I can text it back questions or actions to take. On speaking days, it even tells me to go crush it (like I need the reminder ... ha!). My team would describe its enthusiasm as ... assertive.
If you want to kick the tires with an AI agent platform, this one has a pretty generous trial. You might find the experience valuable even if you don’t intend to stay subscribed.
Travel Tips
New rules for traveling in Europe — Rebecca Morgan
The European Entry/Exit System (EES) is an automated IT system that is fully operational for 29 European countries, primarily within the Schengen Area. It replaces manual passport stamping for short-stay non-EU nationals by digitally registering biometric data (facial image and fingerprints) and travel dates to track entry, exit, and overstays.
This Forbes article, “How To Breeze Through Europe’s New EES Border System This Summer,” explains what’s happening.
Also note that U.S. citizens traveling to England for tourism or short stays (up to 6 months) must obtain an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) before boarding. This is required even if you have a brief layover in England that requires you to leave the airport (e.g., a late-arriving flight with a next-day departure). This page gives more info.
Topic of the Month (TOTM) — Your Input Wanted
Our TOTM is from Makana Risser Chai: When you’ve had a hiccup (e.g., tech glitch, fire alarm, power outage) during your presentation, how have you handled it — or wish you had?
Send your brief, pithy responses *that are different from those previously mentioned* to editor@SpeakerNetNews.com. Please put “Topic of the Month” or “TOTM” in the subject line.
(From my corporate days.) When introducing a new advertising campaign, it was time to unveil the new commercials. After my big buildup...nothing. I asked for the house lights to come up, then emceed a lively discussion about the ins and outs of creating ads. After the A/V glitch, the audience was much more interested and involved in the marketing campaign.
I was hired to do a post-dinner presentation for surgeons and their spouses. After signing the contract, I found out it would be a formal event. Since I didn’t have a tuxedo at the time, I bought one at Costco for $99. Luckily, it was the week prior to New Year’s Eve. I didn’t do so well during the speech, however.
The tux, made in Yugoslavia, had some weird side buckles that I apparently didn’t fasten too well. During the program, one buckle came undone. Then the other side did too. I leaned to one side and caught the falling pants with my elbow. And that is the way I remained during the rest of the talk...one hand holding the microphone and the other arm holding up my pants.
I was too new in the speaking business to realize I could have openly shared what was happening with the audience, instead of trying to hide it. Had I revealed my dilemma, I probably would have gotten a chance to buckle up again and probably even a great big laugh.
Once, while speaking, I thought I heard an echo. I said, “Does anyone else hear that echo?” And stopped speaking so I could check.
I was silent, but I still heard my voice coming through the speakers loud and clear as I gave my presentation, saying exactly what I was going to say about the current slide. I got flustered and said out loud, “I don’t know what is happening!” because it was really eerie.
I suddenly realized the situation and ran to the podium to mute the event computer. It was the narration attached to the slide! When I pulled the current slide from a prior presentation, the narration file was included. Because the event computer wasn’t muted, the narration started to play as soon as I advanced to that slide.
I explained extremely briefly and went back to my presentation. Lesson learned, I now check that all narrations are deleted from the final slides for any presentation I’m giving live.
- The Zoom screen allowed me to “Share Screen,” but my open PowerPoint on the desktop would not show. I tried Share Window too, but no luck. My host had my slide deck, but it was taking too long for her to open it. I simply kept the one slide on screen and continued my presentation. My slides were visible to me, so I could use them as a script, but I had to be careful not to rely on the audience seeing any visuals.
- The lights went out in the meeting room mid-presentation. It was pitch black. My mic still worked, so I asked someone near the door to open it to let in some light from the hallway. Then I asked someone to check whether this was an evacuation emergency or just a light-switch or fuse problem. In the meantime, I asked the audience whether they’d like me to continue for the remaining 15 minutes to the end of my program, or take a break and reassemble. They chose to continue. I proceeded to speak in the dark, and everyone was pleased with how it was handled. PS: There was no emergency.
- The laptop was not compatible with the system or the A/V setup. Though I had sent my slides in advance and had the deck on a USB drive, there was still a software update between me and full operation. But the meeting was about to begin. I had arrived 1 hour early and spent about 55 minutes dealing with the issue without success. So I wrote 5 words on a note as my speech outline and never mentioned the slides issue. The talk was a hit! Whew!
There have been so many!
Keynoting in the Philippines, I’d gone over my needs with the volunteer running the A/V. I could advance my slides, but she had to switch to my computer from the previous speaker’s, using a switcher — a device with a simple button to switch from projecting one computer’s screen to another, without having to plug in and restart the second computer. I ensured she knew that my first set of slides went *with* what the introducer said, so she needed to have my deck up before he began. I also briefed the introducer of this, so if the first slide wasn’t showing when he was to begin my intro, he needed to stall until it was.
Usually, I take care of this myself, but because a switcher was involved, and the organization insisted they could easily switch to my computer and slides, I wasn’t worried. Until the introducer launched into my intro before the A/V gal had switched computers. I rushed over to her to see if I could help, but she was frazzled and I wasn’t going to make it better. I just sighed silently, knowing I’d have to quickly advance the first 10 slides before getting into my content. I told the audience we had a tech glitch and they seemed fine.
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