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The lovely folks at Packt Publishing are placing all ebooks on sale for 5 dollars! What a steal! If you’d like to purchase my ebook, Articulate Storyline Essentials, at this special price, please click through the banner below.

Happy Holidays!

When I was drafting my presentation for Learning Solutions 2015, I added a section that I think is of relevance to most people, and if not…stay gold, pony boy.  Anyhow, this section was related to letting go of fear, and I thought it might be appropriate to share my insight on this topic with a broader audience.

Fear will only hold you back, and you really need to just let it go. I know that’s easier to say than do, but it’s true! What do you have to lose? If you would have told me three years ago that I would be speaking in front of large audiences, many individuals of whom I respect and idolize, I would have told you that you were out of your friggin’ mind! I was the university student who would take zeroes whenever and oral presentation was required, but I’m slowly conquering that fear. People who know me are often surprised to find out I have a fear of public speaking, but it’s a fear that held me back when I was trying to grow my business.

My rationalization for being afraid of public speaking was that I was sharing my thoughts with a jury of my peers, and all I could think about was how judgmental they would be. This fear kept me from engaging in communities and from sharing my work, because what authority was I to be subjecting folks to my garbage? But that’s just it. My thoughts, and ideas, and samples, and interactions aren’t garbage. Sure, they might not always be the best, but someone will find the information of value. And really, you’re your own worst critic.

Once I began to let go of this fear, I was able to speak somewhat intelligently to individuals on topics I’m passionate about, and I was able to share my work, grow my portfolio, and grow as an e-learning professional.

Without being able to let go of fear, I would never have previously considered sharing silly glimpses into my ridiculous mind. You need to let go of fear to grow as an individual, and don’t sell your ridiculousness short – someone will appreciate it. I promise. It’s okay to open up feelings of vulnerability. We’re all vulnerable. But you don’t need to let that hold you back!

I know some of you folks might be done hearing about this book, but I’m really proud of it! Last year I started writing Articulate Storyline Essentials, and it gets published this week (and is available for pre-order over on Packt Publishing’s website – go check it out!)

Packt Publishing has three tiers of books: Essentials, Learning (which Stephanie Harnett wrote and is a fantastic resource), and Mastering. Essentials is my first foray into book writing, and it’s been a long road to publishing, but a great learning experience. Now that Essentials has been taken care of, I’m in the middle of writing Mastering Articulate Storyline – YAY!

Articulate Storyline Essentials is meant to get you up and running with Articulate Storyline, from starting a new project to publishing that project to share with your audience. Unlike Learning and Mastering there are no activities; instead, there are many screenshots that will hold your hand through the development process and walk you through tasks step-by-step.

Mastering Articulate Storyline will be geared toward advanced topics, and I’m really excited to teach folks how to use some of the functions I don’t get to use as often as I’d like…most clients don’t need fancy JavaScript incorporated within their products…however, Storyline really is a powerful authoring tool and I want to teach people how they can push Storyline to its limits and learn how to do some really cool things!

Writing a book has been a huge learning experience and I have been extremely grateful for the fantastic team of editors I’ve been able to work with – they’ve done nearly all of the heavy lifting, and I could only thank them more if they had the power to make me focus my attention more. Sometimes you just need to sit down and write!

Again, I’m very proud of this book and I think it will serve a broad audience and compliment Packt Publishing’s other offerings within their suite of books focused on Articulate Storyline. Please go check it out, pre-order it, order it, tell all of your friends about it, and then tell me about it! I’d love to hear what you think!

I’ll be presenting at Learning Solutions 2015 later this month and if the stars align, I’m hoping to have some hard copies to sell at the expo bookstore. If the stars don’t align and you’re also attending, please don’t hesitate to stop me in passing – I’d love to meet you!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a very safe and happy holiday season…now GET BACK TO WORK!

2014 was a very interesting year for me. Here’s a quick synopsis:

• I broke into the post-secondary education scene at a local university (part-time);
• I quit my full-time job and took my side business full-time;
• I presented at my first ever speaking engagement: E-Learning Heroes Community Roadshow: Toronto;
• I wrote my very first every blog post for ATD;
• I was propositioned to author not one, but two books;
• My part-time post-secondary education gig went full-time;
• I presented at my second speaking engagement: E-Learning Heroes Community Roadshow: Denver;
• I met a lot of my e-learning idols, engaged in some beta-testing for Articulate, had some exciting learning experiences with Articulate, and networked like I meant it;
• My proposal was accepted to speak at Learning Solutions 2015; and
• I worked with a ton of really incredible clients and was able to become more strategic with whom I worked with.

Now before I get on with my goals for 2015, here’s some real talk. I struggle with anxiety – mainly social anxiety. While you might think I made leaps and bounds challenging my anxiety in 2014, I really didn’t do so on a personal level. I still have a lot of fear and anxiety interacting with people I know (and whom I have known for 10+ years) on a social level (e.g. at parties, etc.), so New Years Eve 2014 was spent as a designated driver, human thunder shirt for our dog who is terrified by fireworks, and watching the non-HBO broadcast premiere of The Wire. Not a bad way to spend the evening, but still not optimal.

With that being said, my goals for 2015 are mostly personal goals:

• Begin therapy to conquer my social anxiety (or at least learn how to cope with it);
• Maintain a consistent exercise schedule and run a half marathon in May (and possibly another in September);
• Take positive steps toward becoming the best version of myself I can be;
• Spend more time with my husband and our family; and
• Travel to Europe with my husband, taking a proper vacation.

As for business goals:

• Complete both books and have them published;
• Present and KILL IT at Learning Solutions 2015;
• Continue networking with colleagues I respect;
• Continue working with clients I respect;
• Conduct various workshops at the university and encourage growth within our distance offerings;
• Overhaul my portfolio;
• Participate more actively in the ELH Challenges;
• Continue blogging regularly; and
• Begin authoring my third book.