It’s 1977, and I am a nerdy, awkward, restless child. (Try to look surprised.)

My mom takes me to two life-changing movies: the original Star Wars, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (this hotlink is Siskel and Ebert, in 1977). I. Am. TRANSFORMED. I realize I feel like an alien. I realize other people feel like aliens. I realize not everyone hates aliens. I am inspired to be braver, even though I am horribly, painfully shy, and help others whenever I can.

Science fiction is a terrific teacher, IMO, because 1) Science and 2) Fiction. 

No, really. 

I’m going to nerd out for a sec.

We all know humans have basic needs (food, air, water, shelter). When the act of meeting these needs is reframed in a mythical environment? Presto! We get the best (the only?) way to talk about the conflicts that arise or the problems that occur as a result of humans seeking those necessities. (Check out this article by Sherryl Vint .) Because conflicts and problems are what drive a story arc, science fiction is also exciting and dramatic. Sci-Fi becomes the perfect medium! And the characters in this genre are trying to get the same fundamentals as ourselves, so we lean in emotionally and intellectually. No matter the world, we connect with these characters trying to fulfill their needs.

Whether you love spaceships or space opera, Bots, Borgs or Droids, science fiction is a PERFECT vessel for deep human truths.

Here’s 3 big things I’ve learned from science fiction

Grow some empathy

There’s a Star Trek episode, “The Devil in the Dark,” in which a mining operation is being attacked. Kirk has a face off with a silicon rock-like creature, a Horta, seemingly hell-bent on killing him. But this wholly alien creature is more like us than she seems. As Spock steps in to connect with her (through the Vulcan mind meld), we learn that she’s the last mom of her kind, desperately trying to save her species by guarding the only eggs that have not been broken by miners. Needless to say, Kirk chooses to spare her and they broker a truce, a bit of a TV-happy ending, but poignant nonetheless.

Lesson: Take a moment. Extend some empathy. Work it out. Or in the immortal words of Bill and Ted, Be Excellent to Each Other.

Things that live in holes in the ground in the desert are probably trying to kill you

Say you live in someplace chock full of trees and waterfalls and pastureland, like upstate New York for example. You visit a desert area, and people say “Shake your shoes out before putting them on in the morning” and “Watch where you’re walking.” For a hot second, your brain says, wait what? Then you remember.

The Shai-Hulud! (The sandworms from Dune!)

The ‘Predatory Fauna’ in the mining crater in Murder Bot! (In “All Systems Red”!)

THE SARLACC!!! (!!!)

And then you become a bit hypervigilant.

I’ll add a corollary: “Pay attention to nature or you’ll be sorry” is also true on a larger scale. Witness the many science fiction narratives in which the actions of humans in excess bring on environmental disaster which in turns leads to social disaster.  Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Andor, Octavia Butler’s “Parable of the Sower”, Murderbot, and so many more hinge on the tragedy and greed associated with resource hoarding/exploitation. Even in the frolicking Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Earth is slated for demolition to make room for a hyperspace bypass.

Lesson: Be mindful.

Just because you think the food looks strange, doesn’t mean it’s not delicious

I swear every science fiction writer is giggling into their bone broth when they create “foods the locals eat”.  I certainly had fun cooking up some dishes, so to speak, for The Mysterious CHIRP podcast, but I had even MORE fun listening to every actor create brilliant and hilarious things to eat (I wept from laughter while trying not to spoil the take). In real life, don’t be a cultural isolationist. When in Rome and all that. Or, as my mother would say,

Lesson: Try it! You might like it!

Final thoughts on lessons from Sci-Fi

I think we’re drawn to stories that are our own, one step removed. They help us think about actions and consequences. They facilitate conversation, however indirect, around difficult concepts, challenges, and hardships. And they bring people together around favorite characters, beings who inspire us to try new things, be mindful, and be excellent to each other.

The post Everything I needed to know I learned from Sci-Fi first appeared on Shearwater Productions.

Why humans love mysteries

Really, there are three simple reasons we keep coming back to this genre.

Curiosity (and it’s friends)

We are hardwired to ask questions and to want to know what’s going on, how things work, and what might happen as a result. When you think about it, that makes sense. “How can I tell if that saber-toothed tiger has noticed me” is a pretty great survival question, and, like all mysteries, is about figuring out how not get killed. The British Psychological Society does a delicious deep dive into what drives the urge to puzzle things out in “The Allure of Mysteries”:

Curiosity, along with surprise, interest, doubt, and other affective states, is an epistemic emotion (Vogl et al., 2020), or an emotion related to a desire for knowledge and understanding (Scarantino & de Sousa, 2018).

I know that’s partly what drives me to read, watch and create mysteries. Even when I am writing them, I’m asking myself, “What could happen next? What would that character do? What could believably motivate that crime?” 

As Psychologist and mystery-writer Joanna Schaffhausen says, “​​It should feel like a quest.” 

Concerns about justice

Will there be justice? This key question permeates our real lives, and consequently, our attraction to the mystery genre, no matter what flavor we prefer. Part of the reason folks turn to cozies or traditionals is that they know justice will be restored, and even though the main detective will definitely be in danger or physically harmed, they will overcome. 

When it comes to True Crime, we want to know! Will the murderer be caught? Will they catch the ACTUAL criminal? True Crime officianados want the thrill of solving the mystery and tracking the wheels of justice!  

Comfort

In traditional and cozy mysteries, the murders happen off-screen, as it were. In these sorts of mysteries, the detective ultimately succeeds, despite their failings, and even if they are an amateur.  I personally love traditionals. The flawed detective-type person is trying their best and though they make mistakes and bad things happen as a result, they are mildly victorious. Their community is now safer, and together, they will work through the aftermath.

Others find comfort in the dark slasher mysteries, where readers can prepare themselves for the awful things that can happen, or as Tufts writer Joanna Schaffhausen says, contemplate humanity at its worst.  

So why do mysteries call to me personally?

I love CREATING mysteries as well as consuming them, partly because it feels like I’m weaving a magical tapestry of experience, layering filaments of intrigue with ribbons of clues to grasp onto. The mysteries I create for Mystery & Adventure Agency and for The Mysterious CHIRP podcast are character driven, as are most mysteries. Why else would we wonder (or be able to conjecture) whodunnit and what their motivation was? And why else would there be so many successful iterations of flawed-but-successful iconic detectives? (Yes, you, Sherlock). In a nutshell, I try to deliver what I myself love to consume. 

When you look again at photograph or stay up too late reading the next chapter or watching the next episode, you are probably asking the deep questions about humans that our species has always asked:  “What are we capable of? How much of who we are is determined by choice, by circumstance, or by nature? How do we respond to things that seem impossible to cope with?” As mystery writer Tana French says, these questions are unanswerable, which is perhaps why we keep asking them.

The post What do I love about mysteries? What’s NOT to love?!? first appeared on Shearwater Productions.

Recently, we talked about the way that I approach a presentation, both in person and over video. I wanted to dive deeper into a method for setting up any talk, whether it’s a stakeholder meeting, a cast brainstorm, or a keynote speech. You’ve heard it before, but incorporating stories and examples will make you stand out and, most importantly, allow the audience to remember you. But what does that look like in action? 

Prep your presentation

OK, we made it through the brainstorming phase (during Part One) where we remind ourselves why we’re getting up there in the first place. Next, we’re going to practice and get the flow down. I’m going to jump right to the larger challenge first, the body of your speech and the stories you put in it. After some tips for strengthening your content, we’ll return to prompts for your presentation.

What are the 5 most important things you want to share in general? 

When you’re excited about a topic, it can feel like everything you have to say is essential. But part of being a good presenter means whittling down to the KEY TOPICS and giving your audience exactly what they want and need. For a short talk, five things might take up your time or even be too many (for example, if you have only five minutes, stick to three). However, a longer presentation will need 3-5 per major section.

What stories/anecdotes come to mind for this?

Presenting the big ideas might seem most important, but often your audience won’t really understand (on a deeper level) until they have examples. Stories can further draw your listeners in, allowing them to feel what you’re saying, not just think it. Make a list that’s longer than you need — sometimes your best ideas will come after you think you are done.

Edit yourself

Great! You’ve identified the central concepts/major points, and you have a buffet of anecdotes from which to choose to season your awesome presentation. What’s next?

As we all know, not every idea we have is a good one. What we sometimes forget is that not every good idea belongs in THIS presentation! Sort through your ideas, putting the most efficient ones into your speech, and saving the others for a different time. (I have a writer friend who calls the practice ‘putting it in the parking lot.’ She has a section in each notebook for ‘parking lot’ ideas to use later!) Take a pass at your anecdote list, giving each a Y, N, or M for maybe. Do you still have too many choices? Great! Take a hard look at the “Yes” group. Which are the 2 or 3 shortest and most impactful? Make sure that they are significantly different from each other.

Now that I’ve narrowed that down, what about the rest of my presentation?

You can have the most amazing content in the world, but if how you present them isn’t engaging, it just won’t matter.

How shall I introduce myself?

Ever heard that you have to hook your audience in the first 30 seconds? This might arguably matter even more on video where it’s easier for your listeners to open their phones or pull up the news on a separate tab without anyone noticing. If your hook happens in the first 10-15 seconds? Even better!

How can I continue to check in and re-engage my audience… 

Jokes? Questions? Polls? Other? You’ll notice the various video conferencing apps have all sorts of ways to keep your audience engaged or hanging on your every word. Use these to your advantage! Maybe you ask everyone to put an idea into the chat or throw up a poll or start a discussion, some methods work well no matter the medium and others only apply to video meetings.

How can I help the participants know I value them/feel valued?

For me, the answer to this question takes multiple forms in the same talk. I ask myself the following questions:

• Am I using gender-inclusive language or gender variety language? 
• When in my talk should I agree/acknowledge that the concept is unusual or emotionally challenging? 
• Are there moments where I should ask how folks are doing, or if they have a question? 
• Have I made sure to thank them sincerely early on in my speech? 
• Is there an appropriate time to set my viewers up for success by inviting examples or strategies from the audience?

Just jot down a couple ideas on a separate post-it note.

All this prep should leave you with a clean, easy to follow outline for yourself as well as a clear sense of the overarching narrative in your mind. When it’s go time, trust your work and focus on connecting with your audience. You are the medium by which they resonate with the material. They will feel your passion and compassion, and get so much more from the presentation because you spent the time engaging them.

The post Prepping your presentation to keep your audience engaged  first appeared on Shearwater Productions.

On Friday, March 13, 2020, everything closed in upstate New York. I was doing a project in an elementary school, and it was performance day. We had just finished our dress rehearsal and were about to perform for the rest of the school, when everything was cancelled and we were told to stay in our classrooms. No one knew why, no one knew what was going on. The kids were frustrated, but also frightened. So we communicated via email with the other classrooms, and used the camera on a laptop to film their in-classroom performance and send it to the other classes that wanted to see it. We then had a live talk back using some in-school education technology. It wasn’t ideal, but it got the job done.

Suddenly, the whole world had switched over to video. I did read-alouds over Facebook Live three days a week for months, hoping to fill the connection gap as best I could. And slowly, the tech for connecting with one another improved. But that meant many folks without a performing or presenting background were required to be ‘on’ in ways they couldn’t have foreseen without some tools that would support them. Many of us in the entertainment industry were happy to pass along good ideas for Zoom makeup, on camera tips, and great lighting. 

Since then, there have been sweeping return to office mandates, but I’ve found that many out there still need to develop an essential skill for the 2025 world: how to present on video. Whether you’re pitching an idea to senior leadership, sharing out a year in review to your team, or honing your self-help guru skills, you’ll need to know how to showcase your best self on Teams/Zoom/the platform of your choice. A while back, I taught an online training for The BPD Bunch video podcast and wanted to share my tips out more broadly. Some of these apply to in person, while others focus on translating yourself to video specifically. Here’s Part One of this series with Part Two dropping next week.

The 4 questions to guide an effective presentation

Yes, it’s about the basics:

Why am I presenting? What am I presenting? Why am I presenting about that? What am I worried about for the presentation?

I recommend you actually write (or type) out these questions. Get it literally all down on the page so you have a set of notes to guide you. The goal here is to remind yourself what you’re trying to accomplish but also why you started out on this path to begin. Write down the answers to these questions and keep them somewhere behind your computer during your prep (one of the benefits of presenting remotely!).

Why am I presenting? 

Hopefully this part is easy at a surface level. Maybe it’s because your boss asked you to. But really, this is two questions. Why am I presenting, and not someone else? Why am I presenting this particular thought, concept, advice (i.e. why is it important to me)? 

Take your answers a step further and think through what you’re trying to accomplish. Some people like to set up learning objectives or an agenda to guide them and their audience. If you do include learning objectives, choose five or fewer (three is nice), and I recommend having them as bullet points at the top of your final set of presentation notes.

What am I presenting?

Write down the main points of your presentation. If you had to do it in 60 seconds, what would you say? Think of one sentence that would be the title or main idea. Follow that with 3 or 4 primary points. Think back to when you first learned how to write an essay or do a book report in school and distill down your big ideas: What is your thesis, your support, your message etc.

Why am I presenting about that? 

Now’s a great time to add some flavor and fun or depth or intensity — whatever it is that brings the YOU and the topic together. MAKE NOTES! What stories or anecdotes do you have that reverberate most strongly? If you can’t think of flavor/fun/depth for one of your main points, that means it needs to be swapped out and replaced by a point that instigates your passion or process.

What am I worried about for the presentation?

It’s in the back of all of our minds: The lead up to a big presentation can be nerve-wracking. What if my internet doesn’t work? Will I get distracted by my dog barking? Does my hair look OK on camera? 

I don’t like any of the silly advice out there like picture your audience in their underwear — it’s a lot more likely to get a laugh out of my inner clown than to make me better at speaking to my idea. Instead, I take a multi-pronged approach to nerves.

I write down the things I’m nervous about and then I come up with a solution, usually in bullet form. I like to put these strategies on a colored post-it next to me in dark, easy to read marker, using as few words as possible.

For example, if my worry is panicking while presenting, I might write:

• Color of my phone case? That’s the short prompt (not a long sentence) to look at the cover of my phone case next to the camera. By focusing on noticing the color, my attention returns to the external, rather than being in my head. Looking near the camera instead of into the “eye” of the camera can also be a lot less stressful. This practice is related to “Look for Safety Cues.”

• Floor beneath my feet? That’s my short prompt to remind me to feel the floor, which grounds me and roots me in my knowledge. This quick adaptation of a commonly used centering technique works well. You can learn more about the larger technique from Your Story Matters!

• Inhale then smile, exhale and relax This prompt is an adaptation of some yoga practices. The inhale triggers our sense of ‘readiness;’ it’s sort of a ‘pre-launch’ thing we do nearly all the time — except when we’re nervous and holding our breath, which not only creates tension in our own bodies, but for our audience as well. Then smile, because both you and your audience are indicating that what is about to happen is warm/fun, or that you walk with them, supporting them, even if the conversation becomes hard. The exhale releases us into our speech in a relaxed and ready way. There’s more about joyful calming breathing from Yoga Through the Year.

• 5 senses. There are a few different versions, but in a nutshell, notice five specific and different things from one sense (seeing, for example), then four from another sense (that you can hear or feel/touch–I make myself notice how my clothes feel on my body), three things from another sense (usually hear or feel/touch, whichever wasn’t in the previous spot), tw things you can smell, one thing you can taste. I find that when I am super stressed, I recover faster with five things I can hear as a starting point. I don’t even need to do them all! Learn more about this technique.

That’s a lot to cover for just the pre-prep work, which is why I broke this down into two parts (you’ll see the rest next week). Still, taking time with this initial groundwork will make all the rest of the aspects much easier to execute.

The post The 4 questions you need to answer to create an effective presentation (and how to adapt that for online) first appeared on Shearwater Productions.

Update: The Mysterious CHIRP has launched and begun her adventure through space. Listen to episodes on the 4th of each month and follow our Instagram account for updates. Check out everywhere you can find the CHIRP.

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I love all things space-related.

I wanted to be an astronaut as a kid, and my love of space sciences continues to this day. While other little kids made scrapbooks with horses and favorite sports teams, mine was full of images from Voyager I and Voyager II. As an adult, I followed the exploits of the Mars Rovers and have attended the World Science Festival several times.

I also love all things science-connected — I’m a Trekkie and a major Star Wars nerd and allll that.

So I made a podcast. A sci-fi podcast, specifically. Except unlike your average romp through space it’s about regular beings instead of the Very Important. It’s also warm and funny, not scary or dark, and will leave you intrigued by the mystery (yes, there’s a murder) while also enveloped in the new world(s).

Completely surprising to me are how many people are thrilled about being in it.

And along with the sci-fi, I want to include real science …. And real scientists. I’m in talks with physicists at Cornell and a retired NASA engineer (from the first moon missions)! Along the way, we’ll answer questions like, “Why does the same amount of time pass for those at light speed and everyone planet side?” Hint: It’s the Time Envelope Spray.

So here we go. Scripts are in development, we start recording in August, and begin post-production in the fall. OH!!! And the sound-design students at Michigan Tech University will be working with us to create the soundscape, the theme song, and the world of effects, as well as getting university and professional credit!

What’s the podcast about?

The Mysterious CHIRP is a cargo vessel carrying a loose syndicate of merchants,  a few low level ambassadors, and a group of traveling players on its multi-planet route. Like any caravan or convoy the Mysterious CHIRP is not alone; it’s accompanied by the high security cargo vessel, a nicer smaller passenger-and-cargo ship (it actually has a gym), and a half-dozen fighters for security. But since this is a space caravan and it’s a mystery, stuff goes sideways pretty quickly. 

What’s next for The Mysterious CHIRP?

I’m super excited to reveal the incredible cast members this summer on social media. Stay tuned here and on my Instagram/FB for future announcements.

First up, we’ll be launching a “Name the Ship” mission coming up in a couple of weeks (you’ll help bestow a moniker on the sleek one with a gym). 

Until then, ping me, DM me, or comment with questions or thoughts about warm fuzzy space murders.

Huzzah!

The post Incoming! The Mysterious CHIRP Podcast first appeared on Shearwater Productions.