After a long and unplanned hiatus, Friday Five is back with a short reading list that includes something for everybody.
Well, something for five types of readers, anyway.
Here we go:
For presenters: Why I think about ‘Star Wars’ whenever I make a PowerPoint, by Seth Dotterer. Seth emphasizes the importance of storytelling in our presentations.
For policy wonks: How Republicans can improve higher education. This Washington Post op-ed by Ramesh Ponnuru and Yuval Levin suggests that the new GOP majorities in the House and Senate “begin by focusing on practical problems that concern large numbers of voters and could be greatly alleviated by a straightforward application of conservative and libertarian principles. Perhaps the foremost example is higher education, which has never been prominent on the conservative agenda but should become so now.”
For data geeks (and content marketers): The best-of-class Nonprofit Content Marketing Report, a Slideshare presentation filled with data, charts and numbers on how nonprofits budget and benchmark their content marketing efforts. A lot to dive into here. Thanks to Chris Syme for sharing the presentation on her valuable blog.
For planners, especially those of the strategic variety: The Art of Not Executing On Your Strategic Planning. This post by Karol Król on Spin Sucks urges a balance between strategic planning and executing on that plan. “Success comes not from having a bullet-proof strategic plan, but from learning to adjust your plan as you go to account for these external factors.”
For list-lovers (and presenters): 10 tips for improving your presentations and speeches, from Garr Reynolds. Step 1: “Turn off the computer.” Good advice for all of us as we head into the weekend.
Andy writes! 
Hi Andrew – Great stuff, thank you!! On the “strategic planning” topic, I read one article that changed my approach completely this past year (then I noticed it was written in 1973). It’s definitely relevant to my area of work. The author is Lou Gerstner, who became chairman and CEO of IBM 20 years later:
http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/strategy/can_strategic_planning_pay_off
It boils down to “Make Decisions, Not Plans.” He says,
“…the most fundamental weakness of most corporate plans today is that they do not lead to the major decisions that must be made currently to ensure the success of the enterprise in the future.”
Worth a read.
Thanks for the shout out! There is a treasure trove of data in that nonprofit report. Working through it has been interesting. But valuable takeaways for higher ed. Glad to see Friday Five again. You always find valuable reads.