Anastasia Pryanikova – Page 9 – The Brain Alchemist

My guest appearance on The Brian Tracy Show [Video Interview]

Last November, I had the honor of appearing as a guest on The Brian Tracy Show. I wrote about the amazing experience of meeting Brian Tracy, a legend of personal and professional development, and shared some photos from the event in my earlier blog post. Now I have the video portion of our interview:

Want to develop your own multimedia course based on your book or expert content? Sign up for our complimentary consultation at http://bookphoria.com/register-for-your-complimentary-consultation/

By Anastasia Pryanikova| 2014-03-14T15:15:33+00:00 March 11th, 2014|Change, Communication, Peak Performance, Public Speaking|0 Comments

7 Facets of Book or Expert Content Trailers that INSPIRE [Infographic]

Book trailers are video promotions for a book, similar to those of movie trailers. In the age of short attention spans and information overload an author or an expert cannot afford not to implement the most innovative marketing techniques to stand out from the crowd. Professional book trailers can instantly attract audience’s attention and ignite their curiosity, allow you to be viewed as an expert and can even go viral.

There are 7 main characteristics of a successful book trailer that one needs to take into account. We abbreviate them as INSPIRE. They apply not just to books but to any expert content that you may want to promote through a video trailer.

We created an inforgraphic to visually represent these 7 facets of an effective book trailer. Please feel free to print it out and share it with your social networks.

Create Infographics

Want to develop your own book or expert content trailer? Sign up for our complimentary consultation at http://bookphoria.com/register-for-your-complimentary-consultation/

By Anastasia Pryanikova| 2014-02-26T16:36:03+00:00 February 26th, 2014|Books, Communication, Learning, Public Speaking|0 Comments

The Speaker Transmedia Mindmap: Building Your Content Marketing Mosaic

As a speaker, you may be wondering how multimedia solutions fit into the overall business marketing strategy. Creating compelling content is just one part of it. You need to have appropriate distribution channels for your expert content, and it must engage your audience, prospects and clients.

According to Canada Media Fund Keytrends Report 2014, “value is now generated by the relationship between audience and content” and “the intent is to give participating audiences the opportunity to add value to the content distribution process.”

You want to meet your audience on the channels where they already interact with information and other people and make it easy for them to share and talk about your content. The Speaker Transmedia Mindmap is a visual guide that shows how you can use multimedia solutions across various media channels to evolve your story. Each channel can serve as a door into your transmedia world and an invitation to experience your story from different angles and perspectives. Click here to see the full-size image.

What would your transmedia platform look like? Let’s chat about it when you sign up for our complimentary consultation at http://bookphoria.com/register-for-your-complimentary-consultation/

By Anastasia Pryanikova| 2014-02-17T21:41:09+00:00 February 17th, 2014|Communication, Learning, Public Speaking|0 Comments

7 ways speakers can use transmedia to grow and engage their audience

Technology offers speakers, authors and experts an opportunity to spread their messages across multiple media channels. A skillful pairing of content with a virtual platform can unfold your story further and create a unique experience for your audience. I described the concept of transmedia that uses technology and community engagement to create multi-dimensional stories in my previous blog post.

Speakers can leverage cross-media platforms to increase the impact of their narratives. Here are 7 ways you can use transmedia to grow and engage your audience:

1. Create a series of comics with the main characters of your story that expand on the material in your presentation. For example, if you chose to edit out certain parts of your presentation, you can bring them back in the comics format. Invite your audience to subscribe to your virtual comics series to call back to and further unfold your presentation ideas so that your audience could continue learning from you through the comics updates.

2. Develop an assessment based on your expert content that allows your audience to identify their avatar, or type, and guide them to the content that is custom-designed for their specific avatars. Your audience will be more likely to engage with the material that they find relevant to their needs. You can generate a QR code that will take your audience to the assessment and include it in your printed materials to distribute during live presentations.

3. Create an animation or a scenario-based video to illustrate one of the main points in your presentation. Check out this beautifully animated RSA Short, in which Dr. Brené Brown explains empathy. You can use such animations in workshops, webinars and your own marketing.

4. Use art, illustrations, and props to present your ideas. Here is how Brad Heckman used his own drawing during his TEDx Talk on Mindfulness in the Midst of Conflict at Columbia Teachers College, which is now available in the video format.

5. Develop a blog series based on your expert content. Such blog series can include the background information about your characters, visual representations of the scenes from your stories, audience surveys, puzzles and other game elements, quests and challenges that encourage your audience to participate and offer rewards to active community members. You can invite the audience to apply the strategies you share to various scenarios introduced through such blog series.

6. Design physical artifacts based on your presentation content, such as postcards, bookmarks, stickers, pins, and calendars with your quotes. You can distribute them at your live presentations or include them with your speaker package for event planners. You can invite your audience to recreate unique elements of your expert content as drawings, clay figures or origami during your workshops and use them as anchors to improve the recall of the material.

7. Collect brief opinions, testimonials or comments from your audience by using video-sharing applications, such as Instagram or Vine. Feature them with the participants’ permission on your blog as a way to promote your presentations and workshops or generate a discussion about a particular topic.

These are just some possibilities of how your story can be told in different formats across multiple platforms. We can help you bring your own transmedia project to reality through Bookphoria multimedia solutions. Apply for our free exploratory session to learn more at
http://bookphoria.com/register-for-your-complimentary-consultation/

By Anastasia Pryanikova| 2014-02-03T19:15:12+00:00 February 3rd, 2014|Learning, Public Speaking|1 Comment

The Brain Alchemist has been nominated for the Liebster Award: My answers to 10 questions.

The Brain Alchemist has been nominated for the Liebster Award by Nancy J. Smyth of Virtual Connections. Nancy is Professor and Dean at the University at Buffalo School of Social Work. I had the pleasure of sharing some wonderful times and book club discussions with Nancy when we lived in Buffalo, NY. Now, I host my own book club in Stamford, CT, and I am so grateful to be able to keep in touch through the advances in social media. Nancy’s thought-provoking blog Virtual Connections explores the intersection of social work and the digital world. The Liebster Award carries forward the spirit of connection and discovery, and I am honored to take part in it.

Here are the rules for the Liebster Award. To accept the award:

Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog and link back to the blogger who presented this award to you.
Answer the 10 questions from the nominator.
Nominate 10 blogs and create 10 questions for your nominees.

Now, it is my turn to answer the 10 questions from the nominator.

What are you hoping to achieve with your blog?

The Brain Alchemist is my platform to explore how our brains influence the ways we communicate with the world and with our inner selves. I am driven by my curiosity and the desire to help people express themselves fully – without fear and with power and passion. Public speaking, just like blogging, is all about connection with people and ideas.

Where do you get your ideas for blogging?

I often find inspiration for blogging in the current neuroscience research. I am a nerd at heart, ideas stimulate my imagination. People and their stories are another source of inspiration for me.

What’s the hardest part of blogging for you?

My best writing usually happens when I am trying to fall asleep or when I wake up in the middle of the night. Thoughts just start flowing through my mind. In fact, scientists discovered that we are often more creative when we are tired. When our brains are less focused, we can tap into a wider range of information and make connections between ideas that may not be available to a narrowly focused mind. My blogging keeps me awake too often for too long!

Which of your blog posts is your favorite, and why?

It is hard to choose one favorite post because they all reflect the evolution of my own thinking, experiences, and preferences. If I have to choose one, it would be Sensation and Perception: 12 examples of how physical experiences influence attitude and judgment. It is a reminder of how context shapes our thoughts and perceptions. We interact with the world around us in surprising ways. Things can subconsciously seep into our minds and tweak our reactions and behavior. Our physical environment can be a silent decision-maker. Just like a magician can manipulate the scene to make the audience shift its attention to something while a watch disappears from the wrist of an unsuspecting participant, speakers and presenters can use smells, colors, sounds, and textures to influence the moods and minds of the audience.

What is one thing that you think people would surprised to know about you?

I am an introvert who may feel uncomfortable with small talk but loves public speaking. Most people prefer the opposite. I remember when I was in high school in Moscow, Russia, I participated in various declamation contests and even got a third place at the city of Moscow competition at one point. That’s how I started my journey into public speaking and later teaching and training. Now, I enjoy coaching others in public speaking, communication and conflict management skills, and rewiring brains to overcome the fear of public speaking.

What are your favorite ways to unwind?

I like yoga, long walks, books, dancing and cooking.

What are some books you are reading for fun right now?

I am reading “A Creator’s Guide to Transmedia Storytelling” by Andrea Phillips right now. I am fascinated by the developments in transmedia where you pair your content with specific platforms to tell your story across multiple media channels. Your audience can choose how to engage with the story. They can even become part of the story and influence its development.

“What Makes Your Brain Happy and Why You Should Do the Opposite” by David DiSalvo is my current read for The Mind and the Brain book club, which I host monthly.

I also love rereading Russian children’s books from my childhood with my eight-year-old daughter.

What are some of your favorite quotations?

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” ~ Søren Kierkegaard

“When nothing is sure, everything is possible.” ~ Margaret Drabble

“I feel there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.” ~ Vincent Van Gogh

“Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy—the experiences that make us the most vulnerable. Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.” ~ Brené Brown

“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” ~ Anaïs Nin

What was a significant milestone for you in 2013?

My business partner, Dr. Marina Kostina of Wired@Heart, and I launched our Bookphoria project where we help authors, speakers and experts make their books and expert content thrive in multimedia. We are very excited about the response we are receiving to our multimedia solutions and online courses. People want to engage with information in new, dynamic, multisensory ways through virtual channels that they prefer and where they can find their community or “tribe.” Our brains are wired to be social, and our learning is social. We use games, scenarios, animation, digital art to make learning fun.

What question do you wish I had asked you…and why?

“What makes you happy?” I like this question because simply thinking about things that make me happy puts me in a better mood. The list is long: playing with my daughter, spending time with my family and friends (even if it is through Skype, we are all global), travelling, feeling inspired by my work and my clients, taking pictures of flowers and food, swimming in the ocean, sunsets, books, stimulating conversations, good food, coffee, tea and wine, jewelry that tells a story, essential oils … there are so many things to appreciate in life!

The blogs I nominate for the Liebster Award:

My ten questions for the nominees:

What inspired you to start blogging?
What do you hope to achieve with your blog?
What are three attributes that best describe your blog?
How do you nurture your creative side?
What are you reading right now?
What are your preferred ways of getting the information you need?
What do you like to do to unwind?
What is your most ambitious goal or aspiration for 2014?
What makes you happy?
Anything else you would like to share?

By Anastasia Pryanikova| 2014-01-28T21:43:09+00:00 January 28th, 2014|Miscellaneous|0 Comments

About Anastasia Pryanikova

My guest appearance on The Brian Tracy Show [Video Interview]

7 Facets of Book or Expert Content Trailers that INSPIRE [Infographic]

The Speaker Transmedia Mindmap: Building Your Content Marketing Mosaic

7 ways speakers can use transmedia to grow and engage their audience

The Brain Alchemist has been nominated for the Liebster Award: My answers to 10 questions.