However you mark the end of the year—holidays, time off, or just a deep exhale—this is the season when energy is low and cognitive bandwidth is… gone. So instead of big ideas or ambitious frameworks, here are a few small, genuinely useful stocking stuffers—free (or free-ish) that make creating better training easier.

Merry everything and happy always!
Mike
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👆Last week's most clicked

​Hitting the Curiosity Sweet Spot Speeds Up Learning​
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🎧 What I'm Listening To

I've create a playlist of Better Holiday Music​

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🎁 Stocking Stuffers for Your Overworked Brain

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Fix PowerPoint's Missing Tools

BrightSlide adds the alignment and layout tools that should’ve been there all along.

​Install this now. Thank me later. →​
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Stop typing the same things over and over

Text Blaze lets you reuse your best prompts and phrases instead of rewriting them.

​Type less. Say more →​
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This fixes bad audio fast

Adobe Podcast – Enhance Speech cleans up recordings in a snap—no audio expertise required.

​Fix Your Audio in One Click →​
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When a video is easier than explaining

Camtasia.ai turns screenshots into a usable video with minimal effort.

​Turn screenshots into a video →​
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The follow-up you won’t forget

Talkbook gives you one link to share handouts, collect feedback, and send follow-ups after your events.

​One link. No awkward follow-ups →​
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A small ask (and a real gift)

If one of these ideas would make a colleague's work a little easier, consider forwarding this to them.

No pressure. No pitch. Just something genuinely useful to pass along.

They can subscribe here: miketaylor.kit.com​

🙏 A Quick Thank You

Before I sign off, a genuine thank you to iSpring and Neovation. Their support makes this newsletter possible and keeps the focus on practical, thoughtful ideas for people who create training.

Even if you never buy anything from them, both are useful resources in this field worth following.

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